Singapore Dino: Singapore Govt. & Burma

Singapore Dino: Spare us the fake disappointment: S'pore govt is such good friends with Burmese junta

The Singapore government released this statement in response to the rejection of Aung San Suu Kyi appeal by the junta's court.

"It is of course very disappointing that her appeal did not succeed. A dialogue among the Myanmar authorities, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and all other political groups ahead of this year's elections offers the best prospects for national reconciliation and the long-term political stability of Myanmar. We believe that all Myanmars, irrespective of political affiliation, must share these goals which are also in the interests of the entire region. We thus hope that the Myanmar authorities will, in their own interests, allow her to participate in the political process in a meaningful way as soon as possible.

We understand that Daw Aung San Suu Kyi's lawyers intend to make a "Special Appeal" to the Supreme Court as the last stage of the appeals process. We trust that this will be heard expeditiously. We should not give up hope for a different result until the legal process has run its entire course."

I think that our government can spare us the fake disappointment. It is no secret that the government has extensive ties with the Burmese junta and its cronies. There is even evidence that Singapore supplied weapons to crush rebellions and provided a safe haven for the generals to stash their loot stolen from the Burmese people.

This report by Jane's Intelligence Review in 1998 details the weapons and other materials supplied by Singapore.

1. Exporting rockets, mortars and ammunition manufactured under licence by Chartered Industries (predecessor of Singapore Technologies) without export clearance from Sweden in 1988.

2. Exporting anti-tank guns and grenade launchers originating from Belgium and Israel using a company known as SKS Marketing in 1989.

3. Brokering illegal sales between Burmese military and weapons dealers.

An article published in the Sydney Morning Herald in 2007 detailed the extensive ties between Singapore and Burmese cronies. Major points highlighted were:

1. Providing Burma with a cyber-warfare centre to spy on dissidents

2. Training Burma's secret police

3. Providing weapons through Singapore Technologies

4. Allowing junta cronies to open shell companies in Singapore to launder money

5. Providing a safe haven for druglord Lo Hsing Han's son to operate a "trading" business and another crony Tay Za to run his Air Bagan airline and enrol his son in an international school here.

And as the ultimate insult to Aung San Suu Kyi, the government honoured the soldier illegally occupying her rightful position as Prime Minister, Thein Sein, with an orchid named after him.

So the government cannot talk crap about being "disappointed" with the verdict by the sham court when it is happily in bed with the junta.