Singapore Bans Protests During IMF-WB Meetings

http://www.arabnews.com/?page=6§ion=0&article=86345&d=10&m=9&y=2006t

Tang Li, Arab News

SINGAPORE, 10 September 2006 — Since the coming out of the anti-globalization movement at the World Trade Organization’s ministerial conference in Seattle in 1999, it’s been something of a tradition for global events hosted by the WTO, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank to be greeted by street protests.

However, the upcoming IMF and World Bank meetings that will be held in Singapore starting Wednesday will be breaking with this tradition. The Singapore government has made it clear that vandalism and street agitation will not be welcome during this week’s IMF and World Bank meetings.

Street protest have been banned and so called “civil society action” has been restricted to a ten-by-four meter area inside Singapore’s Suntec International Convention and Exhibition Center where the meetings will be held.

This position has pitted officials at the IMF and World Bank against the Singapore government. Both the IMF and World Bank have actually accredited some of the organizations that planned to protest their policies.

However, the Singapore government has stood firm in its position.

“Under the current security environment, we will be cautious about who we allow into our borders,” said a statement issued by Singapore authorities.

One group has tried to test the mettle of the Singapore’s resolve in keeping out supposed troublemakers.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, or PETA, perhaps most famous for tossing paint on the fur coats worn by celebrities, had sent out a media release stating its intention to hold “naked” protest outside a KFC franchise in Singapore’s Victoria Street to protest the chain’s alleged inhumane slaughter of chickens.

The police reported that they received calls about people acting suspiciously and on they interviewed an American and a Canadian national. A Filipina woman was detained on Friday. The three PETA activists were deported.

Reactions to the crackdown on civil dissent have been predictable. Representatives of non-governmental organizations have registered their unhappiness with the Singapore’s decision to ban outdoor protest in all but a designated fenced-in area.

Lidy Nacpil, international coordinator of Jubilee South, an organization that protests developmental loans, described Singapore as, “one of the worst cities to host the meetings,” and “not respecting people’s right to peaceful assembly.” Jubilee South has been unable to organize protests in Singapore against the IMF and World bank, whose policies the group says are designed to maintain a cycle of debt to poor countries by loaning money to corrupt governments who then pay companies in the developed world for large projects, often in the energy sector, in no-bid contracts rife with bribery.

However, international protesters like Nacpil will be challenged to find local partners with whom to join forces with.

“When we go to these meetings, the movements in these cities are usually prepared to join us,” she said. “We work with local movements, and we consider what they’re ready for.”

Thus far, Singapore’s civil organizations, which have developed in a culture where public protests have been kept at bay (The last license issued for a public protest was in the 1980s) have shown themselves to be reluctant to join forces with international CSOs like Ms Nacil’s Jubilee South.

Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong recently told Bloomberg TV: “We have very strict rules for our own locals, and we can’t have two standards because otherwise, we’ll be in deep political trouble with our own citizens.”

Reactions within Singapore toward the banning of protest at the IMF and World Bank meetings have generally been supportive of the government. While some have argued that Singapore is showing that its intolerance towards dissent shows its lack of political development, most have argued that this underlines the very reason why Singapore was chosen to host these meetings.

Says Kishore Mahbubani, dean of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy: “By now, people know what the image of Singapore is, and they realize we are who we are. We’re one of the most disciplined societies in the world because the environment we live in is special.”

Koh Ee Mei, project management director at Spires Research and Consulting, echoes Mahbubani’s sentiments and states that this will enforce Singapore’s image as being authoritarian but as also as a nation of laws.

Singapore may not be popular with activist but it is consistent in the way in which its laws are applied and people like Mahbubani are confident that the activist will get a chance to be heard even if they are not allowed to protest.