Responding to MPs’ questions, Foreign Minister Balakrishnan admitted that 91 Singapore entities are supplying various goods to Myanmar’s armed forces despite the 1 February 2021 coup. He added that Singapore has no intention of blocking “legitimate trade with Myanmar”.
Singapore (AsiaNews) - The military junta in power in Myanmar since the coup of 1 February 2021 continues to benefit from trade relations with several countries, including Singapore, a hub for the flows of goods and capital for much of Asia.
In a reply to questions from some lawmakers, Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan owned up that Singapore has not enforced a strict embargo against Myanmar, as requested by much of the international community.
He confirmed that 91 Singapore-based companies have supplied goods to Myanmar’s armed forces, which are responsible for the death of 3,500 people and the detention of another 22,000, including the country’s democratically elected officials, like Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Aung San Suu Kyi, historic leader of the nonviolent movement against dictatorship.
Before the minister’s revelation, UN Special Rapporteur for Myanmar Tom Andrews had provided an initial list of 47 Singapore entities involved with Myanmar’s military.
Minister Balakrishnan added that the government would seek more information on any transactions, to ascertain in particular any possible purchase or manufacture of weapons in connection with Myanmar.
Nonetheless, he also stressed “that it is not the Singapore Government’s policy intention to block legitimate trade with Myanmar”. In the minister’s view, “Doing so would further set back the country’s development and exacerbate the suffering of the civilian population of Myanmar”.
In 2022, trade between the two countries was worth US$ 4.3 billion.
Singapore’s dilemma is that, like Myanmar, it is a member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), but it cannot stop the crackdown in that country even though the military regime continues to get goods essential for its survival, often made or sold by other ASEAN members.
In his report, Special Rapporteur Andrews notes that goods worth US$ 254 million went from Singapore to Myanmar in the past two years and that arms salesmen widely use Singapore banks, this despite’s city-state’s stated commitment to stop the flow of weapons to Myanmar and its opposition in principle to the use of lethal force against unarmed civilians.
Photo: Flickr / John