Singapore PM Keep denying.....Singapore’s arms sales to Myanmar not substantial

By vusi October 24, 2007
The Straits Times (Singapore):

Singapore’s military sales and economic links with Myanmar were in the spotlight as MPs yesterday pressed for details and asked for tougher action, including sanctions against the junta.But Foreign Minister George Yeo, responding in Parliament, cautioned against applying more pressure, saying that sanctions or expelling Myanmar from Asean would make national reconciliation there harder to achieve.

The Myanmar issue dominated the question-and-answer session at Parliament’s sitting, with Mr Yeo responding to questions from seven MPs and a slew of follow-ups that came thick and fast.

Speaking in calm and measured tones, Mr Yeo told Ms Irene Ng (Tampines GRC), Nominated MP Siew Kum Hong and Non-Constituency MP Sylvia Lim that Singapore had few defence interactions with Myanmar.

Links had to be maintained with the military as it was a key institution there. But these were limited to a multilateral level, such as international meetings.
And while Singapore’s established policy has been not to divulge details of defence sales, he said that over the years, defence sales to Myanmar had not been substantial.

These had always ‘been carefully limited to items that are not suitable for countering civilian unrest’, he said. ‘There have not been any defence sales to Myanmar in recent years and, going forward, we will continue to behave in a responsible manner.’

There is no arms embargo against Myanmar, but Mr Yeo said Singapore would comply should there be one sanctioned by the United Nations. There was also ‘no truth’ to claims that Singapore helped set up a listening facility to monitor civil dissidents.
The Government had replied to The Age newspaper, and made repeated clarifications to Australian newspapers, but these were ignored.

Economic links with Myanmar were also limited. Trade last year amounted to $1 billion, or 0.1 per cent of Singapore’s total trade. Myanmar was 50th among trading partners, and cumulative total direct investments by Singapore firms at the end of 2005 was just $742 million.

‘Our policy on Myanmar does not hinge on this,’ he said, referring to trade and economic links. ‘Instead, our actions are guided by what is best for the long-term interests of Asean.’ Mr Yeo also reminded the House that the Monetary Authority of Singapore operated a strict regime against money laundering and procedures were in place to deal with suspicious transactions.

Regional and global attention has focused on developments in Myanmar after the junta’s recent crackdown on peaceful demonstrators and MPs wanted to how Singapore and Asean were responding. His key point to MPs on dealing with the Myanmar situation was to underscore the importance of staying engaged - even as Singapore and Asean register their strong concerns to the government.

The priority must be to support UN special envoy Ibrahim Gambari’s efforts, and ‘it is important that whatever actions we take strengthen his hand and not make his already complicated task more difficult’, he said.

Cutting links with Myanmar would only give short-term satisfaction. ‘If we in Asean boycott Myanmar, we would lose our moral influence which is not insignificant. Such an approach would only worsen the long-term position for us,’ he said. ‘In any case, the preference of all the Asean countries is to continue to engage Myanmar, and keeping it in the family. This is certainly Singapore’s position.