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THE US$1.5 BILLION HAND OF "FRIENDSHIP"
The nation-builder press, July 14 2003.
The report shows $ingapore's representative to Hungary and Norway, Ng Ser Miang
(left), and Burma's ambassador to $ingapore, Hla Thann, at Asean@play, the first
inter-embassy games at the $ingapore Polytechnic on July 13.
FOREIGN INVESTMENT IN BURMA
Foreign Investment of Permitted Enterprises up to November 1999
(by Country and Region) (US $ in million)
*Inclusive of enterprises
incorporated in British Virgin Islands, Bermuda Islands and Cayman Island.
The above chart is also found at http://www.irrawaddy.org/res/invest.html
+ + + + +
LOOK WHO'S GOT
MYANMAR "ON MY MIND"
Looking to do business with
the Burmese generals in "Myanmar"? Where else to look for advice than in all-good,
no-bad $ingapore where money is not far from everyone's mind. Myanmar On My
Mind is a unique one-of-its-kind book written by the former First Secretary
[Commercial] at the $ingapore embassy in Yangon, Matthew Sim. Sim's tour of
duty lasted from 1995 to 1997 and he offers first-hand insight into "the minds
of the Myanmar people, from military generals and government officials to businessmen
and employees." Sim was in charge of $ingapore's trade and investments with
Burma.
On a sub-chapter, Spies
And Spying, Sim wrote: "Manpower in Myanmar is relatively cheap and readily
available. The Military Intelligence [MI], for example, is quite extensive and
pervasive. As a result, prominent foreign diplomats and international businessmen
in and around Yangon are always escorted by MI officers.
"Both
my telephone lines, one at the Embassy and one at home, were bugged.
The technology used during my stay in Myanmar was pretty low-end. There was
a hollow, echoing sound whenever you used the phone."
Sim adds: "I have never
been overtly concerned with Myanmar politics. It is neither an area of responsibility
nor interest." Business to $ingaporean Sim is business and he says: "An international
businessman should try not to mix politics and business. Money should not be
coloured by politics." Published by Times Book International in 2001.
If you are interested in
learning more about $ingapore's business relationship with the generals of Burma
follow these links:
$ingapore
is Burma's biggest investor with between US$770 million to US$1.5 billion in
65 projects in the country
[AP report Mar 25 1998].
$ingapore to promote economic cooperation with Burma
http://www.singapore-window.org/sw99/90218xin.htm
$ingapore links 'aiding
drug trade'
http://www.singapore-window.org/80513sc.htm
Burma-$'pore Axis: Globalising
the heroin trade
http://www.singapore-window.org/804caq9.htm
Goh leaves Burma without
meeting Suu Kyi
http://www.singapore-window.org/80325app
$uspected drug traders have
S'pore connection
http://www.singapore-window.org/80123awk.htm
$'pore backs Burma in Asean-EU
dialogue
http://www.singapore-window.org/121501st.htm
$'pore helps Burma's spies
http://www.singapore-window.org/1101bkk.htm
Blood money: hanging drug
couriers but investing with their suppliers
http://www.singapore-window.org/1020naus.htm
Protesters demand accountability
from PM Goh on drugs
http://www.singapore-window.org/0916goh.htm
Asean reeks of double standards
http://www.singapore-window.org/0713naed.htm
WHAT'S
AT THE BOTTOM OF ONG KENG YONG'S HEART
The nation-builder press, June 17 2003.
The current Asean Secretary-General
is $ingaporean Ong Keng Yong who was from the Prime Minister's Office.
+ + + + +
The nation-builder press,
June 1 2003.
$INGAPORE IS BURMA'S
BIGGEST INVESTOR...
Burma’s democratic
leader Aung San Suu Kyi who was freed on May 6 2002, after 19 months under house
arrest, has been arrested again May 30 2003. Her freedom first came about because
Burma’s pariah status had brought the country’s economy to its knees.
It was boycotted by many countries and companies. $ingapore
is Burma’s biggest investor with the amount reported between US$770 million
to US$1.5 billion in 65 projects in property development, manufacturing, food
and beverages (AP report Mar 25 1998). She has been rearrested
after going on a month-long tour of the north to rally supporters and to open
new National League of Democracy offices in the northern parts of the country.
The nation-builder press,
Feb 12 2002.
$ingapore’s last big
visit to Burma was made by three ministers in Feb 1999. Lee Yock Suan, Mah Bow
Tan and Lim Hng Kiang went to Burma to promote economic cooperation between
the two countries. On Feb 12 2002, the nation-builder press reported "Myanmar
sliding into economic catastrophe" and said the country’s current
reserves are "no more than US$240 million". It did not mention what
happened to $ingapore’s billion dollar investments.
As for Suu Kyi’s views
on $ingapore, this is what she told Burma Project co-director Alan Clements
in the 1997 book The Voice Of Hope. Suu Kyi’s views from 1997 still stands.
Alan
Clements: Let’s be specific. How do you feel about $ingapore’s
massive infusion of economic dollars (Clements put the figure at US$770 million)
into SLORC-controlled Burma? We all know that a vast percentage of these millions
of dollars goes right into the bank accounts of the generals and their most
favoured friends.
Aung
San Suu Kyi: I don’t think it helps the democratic cause and
in the long run it will not help their economic cause either. Because I do not
think that without a change in the political system Burma will be able to maintain
its economic development. The reason why it seems as though Burma has developed
economically over the last six years is that we started from less than zero,
and it’s very easy to show progress from that point.
AC:
Can you explain how investing in Burma doesn’t help the country from where
the investment originates? $ingapore thinks it is secure.
Aung
San: The $ingaporeans think that the
lack of democracy is not an obstacle in the way of economic success. It may
not have been so in their own country, but $ingapore is very different from
Burma. Here in Burma, the present system of government is such that there can
be no economic progress. The system of education is such that there cannot be
any sustained development. They have not looked at the factors that really matter.
What they’re looking at is the fact that Burma is virgin territory. Let’s
take the tourist industry as an example. People just want to go to a new place
that others have not yet been. So they calculate that if they invest in the
tourist industry of Burma they will be able to reap good returns. But as I understand
it, the tourist figures are not good.
Aung San Suu Kyi was awarded
the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991. She does not have a million dollar salary. What
have our million-dollar ministers reaped from investments in Burma?
A GENERAL QUESTION
$ingapore’s
US$1.5 BILLION of investments in Burma are at stake. What to do?
Read more: Burma-$ingapore
Axis http://www.singapore-window.org/804caq9.htm
