Building a Civic Society

Before I left for Myanmar, the Singapore International Foundation (SIF) manager for Myanmar passed me a list of non-government organizations (NGOs) in Myanmar, all of which are based in Europe or the United States. I am shocked that there wasn’t a single Asian NGO on the list or is there an Asian NGO in the first place? In Singapore, the SIF is the sole agency which finances and organizes overseas projects like ours. However, if one were to put their regulations and objects under close scrutiny, it will not be too difficult to realize that the “international” in its name is a misnomer and it is far from being an NGO.

An NGO is representative of the civil society and not the government. In reality, the SIF is a pseudo-government organization under the Ministry of Information, Communication and Arts. The fundamental goal of SIF is to serve the interests of Singaporeans instead of the people it purports to help, by enabling Singaporeans to think globally and be responsible world citizens. The government had the foresight to initiate the formation of the SIF in the 1990s, having realized that an increasingly restless and globalized younger generation’s tendency to travel widely in the world. Programmes under the SIF are meant, in a subtle sense, to monitor the activities of Singaporeans overseas and to curtail and filter out any potential radical ideas. Yes, they want to expose young Singaporeans to the outside world, but only the official sanctioned view is allowed. Our project was initially supposed to be a Youth Expedition Project (YEP) under the SIF, but the partnership didn’t materialize in the end due to irreconcilable differences in our agenda. There are many regulations we need to comply with if the project is to be a YEP. There must be a minimum of 20 participants who are either Singaporeans or PRs, the project duration has to be 18 days or more to qualify for the funding and an expedition leader and facilitator are required to attend courses. It will not be feasible to alter the model of our project in order to fit into the SIF’s model. I feel the YEP’s guidelines are useful and important as long it serves its objectives, but the more important humanitarian aspect of our project does not fulfill its criteria. The urgent task at hand is to supply the medical center with a temporary store of drugs and medical equipment for a few years. The adage “empower people to teach them how to fish” does not apply where the people are even too weak to take up a fishing rod!

The SIF is a product of Singapore’s rigid and uncompromising political system and is a reflection of the nation’s citizenry. We are a developed country economically, but we are far from being developed politically and socially. The right to govern and participate in nation-building belong to all Singaporeans, yet the power to do so remains only in the hands of one party. This is modern feudalism in disguise. Views and information are controlled and only one official version is allowed to exist. There is a systematic indoctrination by the daily papers to present an acceptable version of reality to the populace and to “facilitate” their thinking to the politically correct version. Creative and independent thought are not encouraged unless you “are one of them”. Initiatives started by individuals are seldom given the requisite support or due recognition till it become so “prominent” that the whole island knows about it and the government has little choice but to “subsume” it under one of its ministries, just take, the BP mentorship scheme, for example.

We must be independent in our thinking and not be cajoled into thinking along only one official line like a parrot repeating and mimicking what others say. Our civil society is terribly weak compared to Hong Kong, Taiwan or even Malaysia. We have been well trained since young to listen and to follow and not to think and lead. Any organization that is “non-government” is frowned upon with suspicion and man of capability either belongs to the private sector where they are only interested in making money or the ruling party where everybody will be trained to think along the party lines eventually. In fact, there is no NGO here at all. We have in its place Voluntary Welfare Organizations (VWO) which are of course registered with the government under the monitoring of the National Council of Social Service. The ruling party keeps lamenting the dearth of talent willing to step forward to serve Singapore. The political cynicism which has grown to envelop the nation is inevitably a result of its own doings. For the country to develop, we must open up more free space in the civil society, to encourage more Singaporeans to participate in nation-building which is not a government-initiated Singapore 21 and all follow blindly. It is another sorrowful case of “This is my idea and all you need to do is to listen and follow with no questions asked.” The era of communist insurgencies and communal riots is long gone, but the government is still stuck in a siege mentality, fervently protecting its turf and sphere of influence, refusing to bulge even an inch and stifling out any dissident voices which may become loud enough to disturb their peace. Even as I write, I dare not I say I’m doing so without a bit of trepidation or reservation. We are now in a new millennium. The world is a different place from where it is 50 years ago and Singapore is now an independent nation not another British colony struggling to find its place in the new world order. We are playing at a different playing field altogether now. Are we braced to face and cope with the challenges that lie ahead of us?