Postcard From--Singapore

Foreign Policy in Focus
Oct 19, 2006
by Sameer Dossani

The story begins earlier on September 16, when I arrived in
Singapore, the site of the annual meetings of the World Bank and IMF,
from neighboring Batam, Indonesia. My companions and I were
organizers of the International People's Forum vs. the IMF and World
Bank (IPF), which wasn't feasible in Singapore. In January the
Singapore government threatened to cane protesters and in the days
before the events they made public an official blacklist of 27 people
who would not be allowed entry to Singapore.

Their justification: they had already prepared a protest space at the
venue, namely an enclosed area roughly the size of a large prison
cell. Some friends who were not on the official blacklist were turned
away at the airport, indicating that the unofficial blacklist must be
much longer.

Naturally, activists, researchers, and Non-Governmental Organization
(NGO) representatives expressed their outrage to the Singapore
authorities, IMF and World Bank staff, and to their own governments
in Europe, North America, Asia, and elsewhere. To the displeasure and
discomfort of the IMF and World Bank, we launched a boycott of the
official meetings, and this boycott was joined by nearly all NGOs who
work on policy issues. For the first time in living memory, the
Singapore government backed down. They “un-blacklisted” 22 of the 27
individuals on the official list.

In response, the “un-banned” and the “still-banned” issued a
statement renewing our pledge to boycott the official events and
stating that the moves of the Singapore government were a case
of “too little, too late.” To read the statement, two of the “un-
banned”—Joy Chavez from Focus on the Global South (Thailand) and
Antonio Tricarico from Campaign to Reform the World Bank (Italy)—were
to go to Singapore where a press conference and public event on the
IMF was already scheduled to take place.

I was among those chosen to escort these activists, as we had no
reason to believe that the Singapore government would uphold its end
of the bargain. Though Antonio and Joy were taken aside at the
border, they were permitted to pass after being given a sheet of
paper advising them to (please) abide by Singapore law.

At midnight the Singapore police call. Turns out our event MAY be
illegal. Great.

After a meeting and some discussions with an ad-hoc Singapore legal
team, we determine that the meeting/press conference we are planning
the following morning is indeed legal. (It may not have been had it
been taking place on the ground floor or had there been see-through
windows in the conference room.) Armed with this information, we
contact the police again who assure him that, yes, the conference
could be legal, but that it may need a license. We need to just stop
by the police station for some questions and filling out some forms.

Three of us arrive at about one a.m. to negotiate with the police.

When the officers who called us here come down to greet us and escort
us to the room where we'll be “interviewed,” they are exceedingly
polite. Half an hour later, they explain that the only reason for all
the questions is to determine whether or not we need a license. We do
indeed need a license, they say, and after half an hour spent filling
out forms we are free to walk out the door. At 2 a.m.

Aside from the lost sleep, the only cost for the license was $20.
Free speech may not be free in Singapore, but it is cheap.

Sameer Dossani is Director of 50 Years Is Enough: U.S Network for
Global Economic Justice in Washington, DC and a contributor to
Foreign Policy In Focus (www.fpif.org).

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