SINGAPORE (AFP) - About 500 Myanmar nationals in Singapore wore shirts displaying the word "no" as they waited Sunday to vote in a referendum on a new constitution for their country, an AFP reporter at the scene said. They were among a large crowd of Myanmar nationals outside the embassy being watched by a dozen Singapore police officers.
Than Su, a Myanmar national working in Singapore, was wearing the red "no" T-shirt which he said reflected his position on the referendum.
"It is my feeling on the matter," Than Su, 28, told AFP. He declined to give his surname but said he was working as a technician with a Singaporean firm.
Myanmar's generals say the referendum will pave the way for democratic elections in 2010, but analysts say the constitution enshrines the role of the military which has ruled since 1962 and leaves political parties with little room to campaign.
Myo Myint Maung, spokesman for the Overseas Burmese Patriots activist group, said an embassy official demanded that the red T-shirts and caps be removed or they would not be allowed to cast their votes.
Another Myanmar national, William Thein, said he wore the "no" T-shirt as an expression of support for his compatriots at home.
"We want to say to our brothers and sisters back home that we overseas Burmese are overwhelmingly against the referendum so we want them to be encouraged," said 34-year-old Thein, who works as an engineer.
Since Friday, Myanmar nationals have begun voting on the referendum at the embassy. Voting at the embassy will close on Tuesday evening.
In Myanmar, voting is set for May 10.
The referendum will be the first balloting in Myanmar since 1990, when Aung San Suu Kyi led the National League for Democracy to a landslide victory that was never recognised by the junta.
Singapore is home to an estimated 30,000 Myanmar nationals, many of them drawn by jobs as labourers that pay far above what they could earn in their poverty-stricken homeland.
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