Ten individuals and organisations who made major contributions to the growth of civil society in Singapore in the last three years were honoured at the inaugural Singapore Advocacy Awards.
They are, in alphabetical order:
ACRES (animal welfare organisation)
All Things Bukit Brown (heritage preservation movement)
Braema Mathi (human rights advocate)
Chan Li Shan (mental health advocate)
Damien Chng (second chances advocate)
Eugene Tay (environmental sustainability advocate)
Jeremy Boo and Lee Xian Jie (social issue filmmakers)
Louis Ng (animal welfare advocate)
M Ravi (human rights lawyer)
Pink Dot (freedom to love movement)
Braema Mathi and Louis Ng both won the “Advocate of the Year” award.
Braema’s citation for the “Advocate of the Year” award.
Braema has been a champion for social justice for more than 15 years. As founding president of Maruah, the nascent Singapore human rights NGO, she has in recent years marshalled the goodwill of like-minded groups and individuals to shape a series of meaningful and timely interventions in public discourse. In September 2011, Braema made the first oral statement by a Singapore NGO as part of the Universal Periodic Review of the republic at the United Nations Human Rights Council. Under her leadership, Maruah also ensured that human rights perspectives were inserted into national debates, such as on the Little India riot, restrictions of internet freedom, Parliamentary and Presidential elections, and Internal Security Act arrests. Maruah’s activities belie its almost non-existent resources, and attest to Braema’s ability to mobilise volunteers from a wide range of civil society and professional groupings. Her path breaking civil society work has made it easier for the next generation of activists to forge ahead.
A short video interview below
Also see below for a Straits Times article on the awards.
http://news.asiaone.com/news/singapore/advocacy-awards-10-groups-individuals
More details on the Singapore Advocacy Awards can be found on their Facebook page below.
https://www.facebook.com/SingaporeAdvocacyAwards
MARUAH Singapore 