By Peter S. Goodman
Washington Post Foreign Service
Saturday, September 16, 2006; D01
SINGAPORE, Sept. 16 -- The chiefs of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, here for a gathering of financial leaders, sharply rebuked the host government on Friday for barring the entry of 27 accredited members of anti-poverty and environmental organizations. They accused Singapore of breaking an agreement to open its doors.
"Enormous damage has been done," said World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz, who characterized Singapore's stance as "authoritarian" during a town hall meeting with members of international aid and development groups. "A lot of that damage has been done to Singapore, and it's self-inflicted. It's a violation of our understanding."
Late Friday, Singapore relented in part, announcing that it would allow in 22 of the people on the list. That decision came after Wolfowitz and IMF Managing Director Rodrigo de Rato complained to Singapore's prime minister, Lee Hsien Loong. But many activists derided the change as too late, assailing the World Bank and IMF for selecting as its venue this island state with strict controls on free assembly.
In recent years, several meetings of world finance heads have been disrupted by groups advocating for a host of causes, from the plight of the poor to threatened sea turtles. This year's meetings may be remembered for the action on the other side of the barricades: Intent on maintaining law and order, Singapore has unleashed an intense and ubiquitous security force of 10,000 to protect 16,000 delegates.
The area surrounding the Suntec International Convention and Exhibition Centre, where the meetings are being held, feels like a city under siege, with hotels hemmed in by security checkpoints denying access to most vehicles. Many streets are closed. Blue-uniformed police and metal detectors seem to outnumber participants on the conference hall floor.
Activists, joined by World Bank and IMF leaders, say Singapore has gone overboard, turning an event that was supposed to showcase its modernity and friendly demeanor -- "Four Millions Smiles," reads a banner draped across the Suntec entrance -- into an example of its authoritarian ways.
"I've never seen anything like this," said Taylor Thompson, here from Washington with the aid group Oxfam. "We should hold these meetings in less restrictive environments."
The controversy over access paradoxically stems from an initiative by the World Bank and IMF to be more inclusive: Addressing criticisms that they have been insensitive to the poor and the environment, the two institutions have publicly embraced the participation of what are known as "civil society" organizations focusing on these issues. They accredited 700 people from such groups to attend the meetings.
But on Sept. 5, the Singaporean government wrote to the World Bank to complain that it had security problems with 19 people who had been accredited, and later said the number had grown to 27, a bank official said. Eleven were from Indonesia, nine from the Philippines, and the rest from India, Italy, Thailand, Belgium and Britain. Singapore provided little information about the nature of the alleged threat.
In recent days, scores of people have been detained on arrival and questioned at the Singapore airport for several hours, according to World Bank officials and activists.
"These people are researchers, economists, people with MBAs," said Eric Gutierrez, a South African activist with Action Aid.
The government denied activist groups permission to demonstrate outdoors and created a protest site inside the Suntec center. It's a roped-off area about the size of a squash court.
There, on Friday afternoon, some two dozen members of a coalition called Global Call to Action Against Poverty lined up single file and passed through a security cordon, handing over their accreditation badges for scanning. They entered the space and stood silently, masks over their mouths emblazoned with letters NO VOICE.
Many of the activists then went upstairs to the town hall meeting, the crowd numbering about 200. Up went the hand of Roberto Bissio, attending from Uruguay and representing a group called Social Watch.
"Under these conditions, how can we talk about corruption and governance?" he asked. "The basic rules of the host country are being blatantly violated."
"I share fully your distress with this," Wolfowitz said. "We had a clear agreement."
"But what are you doing about it?" Bissio demanded.
"We are saying very strongly in public what we think about it," Wolfowitz said. "If you have other suggestions . . . "
Bissio offered one: Move the meeting "somewhere where it can be held openly."
Wolfowitz demurred, then looked to his IMF counterpart for support.
"This is a very serious matter," de Rato said. "I have expressed my views to the government."
Bissio got up and walked out, taking about two dozen people with him. "They ultimately won't take action," he said, referring to Wolfowitz and de Rato. "The credibility of the bank and the fund is at stake."