ONE Singapore and the fight against poverty

from Radio Singapore International

Can we eradicate poverty within our lifetime?

According to Michael Switow, President of One Singapore, we definitely can.

MS: Yes, that is it. We will see it in our life time. That is what we believe. We’re about eradicating extreme poverty within one generation. Other generations have had their struggles like slavery, apartheid; our generation has what we see as poverty. We have the means to end poverty if we have fair trade rules, if we have more and better overseas assistance, if we fight corruption in countries where it exists, if we had more transparency and fewer regulations, if we encourage entrepreneurship, these things which Singapore has done very well. Let’s implement these things globally and we can make poverty history in our life time. And we can transform the hopes and future of an entire generation.

This week in The Asian Journal, we explore One Singapore’s ‘Make Poverty History’ campaign and why it is time for Asia and the rest of the world to take a stand.

Welcome to the program, I’m Justin Teo.

Many of us remember the rallies and concerts for the Make Poverty History campaign over the past two years which featured rock stars and NGOs fighting against the causes of poverty.

One Singapore aims to build on that momentum and create awareness and action amongst Singaporeans and friends in the region to eradicate world poverty.

Michael Switow from One Singapore tells us more about this new organization in the Lion City.

MS: One Singapore is an organization dedicated to building public awareness and taking concrete actions in making poverty history. We live in a time where we have the means and ability to transform the hopes of an entire generation. There’s enough food to feed the hungry. There are resources to combat illnesses like AIDS and malaria; we have the means. And one by one, we can change the world and eradicate poverty within a generation. And this is not some idea which we came up with. In 2000, leaders from 189 countries including Singapore signed the Millennium declaration which is a set of time-bound objective targets to eradicate extreme poverty within one generation and eradicate by 2025. So what we want to do is to hold world leaders to their commitments and to their promises because right now we are lagging behind and we want to make sure that we do eliminate poverty within a generation. . Because afterwards you don’t want to have to say that we stood by and did nothing while children died when we could have done something.

So how successful has One Singapore been in pushing its projects out to the masses?

MS: In terms of raising awareness across the region, I think it’s been pretty phenomenal. We’re just getting started in Singapore, we’ve been here for just a year now and we’re definitely making inroads but let me just give you an example. There was an event in mid-October called Stand Up Against Poverty. The idea was that over a period of 24 hours, people would stand up and take a declaration calling on leaders of the world, rich and poor alike, to do the right thing and do what’s needed to make poverty history. 23.5 million people stood up and called on world leaders to make poverty history and I’ll tell you one interesting thing, 18 million of those people were here in Asia. So in terms of public awareness, that’s the largest group of people ever that have been mobilized in a social cause. And this has been marked down in the Guinness Book of World Records.

One Singapore recently organized a 24-hour football tournament to raise awareness of global poverty issues.

Dr. Lim Wee Kiat, Member of Parliament for Sembawang GRC in Singapore, opened the event and I caught up with him to hear his views on global poverty.

LWK: One Singapore is new as an organization here but I think it is great that they are trying to raise global awareness starting off firstly in Singapore. Our youths here are very comfortable living in Singapore with things like transport, healthcare, shelter over our heads and such, there really is no doubt that we have enough here. But many are unaware of what is happening overseas. Singaporeans are becoming more aware of the global environment through education, through the Internet and through organizations like this. I think it is good that our youths get the social consciousness now to realize that we’re not alone in this world now, to realize that we have neighbors and that we have regions where people still live in poverty. I hope through organizations like One Singapore, the message will be passed down and more Singaporeans will take pro-active efforts to eradicate poverty not just locally but globally because every little action helps.

One reason why there are so many cynics in the fight against poverty is because no solutions have been successful in eradicating poverty and they believe none will.

But Dr. Lim believes otherwise.

LWK: No, I think whatever the cynics have been saying, rather than just saying, I think it is time for a bit of action. Even if it is to help just one poor family, just help. Every single drop of aid counts so if everyone chips in, we’ll make oceans at the end of the day. I think the key solution now is to pass on to the leaders just as how the One Singapore pledge was recited on the stage earlier; it is very useful to remind world leaders of their promises and their pledges to help the poor countries. Likewise for leaders of the poor countries, they have to do their best to eradicate corruption. They’ve got to promote education and improve living standards for the masses at the end of the day. These are the key measures that will help the global poverty environment at the end of the day. But our little efforts will count because leaders will take heed of what the youths are thinking of. So youths are a very powerful force, starting from actions like what One Singapore is taking; it will impact of our leaders and likewise on the leaders of the other countries.

Poverty is widespread everywhere, even in first world and developed nations.

So which region in the world requires the most assistance in fighting poverty?

LWK: In the recent IMF World Bank meetings itself, they listed out the world’s poorest countries and I believe many of them come from Africa. They have problems politically and with issues like the environment where there are droughts and natural disasters. So they have their fair share of problems. I certainly hope that IMF, World and countries around the world can give these states some help. It is very sad to see in rich countries like the United States and countries in Europe protectionism and trade imbalances that results in ‘food dumping’ because they cannot be sold. I mean food resources could have been diverted to these poor countries.

As part of Singapore’s parliament, Dr. Lim has attended overseas conferences for parliamentarians, including those involving Commonwealth nations.

So how do African parliamentarians view this fight against poverty, especially with so much focus on Africa itself?

Dr. Lim explains.

LWK: I think within themselves they are very frustrated at their own political impasse. They know that their own political system is not perfect. The main problem which I see now is corruption. They have unchecked corruption within the system. Even good parliamentarians sometimes have no choice. I met a parliamentarian, I won’t mention which country she’s from, and she told me she was new to her parliament. I told her I was new too. She told me she had a problem when this company came to her province and wanted to get the mining rights for some minerals. The company was willing to give her US$3 million for this contract. But the company told her that even if she didn’t accept the bribe, her prime minister will take it. So it was up to her whether she takes it or the prime minister takes it. So she told me that she had no choice but to accept the bribe and use it to start a fund to help the poor. But it is sort of robbing her own country of minerals and resources at the end of the day. It’s quite sad because she herself as a lone parliamentarian has no power against the rest of the government. So when I heard about her story I feel quite lucky with what we have here and parliamentarians here need not face with such dilemmas.

The fight against poverty is a long and hard one. But there can be an end to it and it can be a good one.

You can contribute to the cause by joining One Singapore and volunteering your time or resources. You can also take a stand by wearing a white band or hosting a website banner to raise awareness.

Or you could simply tell a friend about the fight against poverty.

Visit onesingapore.org for more information.