Minister for Foreign Affairs George Yeo called on State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) Secretary-1 Lieutenant-General (LG) Thein Sein in Nay Pyi Taw on 3 April 2007.
During the meeting, LG Thein Sein briefed Minister Yeo on the domestic developments in Myanmar, outlining the national reconciliation and economic development efforts. LG Thein Sein and Minister Yeo also discussed bilateral relations, reaffirming the longstanding ties between the two countries. In addition, they exchanged views on closer bilateral economic exchanges, particularly in the area of trade and investment. LG Thein Sein said that Myanmar could be a long-term supplier of sand, cement, granite and other construction materials to Singapore. He also encouraged more Singapore companies to invest in Myanmar.
During the meeting, Minister Yeo also conveyed an invitation letter from President S R Nathan to SPDC Chairman and Commander-in-Chief of Defence Services Senior General Than Shwe to visit Singapore.
In the evening, Minister Yeo met the Singaporean Community at a reception held in the Singapore Embassy in Yangon.
Singapore’s Democratic Party Leader Dr Chee Soon Juan, left, and his party members stand outside the Istana or Presidential Palace during a protest, Monday Oct. 8, 2007 in Singapore. The SDP leader with his team have held several protests against the violence in Myanmar and have also used this oppotunity to submit a letter addressed to Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong which calls for the Singapore Government to reveal the extent of its dealings with the Burmese military and its cronies. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E)
Singapore’s Democratic Party Leader Dr Chee Soon Juan, left, and his party members stand outside the Istana or Presidential Palace during a protest as they are asked by a policeman to leave the premises, Monday Oct. 8, 2007 in Singapore. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E)
At around 1:50 pm. the SDP’s four-person representation was arrested by Singapore’s plain-clothed police once they began their protest in front of the Istana.
Each holding one placard with the words: “No Deals”, “No Arms”, “with the Junta” and “Free Burma”, they are consisted of SDP’s chairman, Mr Gandhi Ambalam, Secretary-General, Dr Chee Soon Juan, Asst Secretary-General, Mr John Tan, and its CEC member, Ms Chee Siok Chin.
They have been taken to the police vans waiting nearby.
At 11:00 am this morning, the SDP team was at the Myanmar Embassy to hand its petition to the Ambassador, U Win Myint.
About 1,107 signatures have been gathered for the petition during the one week period starting from 30 Sept, Sunday, until yesterday evening.
The Ambassador refused to come out and accept the petition himself. After a long wait, one of the embassy staff finally showed up at the gate.
SDP’s chairman, Mr Gandhi Ambalam, began to read out the letter of petition, “Dear Sir, It is with disgust that we learn about the murderous assault on the Burmese people…” Before he could finished reading the first sentence, the staff abruptly interrupted him and said, “No. We cannot accept this petition.” He then turned his back and walked straight back to the embassy.
Singapore’s plain-clothed policemen were also present with their video cameras to film the event.
Chee Soon Juan’s sister, Chee Siok Chin, arrested and brought to a police van (Photo: TOC)
THE mystery of what happened to Burma’s saffron army, the thousands of monks who inspired a nation to rise up against a brutal regime, then vanished overnight, has been unlocked.
Taken from their monasteries in a wave of midnight raids, they have been held in primitive, humiliating conditions designed to break them down physically, emotionally and spiritually.
The account of an 18-year-old novice, who was taken from the Mingalar Rama monastery in Rangoon, reveals that while the military may be in physical control, the monks still wield a powerful spiritual weapon.
He said soldiers at the Government Technical Institute in Insein, one of four detention centres set up to handle the thousands of people arrested, broke down in tears when monks warned them they would go to hell for the way they had treated the detainees.
The treatment that has angered the monks includes lack of medical care, lack of sanitation, brutality in detention and disrespect for the Buddhist robes.
In seven days of detention, monks and civilians who were injured during the fighting received no medical attention, the young monk said.
“One monk from Nywe Kyar Yan monastery, you could see the bone in his arm but they never treated it,” he said.
Another monk who had hurt an eye in fighting had now lost it. Three civilians who did not receive medical attention died at the technical institute, the young monk said.
The monk was taken by the junta at 4am on September 27. “The soldiers invited us to come and have breakfast with them. We knew it was not breakfast, but we did not fight them like they did at Nywe Kyar Yan,” he said. The monastery’s 99 monks were put in canvas-covered army trucks and taken straight to the Government Technical Institute, close to Insein prison, where political prisoners are detained for decades at a time.
