David Miller
The island state of Singapore has banned outdoor protest demonstrations against the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) during the international financial institutions' annual meeting on September 11-20 meetings.
Under Singapore law all outdoor protests of four or more people require police permission. At a July 28 press conference, Singapore police chief Soh Wai Wah said that outdoor protests during the World Bank/IMF meetings would "compromise security" and could be exploited by terrorists.
The World Bank and IMF conferences normally take place in Washington, where they are headquartered, but every three years they take place in different host countries.
Some 16,000 delegates and visitors are expected during the conferences, which are expected to generate US$69 million in business for local companies.
Meetings of international financial institutions are often met with large protests against their free-market policies by numerous groups. In December 2005, protests against the World Trade Organisation meeting in Hong Kong were attacked by police using tear gas and batons. Around 1000 protesters were arrested.
Groups wishing to protest against World Bank and IMF policies are being asked by the Singapore government to seek accreditation from the World Bank and the IMF and then set up displays in the foyer of the conference venue.
Protesters have been threatened by home affairs minister Wong Kan Seng with imprisonment and being strapped to a wooden frame and lashed with a long rattan stick — corporal punishment still being legal in Singapore.
To combat possible protests, Singapore is mobilising its entire police force, plus army units. "Foreign businesses, large numbers of them, have their regional headquarters in Singapore. This is what they intend to protect and I think they're doing a pretty good job of it", Bruce Gale, an independent consultant to businesses in the region on political risk, said in an interview in Singapore on June 23.
A silent protest in August last year — four people calling for greater accountability and transparency by the state-managed pension fund — led to them being arrested by nearly a dozen anti-riot police with shields and batons.
In its most recent report, Amnesty International expressed its concern that "freedom of expression and assembly continued to be curbed" in Singapore, and noted that 36 people were detained without trial under the Internal Security Act.
Singapore also probably has the highest per capita execution rate in the world, with eight people being executed in 2006. Even local musical concerts have been banned, such as one by a gay Christian organisation, as not being in the "public interest".
The US-based Heritage Foundation claims that Singapore has the world's second "freest" economy.
Ruki Fernando, a spokesperson for the Bangkok-based Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development, was quoted by the Bloomberg new service as saying in response to Soh's announcement: "Decisions and policies drafted at this particular meeting are going to affect millions of people in over 200 countries, and those people have the right to be heard."