Why Lee Kyan Yee support SLOC --

[tun@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

A strange kind of non-interference
22.6.96/The Nation

Perhaps Lee Kuan yew did anticipate what the impact of his
comments would be. But just the same, supporters of Burma's
opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi were outraged last week when
he said that it would be better for the Nobel Prize laureate to
remain a political symbol.

In response, Burmese students burned an effigy of Lee in New
Delhi. In Thailand they sent a letter to Singapore's former prime
minister, demanding a public apology from him. More protests are
planned.

Speaking at a rare conference recently, Lee had said, If I were
Aung San Suu Kyi, I think I'd rather be behind a fence and be a
symbol than be found impotent to lead the country." Lee also said
that Burma could collapse "like Bosnia" into various parts
because of outside pressure.

"I have visited the place and I know that there is only one
instrument of government, and that is the army," he said.

Burmese dissidents in exile said Lee's comments were "an insult
to the Burmese people." In an open letter to the 71-year old Lee,
five student groups wrote: "The support for [Suu Kyi] by the
people was clearly expressed in the 1990 election and is evident
now in the increasingly growing gatherings in front of her
residence."

The letter asked Lee to "recognise the crucial importance of
active participation in politics". 

It described Lee's comments as a "preposterous contradiction",
voicing his opinion about Suu Kyi, while the Singaporean
government "is saying they do not want to interfere in Burma's
affairs".

The letter said several countries, and Singapore in particular,
are turning a blind eye to human rights abuses perpetrated by
Burma's military government, which is officially known as the
State Law and Order Restoration Council (Slorc). It called on
Singapore to end trade with Burma and stop alleged arms sales to
the Slorc.

Military assistance

According to defence analysts, Singapore was the first country to
supply adequate arms and ammunition to Burma's current crop of
military leaders when they came to power. Since 1998, the
analysts noted, Singapore has provided radar equipment, mortars,
ammunition for 84mm recoilless guns, automatic rifles, and raw
material for arms manufacturing.

In effect, Singapore was one of the first states to come to
assistance of the pariah regime.

Soon after it staged a bloody coup in 1988, the junta faced
difficulties. The most immediate danger came from the ethnic
insurgencies, whose rebellion was bolstered by the urban-led
democracy uprising and whose ranks were swelled by many students
and activists who fled to the jungle.

One source of quick relief came in October 1998, shortly after
the Slorc was established.

In a port in Rangoon, workers saw boxes marked "Allied Ordnance,
Singapore" being unloaded from two vessels of Burma's Five Star
Shipping Line and onto about 70 army trucks bound for the
Mingalodon military area.

Areport, TransformingtheTatmadaw: The Burmese Armed Forces since
1988, which was published by the Strategic and Defence Studies
Centre in Canberra, said "These shipments reportedly included
mortars, ammunition, raw material for Burma's arms factories. The
consignment also contained 84mm rockets for the Tatmadaw's M2
Carl Gustav recoilless guns, which were supplied by Sweden-based
Forenade Fabriksverken (FFV)

The shipment thus violated an agreement under which the original
export license had been granted, requiring that any re-exports
only be made with the permission of the Swedish government.

Rangoon's economic policies under strongman Gen Ne Win had been
such a spectacular failure that by 1987 Burma was accorded Least
Developed Country status. Moreover, shortly after the massacre
in 1988, international aid programmes were frozen and foreign
exchange was drying up.

The junta leaders faced strong domestic opposition but were
determined to survive. Bangkok-based analysts suggested that the
first shipment was likely to have been a barter deal.

The first arms shipments made in the months immediately following
the 1988 massacres did not significantly alter the structure or
military capabilities of the Tatmadaw.


"They simply replenished the army's dwindling reserves and gave
the Slorc greater confidence that it could retain its iron grip
on power, even in the event of renewed outbreaks of popular
unrest in Burma's population centres," Australian defence analyst
Andrew Selth wrote in the report.

Again, in August 1989, more munitions arrived in Rangoon by ship
from Israel and Belgium via Singapore. This was, according to
Selth, assisted by SKS Marketing a newly-formed Singapore-based
joint venture with the Burmese military regime.

The shipments included second-hand 40mm RPG-2 grenade launchers
and 57mm anti-tank guns of Eastern Europe origin.

Selth noted Singaporean companies are thought to have sold the
Slorc M16A1 automatic rifles and 5.56mm ammunition in defiance of
US export laws. With these and more military assistance provided
by Singapore and other countries such as Pakistan, Poland and
China, the Slorc's confidence was boosted and the Tatmadaw was
better able to resist the pressures being applied by the ethnic
insurgent groups, communists and dissidents based around the
country's rugged periphery.

In the recent years, China has provided not only military
hardware but also assistance and training to Tatmadaw officers.

Additionally, according to the report, Singapore also provided
training for a Burmese army parachute unit.

Selth's report noted: "The Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) have
developed a very close relationship with the Tatmadaw since 1988.
They have provided training [in Singapore] for a Burmese army
parachute display team and there have even been reports that SAF
units have been seen in Burma itself. It is also possible that
Singaporean companies have provided training packages with
computer equipment which they are thought to be installing in the
Burmese Defence Ministry.

