Dear Ah Foon and Niroshini,

First, forgive me for using your first names. The thing is that I feel so proud of you that I am allowing myself this closeness with you.

Full disclosure: I do not consider myself a militant feminist. Yes, of course I believe in equal rights for all humans irrespective of their colour, religion, gender and sexual orientation. But I do not have the militant drive or the chip on the shoulder that is at times associated with radical feminists. Besides, I like men – not that feminists don’t. Imagine how boring the world would be without them. There would be no fun, perhaps no war (I don’t consider Margaret Thatcher as a woman so I don’t include the Falklands War here) and, come to think of it, there might not even be any us. 

My own sex will forgive me if I did not jump for joy to see a woman speaker. Hell, how did she get there? And because I did not rejoice, I did not feel any disappointment when she sat passively as one of her ‘Honourable’ colleagues called some journalists “virgin prostitutes”. Not sure whether he was talking about male journalists!

Our enthusiasm was equally measured when that was followed by the nomination of a woman state president. I treat women like rational creatures who should get where they are, not through any charity due to their gender or their religion but through fighting their way through a system which, we all know, is skewed against them. I abhor quotas and symbolism. I find them counterproductive. “Here’s one of your kind in a position of zero-power so shut up and toe the line!” Again, no disappointment as the first mission of our president was accepting an invitation by L’Oréal! We can only hope our country does not get a similar invitation from Fair & Lovely or Slim &Trim.

Then you made the headlines! In spite of yourselves. Each in your own way. Not as women who got where they were because of some gender-quota or some reward for services rendered. No! You got there thanks to your sheer competence and the reputation you have built over the years. In spite of a system which has no gifts to offer you. You did not cling to the tailcoats of politicians asking for an investiture or a nomination. You fought a system set against you from the day you were born. And you proved that when it comes to discharging your duty, your gender is no handicap.

I watched you, Niroshini, stand up to the kind of pressure which would make many a man crack: Ministers, MPs, wild, enraged supporters all gathering inside and outside the court. You listened to those wielding power at the highest echelons of the country try to run you down and intimidate you. You ran the gauntlet as the prime minister criticised you for sentencing his son and heir to the throne to one year in prison. You knew that you would not get any flowers but you did what you had to do and you calmly and serenely faced the music. You knew you were in the right. You did not care what the consequences were.

I watched you Ah Foon put an end to the biggest crisis we have ever had at the head of the judiciary. Far from taking the easy route, you stood up to enquirers gone haywire. You stood up to a police force which seems to have been unleashed on unsuspecting citizens in a nasty episode you seem the only one to be able to stop. Of course, you are facing pressures and intimidation. But you are strong enough to stand up to that.

You have played your hand and won the game. You played on men’s turf, by their rules. And you snatched their respect in spite of them. Today, I smile at the strong male knuckles you have rapped. I feel a malicious pleasure at the thought of your authoritative voice silencing theirs and making it harder for them to raise it against those they considered weaker. Oh, their Adams apple going up and down as they swallow their male pride!

That is the difference that you are making. We don’t need more women in politics or in symbolic positions. We don’t need self-serving female ambition which has little to envy male sycophancy. We need women in real positions of power who use the power they snatched from the system to tame the system and pave the way for other women to reach real power. Thank you for being those women. Thank you for leading the way for other women. Today, in this country, I feel proud of being a woman.

P.S. I know there is a gentleman involved in the Med Point case who – as much as you – did the right thing. I am not undermining his work. It is just not his day today. I will one day make it up to him.