Fallout from the botched up PR with IMF and CSOs begins....
Who asked for it?
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At first, activists did not want to come here
Now they says: It's like Disneyland
By Dawn Chia And Tan May Ping
September 21, 2006
THERE must be something bad.
There must. It can't be this perfect.
Members of a civil society organisation working at the Suntec site yesterday. -- JOEL CHAN
That's the feeling many delegates of civil society organisations (CSOs) had of Singapore.
Some referred to it as 'Disneyland'.
Ms Sandy Krawitz, the communications manager of ActionAid International, said of her visits to Little India: 'The people there are so warm and friendly. The streets are so clean, and as I walk, I wonder if I'll see a piece of garbage or cigarette butt lying around. But so far there's none.
'When a colleague told us he found two plastic bags lying on the ground the other day, we all screamed 'yay' because it showed that Singapore's a real country after all.
'Without such imperfections, it all seems so surreal and dreamy.'
But their perception of the Republic before coming over for the International Monetary Fund-World Bank meetings was of a tough, police state.
US activist Sameer Dossani of the 50 Years is Enough Network said activists had circulated reports claiming that people would be caned for staging outdoor protests here.
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NERVOUS
That made some activists nervous. They were all aware of the Michael Fay incident in 1994 where the American teenager was caned for vandalism.
'When a colleague told us he found two plastic bags lying on the ground the other day, we all screamed 'yay' because it showed that Singapore's a real country after all.' said, Ms Sandy Krawitz, ActionAid's communications manager -- JOEL CHAN
For the record, authorities here had said that vandalism is punishable with caning, but not staging an outdoor protest.
Then there was the chewing gum ban.
Ms Krawitz, an American, said: 'We joked that the perfect protest in Singapore was for civil society activists to stand in a row, chew gum and then blow bubbles!
'It would be really funny to see what the authorities thought of that!'
Mr Eric Gutierrez from the Philippines had heard there were strict rules here.
The international policy coordinator of ActionAid had expected a trying time for activists, especially when news broke that 27 of them were not allowed in.
Instead, he said, the meetings went on smoothly.
His only wish: That some of the other activists who had held the International People's Forum (IPF) against the IMF-World Bank in Batam had come over instead.
The 40-year-old said: 'In hindsight, it would have been good if the IPF was held here since all the delegates and ministers are here.
'We could have invited them to sit in on some of the meetings and have a better, more robust debate.'
Those who had gone to Batam said the meetings there went peacefully too.
'In hindsight, it would have been good if the IPF (International People's Forum) was held here since all the delegates and ministers are here.' said, Mr Eric Gutierrez, ActionAid's international policy coordinator -- JOEL CHAN
Street protests planned initially were called off as the Batam authorities banned outdoor rallies.
To those who had gone over, staging the alternative talks in Batam was important to signal to the Republic that they were not happy with the ban on outdoor protests here.
German Daniela Sutton, project manager of Berlin-based World Economy, Ecology & Development, said: 'In Germany, people demonstrate all the time. There's nothing dangerous about it.'
But, like in Batam, activists who had come over decided to work within the local law.
Ms Haidy Ear-Dupuy of the NGO Forum on Cambodia said: 'I like the discipline that Singapore has. It's something that other countries can learn.
'But there's a need to find a balance, and for allowing freedom of speech and civic engagement.'
Still, she said, she's grateful to the Government for taking in the boat people who fled Vietnam in the 1970s and '80s.
Ms Ear-Dupuy said she was one of them and lived here in the '80s as a refugee.
Having spent a week here, some activists said Singapore needs to snap out of the Disney mode.
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ACCEPT FLAWS
And that means accepting the fact that flaws exist.
Mr Jeff Powell, a coordinator at the Bretton Woods Project, said: 'Part of what makes a great city is the negative, along with the positive aspects.'
Although Mr Powell, 35, has worked in South-East Asia (Thailand, Laos and Cambodia) for six years, he never wanted to visit Singapore because he thought it was organised but dull.
His impression hasn't changed much.
He said: 'Over the week, I've come into contact with taxi drivers and people who look like they're trying to help, but they seem awkward doing so.'
The CSOs said many of the activists who had attended the meetings here were academics with doctorates. They said their cause was noble and their sentiments genuine.
But they don't deny there were also troublemakers bent on disrupting the proceedings.
They hogged the headlines and gave CSOs a bad name.
The Republic, they said, had the wrong impression of CSOs, just as how some activists had misconceptions about Singapore.
Ms Krawitz said: 'Friends who've been here told me it's a very exotic and cultural place and I've always longed to see and experience it for myself.
'People describe it as a clean, orderly country and I know now for a fact that it is.'
