Doing Good Well by Willie Cheng

Author:Willie Cheng
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9789814655835
Publisher: Epigram Books
Published: 2017-07-03T16:00:00+00:00

The Singapore Heartbeat

Singapore, as it enters the ranks of the First World, is an example of the balance and calibration that need to be made by civil society and progressive governments as each side seeks to progress its agenda.

Historically, the Singapore government has quite successfully created what some observers would say is “a supplementary role for civil society—a role of many helping hands to take over welfare functions that it chooses to withdraw from.”36 In such a climate, many local social activists have concluded that the way to change government policies is behind closed doors.37

Singapore’s first major run-in with international NGOs occurred when it hosted Singapore 2006, the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, and related events. This was the largest international meeting in Singapore’s history with 23,000 participants.

A regular part of the annual meetings had been the participation of international NGOs, including staged protests by them. Singapore would only allow peaceful protests at designated indoor areas (outdoor demonstrations are outlawed in Singapore). It also denied entry to 27 activists and deported some of them. While the activists were accredited by the IMF-World Bank, some of them were said to have been previously involved in “violent activities at international meetings in Seattle, Cancun and Genoa.” Singapore later allowed 22 of the 27 banned activists into the country.38

These actions resulted in adverse publicity. The President of the World Bank called the ban of the activists a “going-back on an explicit agreement” that was part of hosting the meeting. Some 160 organizations signed a petition to support a boycott of the meeting. When the meeting took place, many of the CSO Forum events were cancelled. Some of the protests did take place indoors, but they were quite muted.39

The handling of the protest issue marred what was otherwise deemed by most participants to be a well conducted conference.40 While Singapore weathered the hiccup well, its image took a slight dent.

Image is important to Singapore as it is a global city that is now keen on being “a philanthropic hub.”41 Since 2004, the Economic Development Board, as part of its aim to add breadth to Singapore’s business-hub status, has aimed to turn Singapore into “Asia’s center for nonprofit organizations.”42 As other government agencies get involved, this has evolved into a vision of Singapore as a global philanthropic hub.

Unfortunately, this ambition has been somewhat stymied by charity regulations which are seen as discriminating against international charities and international giving.

Any registered charity that wishes to raise funds that will flow out of Singapore needs to get a permit from the Commissioner of Charities for each fundraising exercise. In addition, until recently, charities had to spend at least 80 percent of their funds raised in Singapore. That defeated the purpose of such overseas fundraising exercises. Waivers could be given for special cases, but tax deductions are not available for such overseas donations. Serving to highlight this, Médecins Sans Frontieres registered a branch in Singapore in 2000, only to decide two years

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