Myanmar's ruling generals are

Myanmar generals dumb economic managers: Lee Kuan Yew
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.