extracted from MSN press release:
Agence France-Presse - 10/10/2007 5:29 AM
Myanmar's ruling generals are "dumb" economic managers unlikely to
stay in power indefinitely, Singapore's founding prime minister Lee
Kuan Yew said in comments published Wednesday.
Their extravagance, exemplified by the lavish wedding of Myanmar
leader Senior General Than Shwe's daughter, could have triggered
the recent revolt by the nation's poor, he said in the remarks
carried by The Straits Times.
"These are rather dumb generals when it comes to the economy. How
could they so mismanage the economy and reach this stage when the
country has so many natural resources?" Lee said.
"But you know, you've got really economically dumb people in
charge," said Lee, who oversaw the rapid transformation of his
island nation from a Third-World port to one of Asia's wealthiest
economies.
"I do not believe they can survive indefinitely," he said.
Myanmar is one of the world's poorest nations despite its rich
deposits of natural gas, minerals and other resources.
Lee, now an influential minister in the cabinet of his prime
minister son, cited the junta's excesses, like the construction of
expensive buildings and a golf course in the nation's remote new
capital and the wedding of Than Shwe's daughter.
A leaked video of the wedding, in which the bride was seen covered
with expensive diamond-encrusted jewellery, has been seen worldwide
on YouTube.
"Flaunting these excesses must push a hungry and impoverished
people to revolt," said Lee, who said the ruler's daughter looked
"like a Christmas tree" in the video.
He said he tried to convince Myanmar's generals, through former
intelligence chief Lieutenant General Kyin Nyunt, to shed their
uniforms and form a civilian political party similar to what former
Indonesian president Suharto did.
The reform-minded Khin Nyunt, whom Lee described as the "most
intelligent" among the junta, was sacked in 2004 and detained for
alleged corruption.
He was replaced by Lieutenant General Soe Win, who spent months in
a Singapore hospital for undisclosed reasons this year but returned
home last week, embassy staffers said.
Singapore was the third-largest supplier of imports to Myanmar last
year, according to the International Monetary Fund.
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looks like relationship between SGP and Burma has been strained
since 2004?