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The protest was to condemn Singapore's close ties with Burma in the wake of the military junta's recent brutal crackdown on demonstrators, the party said.

Four members of the Singapore Democratic Party, led by party chief Chee Soon Juan and all wearing red tee-shirts, waved placards with the slogans ''No arms,'' ''No deals with the Junta'' and ''Free Burma'' on a photo of Aung San Suu Kyi.

The protest attracted little attention from passersby and did not draw any crowd as Singapore's citizens tend to shy away from such activities, which are frowned upon by the government.

The four protestors were arrested a few minutes later and taken to police vans waiting nearby, the SDP said in a statement.

Earlier in the day, they had tried to send a letter of petition signed by more than 1,000 people to the Burmese Embassy condemning the military junta's harsh treatment of democracy protestors in Burmese, but staff at the embassy refused to accept the petition.

Chee, who has been the most vociferous critic of the government although his party does not have any seats in parliament, has been jailed several times before for defying the country's law banning street protests involving gatherings of five or more people.

The law requires police permits for such activities, and those are rarely given.

Chee, interviewed by reporters earlier, said the protest was to demand an explanation for arms sales and investments in Burmese by Singapore state investment companies.

     Last week, Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said Singapore takes ''neither hot nor dirty money'' nor ''condones money laundering'' when he was asked in an interview with U.S. television network CNN whether he would consider making Singapore company laws

more transparent because Myanmar's junta leaders are suspected of keeping their funds in Singapore, the Straits Times reported Saturday.

Lee was also asked in that interview if Singapore hospitals should turn away the junta's top leaders who often come to the city-state for medical treatment.

     Lee said he considered such an action ''petty indignities'' that were ''really against human nature.''

''I mean somebody is sick, he wants to come to Singapore, he needs treatment, and you're telling me I shouldn't treat him because he's not a good man?...It goes against the Hippocratic Oath of doctors,'' Lee claimed.

Burma leaders who have undergone medical treatment include top leader Than Shwe, who is said to be suffering from intestinal cancer, and Prime Minister Soe Win, who is reportedly suffering from leukemia.//Kyodo News