Stealing
Singapore's show
It may be richer but in freedom of speech, 'we're more respected" says Jakarta Post editorial.
Sep 13, 2006

A group of local and international non-governmental organisations appears to have persuaded National Police Chief Gen Sutanto and other senior government officials to alter their previous position on the holding of a forum in Batam next week.

The decision to allow them to hold the forum may have been a reaction to accusations that they were pressured by the Singapore government not to provide an opportunity for international activists to gather in Batam, which is only 30 minutes by ferry from Singapore.

Riau Islands Police had also made it clear they were against the seminar being held in Batam.

Singapore will host IMF-World Bank meetings next week and naturally it wants to ensure there are no disturbances of any kind, including noisy protests from the NGOs.

Who would not be upset by accusations they bowed under pressure, especially by a city-state like Singapore?

On Monday, despite his earlier opposition to the seminar being held in Batam, the National Police chief said it could go ahead, forcing the Riau Islands Police chief to swallow his words.

However, regardless of what caused Sutanto to change his mind, it is for the good of the country.

As the world's 3rd-largest democracy after the US and India, this is an excellent opportunity to reiterate the country's commitment to freedom of speech.

Singapore may be economically stronger than Indonesia but in terms of freedom of speech, Indonesia is in a much more respectable position.

Singapore has allocated about US$86m (about S$130m) to finance next week's meetings to see its ambition of having the world's 3rd-largest foreign exchange market, after London and New York, take shape.

This would make a welcome addition to the island-state's other achievements like being declared the easiest place to invest in on the planet by a World Bank report and its position as the world's 8th largest stock exchange by market capitalisation.

Around 16,000 (updated to 24,000) participants will attend the IMF-World Bank meeting from Sept 19 to 20, which is held outside Washington every three years.

The 184-member IMF's main agenda is to accelerate its internal reform to give bigger power to emerging economies like China, South Korea, Mexico and Turkey following criticism that members from the US and Europe are over-represented in the Fund.

The World Bank has put war ahead of corruption on its priority list for the meeting.

As a close neighbour and the largest economy in the Southeast Asian region, what does Indonesia stand to benefit from the conference?

As a member of the 61-year-old Fund, Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati said Indonesia did not have its own agenda for the meeting but would follow the meeting's prepared agendas.

That is, perhaps, one of the reasons why Sutanto was initially reluctant to allow the NGOs to protest against the IMF-World Bank forum.

Why should he deploy large numbers of police personnel to guard the NGOs' meeting in Batam just because they are banned from protesting in Singapore?

Singapore would get all the glory and money while Indonesia would only draw criticism from the NGOs and local companies in Batam.

Singapore had made it clear it would not allow demonstrations, though it will provide an 8-by-14-meter space in the lobby of the conference venue, Suntec City Convention Center, for demonstrators.

The Singapore meeting may be a perfect opportunity for the host and official participants, but not for civil society.

Restrictive legislation in Singapore continues to curb the freedom of speech of its some four million citizens.

It seems strange that the IMF and the World Bank did not take Singapore's stance on protests into consideration when they selected the country as host in Dubai in 2003.

It is common for multilateral official meetings, like those of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), to be accompanied by parallel meetings of NGOs or separate sessions with NGOs and the multilateral organisations.

Sutanto's decision to allow the NGOs to meet in Batam to counter the IMF-World Bank meeting in Singapore is praiseworthy.

Perhaps this time the NGOs can be more appreciative of the positive change demonstrated by the government.
Jakarta Post