[grotorea]

I think Thailand is much more integrated to the West in all sorts of ways. And Myanmar is deep into a civil war and that I assume reduces greatly the number of foreign journalists, foreigners in general, social media access, etc.

[inkyoto]

Burma/Myanmar has been largely ruled by the junta since 1962, with brief periods of semi-stability in between, and it has largely been isolated from the rest the world.

Up until mid-2000's, the entire country was reliant on a single – modem – internet connection to Singapore (the Singaporean government had a long history of propping up successions of military governments in Myanmar until China arrived on the scene).

[_t9ow]

> Up until mid-2000's, the entire country was reliant on a single – modem – internet connection to Singapore

Myanmar’s internet infrastructure was limited and tightly controlled, but it was not dependent on a single modem connection to Singapore. In the 1990s-2000s, Myanmar had rudimentary internet via satellite links and state-controlled gateways. The first internet services were introduced in the 2000s, primarily via Myanmar Posts and Telecommunications (MPT), often routed through various international satellite providers.

> the Singaporean government had a long history of propping up successions of military governments in Myanmar until China arrived on the scene

Singapore has historically maintained business and diplomatic ties with Myanmar, also during military rule; and yes, some unscrupulous Singapore-based firms sell arms to the junta. But saying Singapore propped up military regimes suggests active political or military support by the government, which is factually incorrect. Most regional engagement with Myanmar, including by Singapore, was done through ASEAN’s policy of non-interference.

[inkyoto]

You are painting an unnecessarily rosy and overly romanticised picture of the actual history.

> In the 1990s-2000s, Myanmar had rudimentary internet via satellite links and state-controlled gateways.

Satellite internet did not exist in the 1990s and in the early 2000s. Iridium, the first commercial provider of internet access via satellites, began the deployment of the satellites in 1997 and did not complete the deployment until 2005 – when global coverage was achieved. The 1st generation of Iridium suffered from very slow speeds, poor reception inside buildings, and – most importantly – required prohibitively expensive equipment to connect to the satellites. Such equipment was entirely out of reach for any impoverished country, such as Myanmar at the time.

Myanmar Post started offering email service (not full internet service!) around 1997, where the email was stored on a central server and was routinely delayed because each email had to be reviewed by a junta-appointed censor before being relayed via a modem (even if it was IDSN, it was still a single modem connection) to an ISP in Singapore. Burmese hotels did not have websites back then; they had email addresses hosted on that central server instead. Extremely limited internet access was only allowed via internet cafes, which were prohibitively expensive to the locals (deliberately) who were presented with the sanitised, local Burmese «intranet» and access to a very limited number of global websites that the junta had sanctioned. I have the second-hand experience of this as a close friend of mine was travelling in Burma at the time, and our communication was severely hampered, partially for this reason.

> But saying Singapore propped up military regimes suggests active political or military support by the government, which is factually incorrect.

This is factually correct, the SG government is absolutely complicit, and it is the sole reason why the military junta has managed to survive.

SG has been the largest economic investor in Myanmar since the crackdown of the 8888 Uprising in 1988, and the SG government semi-openly or covertly has supported the military rule since then, with Lee Kuan Yew going on to state in 1996 that Burma could only be ruled by the military suggesting democracy activist Aung San Suu Kyi stay «behind a fence, and be a symbol»[0]. For the record, Lee Kuan Yew and Ne Win were also friends since 1962 – at least for a few decades.

Without the SG economic investment and the SG government support, the junta would have collapsed decades ago. This does not include other shenanigans, the SG government has been involved in, which has included providing a safe haven to former dictators Ne Win and Than Shwe, allowing them and their cronies to siphon the money they had embezzled from their people into Singaporean banks. The Singaporean banks have also been implicated in money laundering for Burmese heroin from the Golden Triangle as well as for their ties to Lo Hsing Han, which resulted in the US sanctioning Singaporean companies with connections to Lo. Since 2021 (the latest coup), Singapore has been a major equipment supplier for the junta's weapons factories, allowing the junta to continue on with their dirty business today. The list can go on and on. This does not include other shady shenanigans that the SG businesses, with the tacit approval of their government, have been involved with (arms shipments, etc.). None of that has gained any love from the Burmese[1].

I happen to have a soft spot for Singapore, but let's not try to rewrite the history and swipe the dirt under the rug.

[0] https://www.jstor.org/stable/192263

[1] https://www.irrawaddy.com/opinion/commentary/suu-kyi-singapo...

[_t9ow]

Thank you for your detailed response. I concede that you seem to know much more about the relationship between Burma and Singapore, and I will check out the sources that you shared.

Just to clarify: I wasn't deliberately trying to sweep dirt under the rug. I was under the impression that Singapore's government took a strong stance against the Burmese junta based on reporting like this: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/4/12/singapore-tightens-...