Former Sri Lanka president Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who fled his country amid massive protests against his government last month, was not being provided any privileges, immunity or hospitality, Singapore Foreign Affairs Minister Vivian Balakrishnan said. Rajapaksa fled to the Maldives on July 13 and reached Singapore the next day in the face of public revolt against his government’s mishandling of the economy.
The 73-year-old leader emailed his resignation letter to the Parliament Speaker on July 14, soon after he was allowed by Singapore to enter the city-state on a “private visit”. “In general, the Singapore government does not accord privileges, immunity and hospitality to former heads of state or heads of government,” Balakrishnan said in a written reply to a question in parliament on Monday.
“Consequently, former president Gotabaya Rajapaksa was not accorded any privileges, immunity or hospitality,” he wrote in response to the question from parliamentarian Gerald Giam of the opposition Workers’ Party.