BANGKOK - Singapore has a very important role to play in addressing Myanmar's political crisis, given its "significant financial leverage" over the Myanmar ruling military, said a senior United States official on Thursday (Oct 21) during a trip to South-east Asia.
US State Department counsellor Derek Chollet was speaking to reporters in a telephone briefing from Jakarta. Earlier this week, he was in Thailand and Singapore.
He said: "Singapore has significant financial leverage over the regime and we discussed how we can partner effectively to wield it."
In a tweet posted on Wednesday, Mr Chollet said he had met Ms Ho Hern Shin, a deputy managing director of the Monetary Authority of Singapore. "We discussed ways to limit the Burmese military regime's access to overseas financial assets," he wrote, using the former name of Myanmar.
Asked by the Straits Times on Thursday on the outcome of his talks, Mr Chollet said: "Singapore has a very, very important role to play. We had good discussions with our partners there about the way ahead."
Singapore is the top investor in Myanmar, accounting for more than US$24.3 billion (S$32.7 billion) worth of approved investments in the country.
In August, Singapore Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan said that the Republic's leverage over Myanmar's ruling military has been "overestimated".
Mr Chollet also said that Washington embraced Asean’s unprecedented decision to downgrade Myanmar’s representation at the regional grouping’s summit slated for Oct 26 to 28.
Asean foreign ministers last week barred Myanmar ruling military chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing from attending their leaders’ summit, giving the country the option instead to send a “non-political representative”.
In response, the regime alleged “foreign interference” and said the decision was made without consensus, in contravention of Asean’s normal practice.
Commenting on this, Mr Chollet said: “It was not our decision to make, but it was completely justified.”
Reflecting on the conversation with various parties this week in Thailand, Singapore and Indonesia, he said there was “widespread agreement” with pushing the regime back to the path of democracy and adhering to Asean’s Five-Point Consensus, which calls for the cessation of political violence and constructive dialogue among all parties.
“We are in general agreement on the path forward. There are, of course, differences in opinion in the tactics of how we get there,” he said. “There are going to be very important decisions to be made in the coming weeks to make progress, to hold the regime to account.”
The US, which has sanctioned both Myanmar military conglomerates as well as individual members of the ruling military, will continue honing its approach to the crisis in consultation with its partners in Asean, he said.
On Monday, the military government announced an amnesty for more than 5,600 people arrested or wanted for protesting against the regime. But there have been reports on the ground that some who were freed were shortly detained again.
Asked about the amnesty, Mr Chollet said Washington was “sceptical” that it was genuine and was watching developments carefully.
Asked if the US planned to recognise the parallel National Unity Government set up by ousted Myanmar legislators but which has been labelled a terrorist group by the ruling military, Mr Chollet said: “We are deeply committed to engaging with them, sharing our best ideas, hearing from them about their needs and the situation inside Burma, encouraging them to do what they can to unify the movement.”
