Singapore has long courted international banks and companies in its drive to become a financial hub. However, it is also wooing a very different sector: non-profit groups, including campaign charities.
Singapore has attracted more than 130 “international non-profit organizations” such as the charities Mercy Relief and World Vision International, and the International Air Transport Association, an aviation lobby group.
This is triple the number of regional or global non-profits that were based in Singapore when a campaign to lure them with tax breaks and other incentives started in 2007.
The government says it is keen to broaden Singapore’s international appeal, and tap into a growing environmental and charitable consciousness among its wealthy populace.
However, the welcome does not extend to every campaigning organization that has attempted to set up shop in Singapore, whose no-nonsense government is routinely accused by foreign and local activists of squelching dissent.
Those who have made it in include the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), one of a clutch of non-profits housed in a dedicated three-building complex called the Tanglin International Center.
Elaine Tan, CEO of the Singapore branch of WWF, said the group appreciates the generous allocation of office space in the complex, a luxury hard to find in Singapore’s costly business districts.
“The greenery, and occasional hornbills and monitor lizards, were a bonus. It also offers us a lot more room for future growth,” she said.
Tan said companies were increasingly incorporating sustainability and other environmental measures into their business practices.
“So it makes a lot of sense for Singapore to welcome NGOs, such as WWF, that have a long history of success helping companies reduce their impact on the environment,” she said.
The most recent addition is the global headquarters of Earth Hour, which coordinates a one-hour period every year when cities shut off their lights to show support for action against climate change.
Earth Hour, which is moving to Singapore from Sydney, plans its next annual lights-off event on Saturday.
“We wanted to bring some of the kind of organizational skills and talent we see in Singapore to bear on the operation, on how we run it,” Earth Hour co-founder and executive director Andy Ridley said last month.
Conservation groups Birdlife International and Flora and Fauna International are also scheduled to open offices in Singapore.
“There are several tangible and intangible benefits that we think [international non-profits] bring to Singapore as they go about their work,” said Quek Swee Kuan (郭瑞光), assistant managing director of the Singaporean government’s Economic Development Board.
The groups offer employment and training opportunities for Singaporeans in specific fields like ecology, he said.
This is on top of “intangible” benefits, such as providing international volunteer opportunities for “the increasingly passionate and socially conscious people in Singapore,” Quek said.
However, more radical groups such as Greenpeace, which has a long history of high-profile environmental activism, have so far been shut out.
Greenpeace Southeast Asia director Von Hernandez said he had tried to get the group registered as a company in Singapore in 2010 with the intention of applying for charity status, but it was rejected by authorities.
“No exact reason was given for the disapproval of our application, though I suspect it has to do with our strong position against nuclear energy and the government’s fear that we might agitate local citizens if ever the country’s plans to develop nuclear energy would advance in the future,” he said.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last
US CONSCULTANT: The US Department of Commerce’s Ursula Burns is a rarely seen US government consultant to be put forward to sit on the board, nominated as an independent director Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday nominated 10 candidates for its new board of directors, including Ursula Burns from the US Department of Commerce. It is rare that TSMC has nominated a US government consultant to sit on its board. Burns was nominated as one of seven independent directors. She is vice chair of the department’s Advisory Council on Supply Chain Competitiveness. Burns is to stand for election at TSMC’s annual shareholders’ meeting on June 4 along with the rest of the candidates. TSMC chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) was not on the list after in December last