AWARE is pleased to announce our four Champions for The Because I Love Her Project: US Ambassador to Singapore David I. Adelman, distinguished actor Lim Kay Siu, Former Nominated Member of Parliament Siew Kum Hong and Reverend Dr Yap Kim Hao.

Chosen because they are upstanding members of the community, and role models for all manner of men, the three individuals are spokesmen for The Because I Love Her Project.

The Because I Love Her Project is an online video campaign where men submit a video of themselves and their favourite female to Facebook. In the video they stand up and speak out about violence against women, saying: “Because I love her, I pledge to never condone violence against women.” Violence against women includes rape, sex trafficking, domestic abuse, emotional abuse and sexual harassment.

AWARE is grateful to all three men for their commitment to end all forms of violence against women, to give a voice to the non-violent majority of men, and for coming forward to champion the campaign.

In an official statement, US Ambassador David I Adelman (above, right) said: “The US embassy here in Singapore is honoured to work with AWARE… violence against women knows no socio-economic boundaries it affects girls and women in every country across the world regardless of religion or race. Economic empowerment is a critical part of combatting violence against women. That’s why today I’m participating in AWARE’s video pledge… and I urge you to do the same. Together we can stop violence against women.”

Rev. Dr Yap Kim Hao is Pastoral Advisor to The Free Community Church. He holds a Master of Divinity and Doctorate in Theology, serves on the Council of the Inter-Religious Organisation (IRO) in Singapore and is committed to the promotion of inter-faith dialogue and understanding. Rev Dr Yap told AWARE he is “very happy” to be a part of The Because I Love Her Project.

In addition to being a former Nominated Member of Parliament, Siew Kum Hong (right) is a practising lawyer and pro tem vice-president of MARUAH (Working Group for an ASEAN Human Rights Mechanism).In his video, which features AWARE bastions Corinna Lim, Poonam Mirchandani, Margaret Thomas, Dana Lam and Hafizah Osman, Kum Hong makes an empassioned pledge, saying: “Because I love my wife, because I love my mother, because I love my sister and because I love all these wonderful women, I pledge never to condone, commit or keep silent about violence against women.”

Watch the videos submitted by David I Adelman, Lim Kay Siu, Rev. Yap and Siew Kum Hong here.