making noise and making pleas

Tuesday, September 12, 2006

I don't know why I never learn not to post blog entries when I'm drunk. Or, for that matter, not to send text messages. Somehow everything seems like an epiphany when you're in a happy haze, but on a cold and sober morning (okay that imagery doesn't really work since it's not very cold here) you realise that things aren't radical as much as just a simple fact of life. Which in many ways is even better.

Okay I'm not making sense so I shall talk about something else. Like what an embarrassment it is to live in a country that has no qualms about blithely barring civil society groups from attending the biggest event that's ever been held here. And we're not talking about crazed radicals who break windows or throw stones, as someone complained to me, but 28 peaceable and highly intellectual activists that regularly attend the annual IMF/WB meetings and have been accredited by the two institutions since July. Now they will have to go to Batam instead for the civil society forum thing. We're getting good at offloading the things we don't want tainting our shores to Batam - first activists, next probably old people.

Why on earth is your government like that, several people asked me yesterday. I had no reply.

I foresee the IMF/WB meetings turning out to be a huge PR nightmare for the Singapore government. Rather than take this chance to show the world that:

(1) we are opening up as much as we said we were going to; look at us, we're transparent and accountable, we can renew ourselves to keep up with the times, we want to take our place among the grown-up nations of the world, we have come of age;

(2) or, well, we're actually going to live up to our awful reputation of clamping down on fundamental human rights and not even having the basic courtesy to explain why, short of a tersely unspecific statement about "security and law and order" issues that makes all these NGOs seem like terrorist groups - but hey, at least we have the facilities and infrastructure to hold such a huge-ass event!

we are instead going to be exposed as

(1) Myanmar

(2) Somalia

Quite aside from the whole issue of how we're hosting a meeting made possible by and advocating globalisation and yet once again asserting our parochial mentality, I don't see how Suntec City can hold an event of such scale. The road closure situation looks like it will be truly nightmarish and the convention centre can't possibly hold 16,000 delegates - not to mention security, media, kaypoh people, etc - comfortably. Why are we attempting to show off capacity that we don't possess?

Anyway I've been complaining too much over the last 24 hours so I will stop now. Especially seeing that I will probably have much more reason, if much less energy, to complain over the next seven days.

 posted by zyn :: 11:19 AM :: 3 Comments :: permalink


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