Once there, the monks were put in rooms where they had to sit in lines, cross-legged without moving, hands clasped at the back of their necks, heads bowed in the submission pose.
They were beaten if they looked up or, as they became weaker, if they toppled over.
“Some soldiers were told by the monks, ‘you are committing a very serious crime, serious enough to go to hell’. Some of them were crying, saying they were just doing what they were told,” the young monk said.
On day two of the detention, the monks were ordered to take off their robes and wear the traditional Burmese dress of shirt and longyi, a type of sarong. For a monk to change to civilian clothes is to break faith with Buddha.
The prisoners were given one meal a day, a small amount of water and no toilet facilities over seven days.
He estimated there were at least 1000 monks in the area where he was detained, most from Nywe Kyar Yan and other Rangoon monasteries, but he believed other areas on the campus were also being used to house more prisoners.
“After a week, some monks were very weak; their hands were trembling,” the monk said.
The only time the monks were allowed to move was when they were called for interrogation. Then soldiers would come into the hall and call for 10 people, not by name, but randomly.
The monks would be taken to another room where they would squat, heads still bowed in the submission pose before a table of 10 plain-clothes interrogators.
They were asked about their participation in protests, their background, whether they had been involved in earlier protests, details about their families, their names, work and where they lived.
“When you were being interrogated, if you don’t say things straight, they will hit you,” the monk said. “Some monks admitted it, but most didn’t. Most said they were not in it.”
Each prisoner was interviewed two or three times, and if their story remained consistent, they were more likely to be released. The monks began to be separated into groups, smaller ones seemingly headed for prison, larger ones for release. The first releases from the Government Technical Institute came on Wednesday.
“Some people were scared, so they told them what they knew,” the monk said.
The young monk was too scared to meet a foreign reporter, but told his tale to an intermediary, a Burmese journalist, at a safe house in the suburbs.
The Herald’s team spent eight days in Rangoon, covering the protests and the ensuing raids, arrests, detentions and political scrambling by the Government as it realised it had to deal with the international fallout. In that time, we saw the fear return to Rangoon. People who would agree to see you, but never show, or those who were brave enough to meet you, constantly watching over their shoulder for government informants.
In the streets, the military propaganda machine fuelled the fear. Trucks with loudspeakers trawled the suburbs warning: “We have the evidence, we are coming to get you, do not shelter the monks and protesters.”
“They have won militarily,” said the Burmese journalist, but people were angry at the way the monks were treated: “Spiritually, they have lost everything.”
I went down to the Burmese embassy yesterday to sign the petition. And also took a few photos. It was also raining and so it was pretty quiet compared to the first few days since it began on 29 Sept. In any case, more than 1000 people signed the petition despite threats & intimidation by the Singapore police.
Now that we’ve made our condemnation of the Burma military rulers unmistakable, it is time to turn our attention to the other half of the Burma-Singapore connection.
Starting tomorrow. 8 Oct 07, at around 12 noon, SDP leaders will hold a 24-hour protest outside the Istana at Orchard Road to denounce the Singapore Government’s involvement in Burma.
The Istana protest will be preceded by the petition being handed over to the Burmese ambassador U Win Myint at 11 am.
The SDP leaders will then proceed to the Istana to submit the second letter addressed to PM Lee Hsien Loong which calls for the Singapore Government to reveal the extent of its dealings with the Burmese military and its cronies.
The protest will then commence. It is aimed at raising awareness of the Singapore Government’s exploitation of the situation in Burma and to call on the PM Lee to cease this nefarious nexus.
We, the citizens of Singapore, have the right to demand answers from our Government and to hold it accountable.
The Singapore Government Investment Corporation (GIC) led by Mr Lee Kuan Yew, invests $160 billion dollars worth of our money. Temasek Holdings, controlled by Mdm Ho Ching, Lee’s daughter-in-law, holds another $160 billion of public funds under her authority.
These two companies operate in virtual secrecy with little accountability to the us the people.
This must change.
We demand that the Government opens its books of the GIC and Temasek to the people, starting with its investments in Burma.
There are also disturbing questions about Singapore’s sale of arms and military equipment to the Burmese junta and money being laundered in Singapore by drug barons in Burma.
As the crisis in Burma deepens and the atrocities of the Burmese army surface, it is no longer possible for the PAP Government to continue evading questions about the Singapore-Burma connection.
We call on Singaporeans and the international community to step up pressure on the Singapore Government to come clean and give a full account of its role in Burma.
