14 Jul 2022 20:12 | Modified Date / Time: 14 Jul 2022 22:26
Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapakse has arrived in Singapore. The Saudi flight he was traveling in landed at Changi Airport at 7.17. He is believed to have stepped down as president.
It is not clear how long he will stay in Singapore. There is currently no information on which country he will go to from Singapore.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that Mr Rajapakse had not sought asylum in Singapore and that the Singapore government had not granted him asylum. It said that Singapore does not generally grant asylum. The ministry mentioned that he had come here personally.
The Singapore Police Department has asked all parties, including Singaporeans, permanent residents, work permit holders and travelers, to abide by Singapore’s laws. It warned that action would be taken against those participating in illegal public meetings.
In this case, one of those who went to the airport to meet Mr. Rajapakse was 38-year-old Arulambalam Ramasthanan. Born in Sri Lanka, he became a Singaporean citizen in 2009. He told The Straits Times that his family in Sri Lanka had been suffering for the past few months and that he would like to tell Mr Rajapakse if he saw him.