S’pore Firm That Sells Anti-Drone Products to Myanmar’s Police Cuts Ties with Myanmar

Ever since the Myanmar military’s coup on 1 Feb, protestors have called on countries including Singapore to take action against the junta.

But on Tuesday (16 Feb), Singapore’s foreign minister Vivian Balakrishnan said the government was against widespread sanctions as it would hurt ordinary people in Myanmar.

Several companies here that have done business with Myanmar have also been targeted by activists, but Mr Balakrishnan said it would not interfere with their business dealings.

One local firm, however, has heeded the call of protestors.

S’pore Firm That Sells Anti-Drone Products to Myanmar’s Police Cuts Ties with Myanmar

TRD Consulting, a Singaporean firm that sells anti-drone products, has taken some action in response to Myanmar’s military coup.

It has not only halted business dealings with the Myanmar police, but cancelled a deal with the country’s main airport.

TRD had previously sold their Orion-7 drone signal disruptor to the police in Myanmar. The disruptor, as its name implies, disrupts the communications signal of a drone, forcing it to land.

The device has no effect on humans.

But now, Myanmar will have to look elsewhere for its supply of anti-drone products.

“We have no plan to supply anti-drone products to Myanmar until a lawful society is re-established,” TRD Managing Director Sam Ong told TODAYonline in an email.

“We will review future sales accordingly.”

Two Killed & 30 Injured in Myanmar Protests

Meanwhile, the situation in Myanmar is only getting worse, with no resolution in sight.

Two protestors were killed and 30 others were left injured on Saturday (20 Feb) after Myanmar’s security forces fired live rounds and rubber bullets at protesters in the city of Mandalay.

Hundreds of police and soldiers had turned up on that day at the Yadanarbon shipyard in the city.

Angered by their arrival, protestors started banging pots and pans in an act of defiance, and even threw rocks at officers, yelling at them to leave.

Instead of responding with their mouths, the officers and soldiers retaliated with their guns.

They opened fire at demonstrators with live rounds and rubber bullets, and launched slingshot balls at them as well.

Two people were killed, one of whom was a teenager who was shot in the head and died on the spot. Another died later with a bullet wound to the chest.

30 others were also injured; half of them were shot with live rounds, and the rest were wounded from rubber bullets and slingshots.

Facebook Takes Down Page of Myanmar Military

A day after the violent police response, Facebook deleted the main page of the Myanmar military, citing its standards prohibiting the incitement of violence.

“In line with our global policies, we’ve removed the Tatmadaw True News Information Team Page from Facebook for repeated violations of our Community Standards prohibiting incitement of violence and coordinating harm,” a Facebook spokesperson said in a statement.

According to Reuters, the Myanmar junta is known as the Tatmadaw. On Sunday, its True News page was no longer available.

The tech giant previously banned army chief Min Aung Hlaing – who is now the military’s leader – in 2018 for coordinated inauthentic behaviour.

Featured Image: Chaiwat Subprasom / Shutterstock.com