KHMER PEOPLE'S NATIONAL LIBERATION FRONT (Supply of arms)

Parliament of Singapore · 3 December 1982 · 5th Parliament

Official Report, 3 December 1982, Vol 42, Issue 3 · Open in the reader (summaries, search, filters)

J.B. JeyaretnamS. Dhanabalan
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Mr J.B. Jeyaretnam asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Minister for Culture whether Singapore has supplied the Khmer People's National Liberation Front in Kampuchea with arms and if so will he acquaint the House with what was supplied and the conditions of their supply.

Mr S. Dhanabalan: I take it that this sudden and belated interest of the Honourable Member in the Cambodian problem, which has been with us for four years, is above board. I also take it that his question is meant to mobilise support for the Cambodians and not to provide the Vietnamese with information which is now denied them and which would be valuable to the Vietnamese to quell the growing pressure of Khmer resistance forces.

The honourable Member should know that Singapore, together with ASEAN and the overwhelming majority of UN members, support the struggle of the Cambodian people to liberate their country from Vietnamese occupation. We have together with like-minded countries worked to bring political, diplomatic and economic pressure to bear on Vietnam. These efforts have helped the Cambodian patriots in their struggle against 200,000 well-equipped Vietnamese soldiers. The Vietnamese, for security reasons, have never disclosed the actual quantum of military assistance they receive from the Soviet Union and other socialist countries.

If the Member for Anson is interested in helping the Cambodian patriots to free their country of foreign occupation, then how is public discussion of who is supplying arms to the Cambodian liberation forces and the "conditions of their supply" of any help? The Cambodians know who is helping them and how they are being helped. The Vietnamese do not know but would like to know.

Vietnam would like to know if arms are being supplied to the resistance forces, who the suppliers are, the kind of arms being supplied, how they are supplied and the conditions of their supply. Public disclosure of such data can only help them. Who does the Member for Anson want to help?

Source: Singapore Parliament Official Report (Hansard) for 3 December 1982. Republished on SGParliament.