The Singapore government has issued a decree that says no to the foreign sponsorship for causes like Pink Dot on Tuesday (June 8).

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on Wednesday evening moved to clarify further questions that ensued from this edict, saying:

1. No action will be taken against anyone for sponsoring causes or events held at Speakers' Corner (like Pink Dot) this year; and

2. MHA will "take further steps, including reviewing the exemption conditions for Speakers’ Corner to make it clear that foreign entities should not fund, sponsor, support or influence such events held at the Speakers’ Corner."

The 15 international companies listed on the Pink Dot sponsorship roll call this year can heave a sigh of relief.

But it really is worth asking "Why now?" because we looked back and see corporate (and multinational companies) sponsors have been supporting Pink Dot for the past six years.

In 2011, there was Google.

In 2012, there were:

- Google

- Barclays

In 2013, they had:

- Google

- Barclays

- CooperVision

- J. P. Morgan

The Gunnery and ParkRoyal are local companies.

And in 2014, the list grew to:

- Google

- Barclays

- CooperVision

- J. P. Morgan

- BP

- Goldman Sachs

Here's what the list of international sponsors looked like in 2015:

- Google

- Barclays

- CooperVision

- J. P. Morgan

- BP

- Goldman Sachs

- Twitter

- Bloomberg

Cathay is a local company too.

With that, we roll into this year's list of sponsors:

- Google

- Barclays

- CooperVision

- J. P. Morgan

- BP

- Goldman Sachs

- Twitter

- Bloomberg

- Apple

- Facebook

- General Electric

- NBCUniversal

- Visa

- Microsoft

- Clifford Chance

Plus a bunch of other local companies you can find here.

And even this year, MHA waited till a few days after the fact to announce, in response to media queries, that they will "take steps to make it clear" that foreign sponsorships are not allowed.

Off the top of our heads, we can think of at least six things that happened over the past six years:

1. One presidential election.

2. Two general elections.

3. Three by-elections.

4. Four major train disruptions (two in 2011, two in 2015) that SMRT was fined at least $1 million for.

5. Five (at least) Lee Kuan Yew-related books published (My Lifelong Challenge Singapore's Bilingual Journey [2011], One Man's View of the World [2013], The Big Ideas of Lee Kuan Yew [2014], LKY: A Pictorial Memoir [2015], Up Close With Lee Kuan Yew [2016]).

6. Oh, and six Pink Dots.

Top photo from Pink Dot SG's Facebook page.

If you like what you read, follow us on Facebook and Twitter to get the latest updates.