國際貨幣基金及世界銀行即將在新加坡開會，新加坡一直企圖在國際間營造一個開會、商業及旅遊的好地點，因此格外重視此破天荒的國際會議，將有許多重要人士來此。但是，IMF及世銀卻面臨一個大問題，就是他們所邀請來參加的抗議團體，被新加坡政府拒絕，而且新加坡政府對會議外面的抗議活動相當嚴格引發主辦單位的不滿。主辦單位一直認為和這些公民社團的互動極為重要，但是新加坡政府卻面臨可能有兩套標準而煩惱，因為，新加坡政府對戶外活動，只要四人以上就必須申請，否則完全禁止。
不過，新加坡近來面對中國加入世界競爭的壓力，正想改進他們的創造力，太多束縛的社會，讓新加坡的創造力不高，難以面對世界競爭。這正是他們近來面對的改革。
Singapore tightens cordon on protest
By Wayne Arnold International Herald Tribune
Published: September 8, 2006
Singapore’s government is welcoming protesters to the annual meeting of the International Monetary Board and the World Bank here next week - provided, that is, they do not bring food or drinks into the officially designated protest area, are not too noisy, dress appropriately and are not named Antonio Tricarico.
Tricarico is the coordinator of the Italian group Campaign to Reform the World Bank, or CRBM. CRBM is one of an undisclosed number of civic organizations that Singapore has barred from entering during the meeting, despite the fact that they were invited by the IMF and the World Bank.
"It’s completely astonishing," said Tricarico, in a telephone interview, "in particular because the World Bank welcomed us to go and even our government cleared our participation."
Citing risks to security, Singapore has decreed that it will not allow outdoor protests during the meeting despite requests from the World Bank that it do so. The authorities agreed to set up a small protest area inside the meeting site as a compromise.
Frustrated with restrictions they say are calculated to stifle them, many antiglobalization groups and other opponents of the World Bank and IMF then planned to move their protests to the neighboring Indonesian island of Batam, only to be told that they were unwelcome there, too.
While the World Bank and IMF were resigned to having a quieter event, banning groups they had invited to attend was apparently too much. On Friday, they issued a joint statement objecting to the move. "We strongly urge the Singapore government to act swiftly and reverse their decision on entry and access to the meetings for these representatives," the statement said.
No official lists have been made available, but various protest organizers have estimated that Tricarico is among 19 individuals from at least four groups who have been banned, including the International NGO Forum on Indonesian Development, a coalition of 110 groups from Indonesia and 14 other countries.
Tricarico said his group had never been involved in any violent protests and that he had never been arrested. Singapore’s Home Affairs Ministry also did not respond to an e-mailed list of questions. The Singapore Police Force declined requests for an interview, but issued a public statement Friday evening defending its decision to ban individuals it believed may pose a security risk or disrupt the meetings.
"The meetings will attract the attention of many, not least those who may want to use the ready platform and presence of the international media to stage events that will pose a security threat to Singapore, and compromise the level of security arrangements we have put in place," it said.
Singapore’s decision is aimed at ensuring the safety and tranquillity of what is undoubtedly the highest-profile international gathering it has ever hosted. Some 16,000 people from 184 countries are due to attend, including U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, and Gordon Brown, Britain’s chancellor of the Exchequer.
Singapore has been hyping the event for months as an opportunity to showcase itself as a hub for conventions, tourism and high finance, even launching a campaign that urges residents to smile and thank the delegates.
While Singapore has warned that protests could be used as cover by terrorists, its moves to quash them sends a less-than-cordial message.
The prohibition on demonstrations is also a setback for efforts by the IMF and the World Bank in recent years to engage with their most outspoken critics.
This year, the agencies had invited almost 500 people from various organizations to attend and have supported their plans to stage demonstrations.
"We think it’s good for civil society groups to be able to gather and make their views known in a way that becomes part of the development debate," said Peter Stephens, a spokesman for the World Bank in Singapore.
The IMF/World Bank annual meeting is normally held in Washington, but goes on the road every three years. The meetings have tended to be memorable events, perhaps none less than Prague in 2000, where there were violent protests.
But perhaps the greatest challenge Singapore faces is that two of the last three overseas meetings were held in Hong Kong and Dubai, its archrivals as hubs for trade and finance.
The 1997 IMF/World Bank meeting in Hong Kong came at a pivotal time in Asian history. Not only had Hong Kong just reverted to Chinese sovereignty, but the entire region was sliding into a financial crisis and the IMF was orchestrating bailout packages to Indonesia, South Korea and Thailand. Only about 150 protesters showed up for the meeting. And though five people were arrested in a scuffle with the police, the protests were largely peaceful.
The meeting in Dubai in 2003 was relatively uneventful. While authorities pitched an air-conditioned tent to accommodate any protesters on hand to brave the 40 degrees Celsius, or 104 degrees Fahrenheit, heat, only one demonstrator was ever spotted.
But the absence of protests may also reveal what many economists are saying about the IMF and the World Bank’s fading relevance in Asia.
The IMF has never been able to shake its image as an agent of Western economic orthodoxy, since demanding wrenching political reforms as part of its rescue packages in the Asian financial crisis.
"Asian policy makers found the conditions a bit politically intrusive," said Chua Hak Bin, an economist at Citigroup in Singapore. While the Fund is now pushing for greater voting rights for smaller up-and-coming economies such as China and South Korea, Chua said Asia has in many ways moved beyond the IMF.
The Fund succeeded in heading off efforts to create an Asian Monetary Fund, but Asia’s nations have since established casual credit arrangements that accomplish much the same thing. Awash in foreign currency reserves thanks to exports to the West, Asian nations have paid off most of their IMF loans and other crisis debt and are now stressing greater economic self-reliance. "As a result," Chua and a colleague wrote in a recent report, "Washington-based institutions may be quickly facing obsolescence in Asia."
Perhaps the most meticulous preparations, however, are related to security. Singapore has called up its reserves to put together a force of 10,000 police officers and soldiers who will roam the island, conducting random searches of vehicles and pedestrians. The coast guard is stepping up inspections of vessels and helicopters will comb the area around the meeting on the lookout for unauthorized gatherings.
Even hotel security guards have been drilled on how to whisk away flower pots and furniture at the first sign of trouble.
Singaporeans have long tolerated the government’s tight restrictions as necessary for transforming their once lawless, squalid city into the bustling commercial center it is today. So long as incomes were rising, people have been content.
But lately Singapore’s formula for prosperity has been wearing thin. Low- cost competitors such as China are luring away the high-tech manufacturing that made Singapore wealthy.
Recent statistics reveal that the gap between Singapore’s rich and poor is at its highest since independence in 1965. "They’ve run into some problems," said Philip Overmyer, Executive Director of the Singapore International Chamber of Commerce. "There’s not enough creativity in companies."
As part of efforts to revitalize the economy and enervate the nation’s entrepreneurial spirit, Singapore’s leaders are trying to turn their nation into a more free-wheeling kind of place. The government this year awarded Las Vegas Sands the license to build and operate Singapore’s first casino, for example.
In his message to citizens on the 41st anniversary of independence last month, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said, "We are building a more open society, and encouraging freer debate."
But not all at once. Police haven’t disclosed precisely where they will be allowing protests to take place at the convention center, but neither of the two candidates is larger than a tennis court. A list of rules on how protests are to be carried out has also been issued. No bullhorns will be allowed.
If a protest outside did erupt, it would almost unprecedented. Local law prohibits any unauthorized gathering of more than four people outdoors, a fact that former Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong used in a recent television interview to explain why Singapore wouldn’t allow protests now.
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