2006/09/16

Bank slams Singapore crackdown

Connie Levett
The Age

WORLD Bank President Paul Wolfowitz has criticized Singapore's restrictions on the entry of activists for the World Bank-International Monetary Fund meetings, describing the clampdown as authoritarian.

WORLD Bank President Paul Wolfowitz has criticized Singapore's restrictions on the entry of activists for the World Bank-International Monetary Fund meetings, describing the clampdown as authoritarian.

Civil society groups claim that up to 30 accredited international observers have been refused entry, with some turned back as they arrived at Changi Airport. At least one Singaporean activist had her accreditation withdrawn at the registration point.

"It is not acceptable," Mr Wolfowitz said yesterday. "Enormous damage has been done, and a lot of that is to Singapore. It could have been an opportunity for them … to showcase their development."

Standing in the small holding pen for authorized demonstrations — opening hours 9am-6pm — Roberto Bissio, of Social Watch, a Uruguayan-based civil society group, said that the World Bank and IMF "could be more effective if they wanted to".

"Certain rules were agreed between the IMF, the World Bank and the host country as with any international conference," he said. "They could delay the meetings."

The No Voice protest in the special demonstration corner of the IMF-World Bank forum was supposed to draw attention to the suffering of the world's poor, but Singapore's banning of accredited observers gave it a double significance.

The activists representing the voiceless were suddenly being silenced too.

The exclusion of the activists has kept the spotlight on Singapore's tough laws on free expression. Those laws will be challenged today by Opposition politician Chee Soon Juan, who has promised to lead a peaceful rally from Speaker's Corner, in central Singapore, to the IMF-World Bank forum site at Suntec City.

"The Singapore Government is ill at ease handling civil society. The rally and march is a first attempt to start righting the wrongs of the Singapore Government. It can only be done with peaceful assembly," Mr Chee said.

He could not predict how many might join him but said he would almost certainly be arrested.

A gathering of more than four people together outdoors in Singapore requires a government permit.

"They may do it with pre-emptive detention so we cannot physically be present on Saturday morning," Mr Chee said.

Earlier this week, police arrested three Singaporean activists who had created anti-forum flyers, and confiscated their computers.

The Singapore police have justified their actions in banning some international activists and arresting local ones on the basis of national security.

"I think there was a message going out that new international groups were going to be here and they didn't want local groups picking up bad habits," Mr Chee said.

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