Sanctions against Myanmar will be counter-productive: PM Lee
By Wong Siew Ying, Channel NewsAsia | Posted: 05 October 2007 2045 hrs

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SINGAPORE: Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has said that sanctions against Myanmar will be counter-productive.

He also stressed that ASEAN alone cannot solve the problem in Myanmar, and called on the international community to weigh in as well.

Mr Lee said this in an interview with the CNN, which was aired on Friday evening.

He was responding to the presenter who asked if ASEAN could do more besides issuing strong statements against the unrest in Myanmar.

ASEAN has to take a clear stand on Myanmar because what happens there affects the group's reputation, said PM Lee.

What ASEAN wishes to see is developments that will lead progressively to a Myanmar government that has more legitimacy at home and greater acceptance internationally, added Mr Lee.

But ASEAN, he stressed, does not have the leverage to solve the problems in Myanmar.

Mr Lee also explained why economic sanctions against the military-ruled country may not be productive.

He said: "First of all, this is a country which wants to isolate itself from the world, so they are not afraid of you cutting them off.

"Secondly, if you want to have sanctions, it cannot just be Singapore or even ASEAN, but all of the countries in the world have to do that, and that includes the Western countries, investors in Myanmar and its neighbours like China with big stake in Myanmar.

"And thirdly, if you do have sanction and it worked, I think the people who will be hurt by the sanctions will not be the regime or the SPDC (State Peace and Development Council), the government, but the people of Myanmar, so it will be counter productive."

Mr Lee added that the United Nations will play an important role, and the recent visit to Myanmar by UN special envoy Ibrahim Gambari is the first step to improving the situation there.

Mr Lee also responded to a question on whether Singapore should prevent members of the Myanmar government from coming to Singapore for medical treatment.

He said: "I think we have to decide whether we're trying to influence the policy of a government or whether you want to do petty indignities to individuals, which is really against human nature.

"Somebody who is sick, he wants to come to Singapore, he needs treatment and you're telling me that I shouldn't treat him because he is not a good man? It goes against the Hippocratic oath of doctors."

Separately, Mr Lee spoke on the phone with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Friday.

The UN chief invited Singapore, in its capacity as the current ASEAN chair, to make a statement at a UN Security Council meeting on developments in Myanmar.

PM Lee told Mr Ban that he has written to China, India and Japan to work together with ASEAN and the UN to help the parties in Myanmar find a way towards national reconciliation. - CNA/ir