In a serious blow to the embattled junta generals, Singapore has
cracked down on exports of weapons materials to its Southeast Asian neighbor Myanmar, drastically reducing them by 83 percent within a year of a U.N. report identifying the city-state as the third biggest source of weapons to the junta.
U.N. special rapporteur on the human rights situation in Myanmar Thomas Andrews, who made this disclosure to Al Jazeera, also said Singapore “immediately responded” to his 2023 report before the U.N. Human Rights Council, “
The Billion Dollar Death Trade,” which detailed how arms companies in Russia, China, Singapore, Thailand, and India continued to deliver machinery, equipment and raw materials to the Myanmar junta and allow them to commit further atrocities.
“This is a significant step forward and an example of how governments can make a difference for those who are in harm’s way in Myanmar,” Andrews said.
This does not mean, however, that arms exports from Singapore have completely stopped. In fact, Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan confirmed that the city state has
not imposed a general trade ban on Myanmar, but that it was trying to prevent the sale of items that could be used to harm civilians.
These restrictions could escalate challenges for the junta led by Chief Min Aung Hlaing. Under his leadership the military has suffered severe battlefield setbacks from ethnic armed groups and resistance fighters, who have
gained control of strategic areas along the borders with Thailand, China, and India.
The Myanmar military’s unprecedented losses to the ethnic armies are believed to have triggered the sudden enforcement of a 2010
mandatory conscription law, which requires men aged 18-45 and women aged 18-35 to join the military.
As things stand, there is still a long way to go to completely halt arms sales to the junta. Within the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) – which critics argued was in the
best position to influence the junta – only Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines, and Vietnam voted yes to a non-binding U.N.
arms embargo in 2021.
Indonesia denies accusations that
three state-owned armed enterprises have been selling weapons to the junta over the past decade, including after the 2021 coup. Beyond ASEAN, reports point to China, Russia, and India as Myanmar’s
largest arms suppliers.