[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index
][Thread Index
]
URGENT NEWS - Myanmar Makes Arms in
This Singapore Company and the Israeli company MUST be dealt with.
Myanmar Makes Arms in Plant from Singapore -Jane's Report
Reuters
23-JUL-98
SINGAPORE, July 23 (Reuters)- Myanmar's military
government has begun making small arms in a factory built
by a Singapore government-owned company, Jane's
Defence Weekly said in its latest issue.
``Myanmar...has begun manufacturing small arms, and
possibly ordnance, using a prefabricated factory designed
and built by Chartered Industries of Singapore in
conjunction
with Israeli consultants,'' Jane's said in an article on
Wednesday.
The report, if true, would raise eyebrows in Western liberal
democracies and also within the Association of South East
Asian Nations (ASEAN), of which Myanmar and Singapore
are members, analysts said.
With Singapore the next country due to take over the chair
of
ASEAN, people will be paying more attention to its relations
with Myanmar, a Western diplomat told Reuters.
``The reaction from the international community would not be
positive,'' said Sorpong Peou, a fellow at the Institute of
Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore.
Officials at Chartered Industries, a Singapore
government-owned company, could not be reached for
comment on the report.
A Ministry of Defence spokeswoman also had no comment,
saying such a sale would be a commercial matter.
The Jane's report said the purpose-built factory was
produced last year in Singapore before being shipped to
Yangon in February 1998, and would make small arms and
ammunition up to 37 mm in calibre.
An assault rifle or light machine gun would be among the
first
items produced, it said.
Analysts said that while the deal was commercially pragmatic
for Singapore, human rights and security issues were thorny.
Myanmar's military junta has engaged in a series of
conflicts
with minority ethnic groups seeking more autonomy,
although the level of fighting has dwindled in recent years.
The junta has come under fire from human rights groups and
some Western governments for refusing to recognise the
results of the last general election, in May 1990, and
suppressing opposition parties since.
Countries such as the United States and Canada have
imposed trade sanctions on Myanmar, including bars on
military sales.
However, Singapore and various other Southeast Asian
nations have criticised that approach as ineffectual,
supporting instead what they call a policy of constructive
engagement, which includes encouraging trade and
investment.
Asia is a big market for arms manufacturers, and many
countries, including the United States, deal in the region
through offices in Singapore.
Singapore itself makes many of the arms used by its own
military forces and also exports them to other countries.
``We are a major centre for arms trading, this is a known
fact....we buy and sell arms for other people,'' said Chia
Woon Khien, head of Asian research at Skandinaviska
Enskilda Bank.
``A lot of major countries are guilty of doing this sort of
thing,''
she told Reuters, adding it posed ``no cause for alarm.''
She said Singapore was a small country and its involvement
in Myanmar might not draw as much censure as would that
of a larger country.
But some analysts expect the deal to spark discord in
ASEAN.
``Thailand would be against it because the two countries
have cross-border issues anyway. They would not be
happy,'' said one political analyst who declined to be
identified.
``Myanmar is definitely a hot spot within ASEAN.''
Pressure has been building within ASEAN to allow nations
more open comment on member countries' internal affairs
and Thailand has recently been criticised by Myanmar on
this issue.
Thailand is the country most likely to have a strong opinion
about the reported Singapore-Myanmar arms deal, analysts
say. ASEAN foreign ministers meet in the Philippines this
week, where one of the issues is expected to be how much
comment about each other's affairs should be permitted.