[Anlene Orchard Mile 2008 protest]
I was nearly involved in the protest but work kept me in the office. Here's what I received:

Dear all sexy male volunteers,
We need your help in a PR stunt this Saturday, 16 May 2008 for an hour or two in Orchard Road. I believe most of you have heard of the Anlene Orchard Mile (15 June 2008) – a running event for women ONLY. So, we need you guys to do a mock PROTEST (fake one lah) on Orchard Road. Why the male don’t get it? Please come forth and help us, I have copied our PR agency, (content omitted) above who will be contacting you today. Do come, have fun and support us in the Anlene Orchard Mile. Thanks in advance.

An innocent PR stunt gone wrong. I should have warned them before hand. But alas, I did not. I thought they would have taken the necessary measures.

Last year, as part of the marketing for the nation's youth festival called SHINE, our team had thought of the same idea - to wear placards and create awareness regarding the festival. But to err on the safe side (i.e as law-abiding citizens) we consulted the Police since we thought we had to have a permit. The process was tedious. The Police had requested to see all our placards. They wanted to know our route, whether we would be shouting any slogans, how the placards were to be fixed onto our bodies etc. By the end of the entire process our interest had died down.

But we still did it.



The Police had advised that no permit was needed and recommended that we stay in groups of two to three.

Well, one thing for sure: the law is more often a painful experience than a pleasant one. One has to really consider every single option because every small thing that one does can fall into any category and contravene any laws. It is best to check out every possible loophole. See, we are pragmatic people.