I’m currently working for the Economic Development Board of Singapore. This is a dream job for me…culminating after a 12 month-long job hunt that took me from Singapore to London/NY and back to Singapore.I overlook a portfolio of agribiotechnology companies, trying to either attract new ones to set up their operations in Singapore, or encouraging the ones here to expand their operations.
Action for AIDS Singapore is the only AIDS activist organization in Singapore. I joined the ranks of AfA pretty soon after getting back to Singapore…introducing myself to the preseident of the organisation somewhere in the bowels of the Velvet Underground one sultry Saturday night. I’m not sure if he knew what he was getting into when he invited me to their next meeting…but here I am, several years later – Executive Committee member, unofficial spokesperson, and scourge of the Singapore media.
The AIDS problem in Singapore hasn’t yet reached the epidemic proportions which our neighboring Asian countries have experienced (phew!)…but that gives rise to its own can of worms. Not only are the authorities slow to respond to the growing health problems, people here are also generally complacent. We are currently conducting an sociological study to look into the sexual behavior of men who have sex with men in Singapore. Believe it or not, we don’t really have a good picture of who’s having sex with whom and how…Truth be told, most of the HIV cases in Singapore belong to the heterosexual realm, and that’s where the bulk of AfA’s education efforts have been directed.
We had originally invited the late Princess Diana to be guest of honor at a gala dinner to raise money for AfA. But you know what happened. Still, we managed to raise close to a million dollars, most of which will go to a new fund which will be used to subsidize anti-HIV medication.
Here’s one of my early designs for Action for Aids.
