SINGAPORE: The recent immigration actions taken by the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) against a few Myanmar nationals were not the result of political pressure or requests from the Myanmar government.

Home Affairs Minister Wong Kan Seng said this in response to a Parliamentary question from Nominated MP Eunice Olsen.

Mr Wong said these Myanmar nationals had persistently defied Singapore's laws in the past one year to pursue their political agenda.

A group of them staged an illegal street protest outside Orchard Parade Hotel during the ASEAN Summit in November 2007 to court public and media attention.

Mr Wong said their unlawful behaviour was an unnecessary distraction to security forces and could have compromised security arrangements for the Summit delegates, some of whom were heads of ASEAN governments.

The group of protesters had repeatedly refused to heed Police's advice to use lawful channels to express their views.

Mr Wong said the vast majority of the Myanmese community are law-abiding, but this small group of Myanmar nationals chose to break the law and yet demand the right to stay in Singapore as an entitlement.

The ICA has decided that such persons are undesirable and that they should leave.

Those who were asked to leave were allowed to remain in Singapore until their existing immigration passes expire.

-CNA/yt