"It is understood that Singapore may also be training Burmese
military personnel in the use of modern information technology
systems and other electronic equipment being provided to the
Tatmadaw by Singaporean companies."     

Ajournalist based in the region, Bertil Linter, said, "In any
event, the firepower of the Burmese army has increased
considerably [since 1988] in Rangoon, and especially on the
battlefront frontier areas. It has also contributed to the
military's ability to reassert its power."

Special ties with Ne Win

Analysts also noted Lee personally knew former dictator Ne Win.
That's one reason Lee defended the regime, they said.

Ne Win went to Singapore in 1994 for medication. Soon after, a
rumour emerged that Ne Win met Lee. If it was true, it wasn't
the first time.

"It is quite possible that they have met before because they have
known each other since the 1960s," said a Burma watcher in
Bangkok.

In 1986, Lee visited Rangoon where he said. "Burma-Singapore
relations have been close and friendly. No problems have
disrupted the even tenor of our relations.

During the state dinner hosted by then prime minister Maung Maung
Kha, Lee did not forget to mention his old friend. My first visit
to Rangoon was in April 1962, when I got to know Gen Ne Win. Our
friendship has grown these last two-and a-half decades."

Again, Lee's most recent remarks will be much appreciated by
Burma's generals, including Ne Win himself.

Business links

Singaporean leaders and businessmen see Burma as a land of
opportunity. Burma is Singapore's latest and most promising
hinterland after Malaysia.

According to Singapore's Trade Development Board, as of 1995,
total Singaporean investment in Burma had surged to US$603
million (Btl5.075 billion).

While some US companies are pulling s out of Burma, Singapore's
companies are apparently prospering. Singaporean companies are
building hotels, supermarkets and parks and are also buying and
selling seafood, timber and rubber.

Last week AP-Dow Jones quoted Singaporean businessman Ty Thiam
Peng saying that trade with Burma grew 40 per cent last year to
$1.2 billion and could reach $1.5 billion this year. Tay said
without constructive engagement, the economic situation in Burma
is not likely to move fast, and without growth development in
other areas will also lag.

Lee's successor, Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong, visited Burma in
1994, a time when Burma's prisons were filled with political
prisoners and the junta was committing serious human rights
violations throughout the country.

After he met powerful leaders Gen Than  Shwe and Lt Gen Khin
Nyunt, Goh defended Asean's constructive engagement policy with
Burma. He said isolation will not work but stressed the
international community can help Burma by engaging in
constructive dialogue.

But the question remains: How is Goh's constructive dialogue
working in Burma? The junta has stepped up its heavy-handed
manner with the opposition in recent months and two weeks ago
introduced new laws to give it more power to crush the opposition
led by Suu Kyi.

Burma's dissidents believe that growing foreign investment in the
country has encouraged the junta leaders to stay in power. "They
have money, power and guns so they can do whatever they want,"
said Aung Saw Oo, an exiled former member of the opposition
National League for I Democracy (NLD).

Goh's Burma visit sowed the seeds for a strong business
connection. Since then the Singaporean government has sent at
least 17 trade missions and the country is now Burma's
second-largest trading partner. Singapore's Trade Development
Board (TDB) opened a trade office in Rangoon to cement the closer
economic links, This office m Burma is the TDB's 31st over seas
office and its 19th in Asia.

Analysts in Rangoon said many businessmen from the tiny island
are establishing a strong and friendly relationship with Burma's
leaders and business community. Burma's current military leaders
are impressed with Singapore's economic growth under hardline
rule.

But Burma's democracy supporters are unhappy with Singapore's
money-making attitude.

Aung Saw Oo was quite upset when he learned about Lee's comments.
He pointed out that during the recent crackdown L and detention
of NLD members the Singaporean leader didn't speak out. His first
comments were in response to news that two special envoys from
the US were coming to the region to drum up support for the NLD.

A Burmese writer who attended the business conference held in
Rangoon said, "Singapore's businessmen and officials are
concerned about making profits and nothing else."

Sources also said that notorious Burmese drug traffickers Lin
Mingsian, also known as Sai Lin, and former drug trafficker Lo
Hsing-han have visited Singapore many times. Lin Mingxian is one
of the biggest heroin traffickers in eastern Shan State. But
since he cut a deal with the regime in Rangoon in 1989 he has
been allowed to continue doing his dirty business, analysts t
said. He is a former member of the Communist Party of Burma,
which has reached a ceasefire agreement with the junta.

Ironicaly, Singapore is a most vociferous advocate of harsh
penalties for drug traffickers. 

And yet those involved in the war against drug trafficking widely
believe that Lin Mingsian and Lo Hsing-han have established and
opened companies in Singapore d as a way of possibly laundering
drug s money.

In any case, not surprisingly, Lee's remarks were republished in
publications ' that serve as the Slorc's official mouthpiece. e,
The Rangoon generals are quite happy with Lee's "intervention".
But last week the war began between Lee and Burma's democrats.

Aung Zaw is a freelance journalist. He contributed this story to
The Nation.

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Typed by the Research Department of the ABSDF - 22.6.96
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