New Delhi: At least three Indian companies and a Malaysian firm running some projects in India are among dozens of foreign investment players in Myanmar which have been put on a ‘Dirty List’ for refusing to sever their business ties with the military-ruled nation in spite of repeated appeals from the world community.
In response to calls from Myanmar’s democracy movement, the Burma Campaign UK and other campaign groups around the world have been putting pressure on the foreign companies to cut business ties with Myanmar.
Over the last five years, a large number of them have withdrawn from the country for various reasons like difficulties in working with the regime, consumer boycotts, damage to company reputation and incompatibility with corporate values.
They include several big names like Texaco, Adidas, Premier Oil, Triumph International, Levi Strauss, PepsiCo, Erickson, Heineken, Carlsberg, British Home Stores, Burton, River Island, Apple, Reebok and Compaq.
But there are also many companies that have chosen to stay in Myanmar, often attempting to justify their involvement by claiming that pulling out of the country would harm the ordinary Burmese people.
It is these companies whose involvement in Myanmar provides financial or other support to the regime, the Myanmar Campaign UK claims. “We believe companies on this list are directly or indirectly helping to keep the regime in power,” they say.
In order to force these companies to ensure a total trade boycott of Myanmar in order to cut the economic lifeline to the regime, Burma Campaign UK has launched boycott campaigns targeting these firms on the ‘Dirty List’ and asking people not to purchase products from the companies linked with the Myanmarese regime.
This group, which have since been put on a so-called Dirty List by Myanmar’s democracy campaigners, include India’s Gas Authority of India Ltd or Gail, the Essar Group, and ONGC Videsh, a communique of Burma Campaign UK states.
The Essar Group subsidiary Essar Oil entered Myanmar in 2005 after signing several contracts with the regime to make onshore and offshore explorations for oil and gas.
Public sector company Gail is a partner in the massive Shwe gas field consortium off the coast of Myanmar, where it has a 10 per cent stake. Similarly, ONGC Videsh too is a partner in the Shwe gas field consortium with a 20 per cent stake.
Malaysian oil and gas services provider SapuraCrest is another company with Indian links to be put on the Dirty List. SapuraCrest has business interest across Southeast Asia region, with further projects in Australia, the Middle-East and India.
The European Parliament, the British Government, Burma’s democrats, the US Government and many other bodies and institutions — which have been in the forefront of this initiative — say they recognise the role that investment plays in strengthening Myanmarese regime.
A majority of the entities on the Dirty List are British companies or foreign firms with a significant presence in Britain.
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