The United Nations special rapporteur on Myanmar, Thomas Andrews, has credited Singapore's government for reducing weapons transfers to the Myanmar military government by up to 83 per cent in the past year.

2023 report reaction

Andrews is the author of a 2023 UN report entitled "The Billion-Dollar Death Trade” which cited several countries as continuing weapons shipments to the Myanmar junta despite the 2021 coup, and ongoing civil war.

The report said that over S$340 million in arms and materials were shipped to Myanmar from Singapore based entities.

But the report also noted that the Singapore government had not approved, or even known about the weapon shipments.

The Singaporean government has in the past responded to Andrews publicly by stating that it welcomed the special rapporteur giving more information to the Singapore government, so that it could investigate further, and take action if required.

According to Al Jazeera, the Singapore government replied to Andrew's 2023 report by saying that it appreciated Andrew's efforts to "“to provide information to aid Singapore’s investigations into whether any offences were committed under Singapore law”.

Dropped by 83 per cent

During a Mar. 19 presentation to the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, as well as a Mar. 20 press conference held the next day, Andrews cited Singapore as the "perfect example" of how a nation should react to ongoing weapons transfers in Myanmar.

Andrews said during the presentation:

"In a conference room paper that I published last year, 'The Billion Dollar Death Trade', I discussed the junta's sources of weapons. Among them, was 138-based entities, based in Singapore, had transferred US$254 million worth of weapons to the junta.

Now I made clear that there was no evidence that the government of Singapore was involved or even aware of this trade. And to its credit, the government of Singapore immediately launched an investigation.

I am very pleased to report that weapons transfers...by Singapore-based entities has dropped by 83 per cent."

He said that he had flown to Singapore in 2023 in order to meet with Singapore's Attorney-General to provide them with additional material.

Andrews added that while other UN member states had also taken action, they were slow, incremental, and uncoordinated.

Following Andrews' report in 2023, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) said in May 2023 that Singaporean banks would not facilitate the arms trade, in line with a government ban, and that the institutions would "take further action if necessary."

In Aug. 2023, Nikkei Asia reported that Singapore bank UOB said it would "restrict all incoming and outgoing payments to and from Myanmar accounts, allowing funds to be moved only between accounts held with the bank", among other measures.

Pay attention

Andrew's report also notes the ongoing and worsening humanitarian crisis in Myanmar, while also acknowledging that the world was currently preoccupied by other conflicts, implying the fighting in Gaza and Ukraine.

But he said that the United Nations security council and the world as a whole should pay more attention to what was going on in Myanmar.

He noted the ongoing conflict that was occurring between a large number of resistance groups and the Myanmar military, noting the significant gains that the resistance groups had made.

He also said that there was now reason to believe that the conflict’s “tide is turning” because of the “courage and tenacity of the people of Myanmar”.

“It is for the international community to pay attention to Myanmar, and take the strong coordinated action that will enable these people to seize this moment.

They deserve nothing less.”

He also advocated for the international community to begin to plan for a post conflict Myanmar, as well as highlighting the increasing need for humanitarian assistance in the country.

Recap

Myanmar underwent a coup in February 2021, ousting the highly popular and democratically elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi.

2020 had seen the second general election since Myanmar opened up in 2015, which resulted in the National League for Democracy, Aung San Suu Kyi's party, yet again winning a landslide victory.

The military disputed this result, claiming election tampering, and subsequently arrested significant numbers of NLD politicians.

Those who were not arrested fled to the country's border regions, usually controlled by ethnic armies, who had been in perpetual conflict with Myanmar's military, although existing uneasily with the democratically-elected government.

The coup and subsequent crackdown has resulted in many members of the majority Burma ethnic group joining with minority ethnic armies to form an armed resistance to the military, an unprecedented occurrence.

Up to 2023, the resistance had been significant but largely uncoordinated, resulting in a more or less status quo conflict, although serious enough that the military had resorted to air strikes on civilian targets.

Asean, while resisting calls to expel Myanmar from the bloc, negotiated the Five-Point Consensus (5PC), which among other things, called for the end of violence, as well as access to political prisoners.

The junta had initially agreed to the 5PC, but very quickly refused to conform to any of the points that it had agreed to.

Developments

In October 2023, an alliance of ethnic armies, characterising themselves as pro-democracy forces, began a concerted push against the military junta, taking a number of significant towns, particularly ones near the Chinese Myanmar border.

Ever since then, fighting has only intensified and spread, with Andrews estimating that more than half the country was no longer under the control of the military.

Recent reports indicate that major towns that housed major military command posts on opposite ends of the country, Rakhine state, as well as on the Thai border, have fallen to ethnic armies, according to the BBC.

Perhaps the most significant of recent losses was Myawaddy, which fell to armed elements of the Karen National Union.

Although Myawaddy isn’t large, you sometimes see it referred to as the “gateway” to Thailand due to its importance for cross-border trade. Capture of the town is a blow to the junta’s income. It’s an important strategic victory. pic.twitter.com/0BbsdIiADO

— Yellow Peril Tactical (@YPTActual) April 12, 2024

The town is situated near the border with Thailand and is an important part of the Thai-Myanmar trading route.

Fighting in the town eventually led to the 200 strong garrison fleeing the town in the direction of the Thai border. Many civilians have done the same, worried about potential airstrikes.

The Thai army moved some troops to the border as a precautionary measure, as well as activating F16 fighter jets to patrol the border.

Reports indicate that the Myanmar military is increasingly desperate, resorting to forced conscription of citizens of both genders from 18 to 35.

Reports also indicate that many citizens at risk of conscription have chosen to attempt to flee the country, or flee major cities to join the resistance movement.

House arrest

As for leaders of the democratically elected government, high profile leaders such Aung San Suu Kyi have been placed on trial, with 73-Year-Old Aung Sun being sentenced to 33 years in prison, effectively a death sentence.

However, the Guardian reports that in recent days, Aung San Suu Kyi has been moved from prison, to be placed under house arrest, as she had been for several decades between the 1980s and the mid-2010s.

The military cited concerns over an ongoing heatwave in Myanmar, saying that moving Aung San was a precautionary measure.

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Top image via United Nations Human Rights Council/YouTube & @yptactual/X