Ethics in business: from Myanmar to Fort Collins

USA | Consider this: Kirin’s purchase of craft brewer New Belgium did more to raise international awareness about Kirin’s political balancing in Myanmar than previous reports by the United Nations and Amnesty International.

In 2015, Kirin paid USD 560 million for a 55 percent stake in Myanmar Brewery, the country’s major brewer. The remaining stake is held by Myanmar Economic Holdings Limited (MEHL), a military-owned conglomerate, which is led by commander-in-chief Min Aung Hlaing.

As says the Financial Times, he is accused of leading military-backed ethnic cleansing against Rohingya Muslims in 2017, that sent more than 730,000 fleeing into Bangladesh amid reports of mass killings, rapes, and arson.

Kirin redrafts donation policy after Amnesty report

Already, in 2018, an investigation by Amnesty International had revealed that Kirin’s subsidiary had made three donations worth USD 30,000 to the military in 2017, at the height of the crackdown on the Rohingya.

At the time, Kirin acknowledged making the donations, but said it had drafted a policy to ensure that its donations would be used only for humanitarian purposes. Amnesty International maintains that Kirin has no proof that the money went for humanitarian aid. 

The UK’s newspaper The Guardian wrote on 27 December 2019 that the pressure on companies allied with the Myanmar military received a boost when Myanmar’s civilian leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, on 12 December 2019, testified at the UN’s International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands.

Responding to charges of genocide by the military, “she maintained Myanmar’s official line that the crackdown on the Rohingya was a legitimate military operation, not aimed at civilians but at armed Muslim militants in Rakhine state,” the newspaper said.

With media attention re-focused on Myanmar, reports of Kirin’s ties and financial contributions to Myanmar’s military began circulating again.

Ethnic minority appeals to New Belgium’s shareholders

Several human rights organisations – among them the Karen ethnic minority community from Burma living in the US – wrote an open letter to New Belgium’s employees, urging them to vote against the sale. It cited New Belgium’s commitment to “being a force for good”. In contrast, the letter said, “Kirin is a business partner of the Burmese military, perpetrators of the genocide and crimes against humanity and other ethnic minorities, including the Karen.” This was reported by the news outlet The Coloradoan on 13 December 2019.

About 193,000 Karen live in the US, and about 8,500 have settled in North Carolina, according to the organisations.

Kim Jordan’s response deemed bland and vague

 In an email to employees on 13 December 2019, Ms Jordan announced that Kirin “has invited her to work in concert with its International Advisory Board, to examine the Japanese beer giant’s operations and relationships in Myanmar,” according to brewbound.com. That process is set to start in January 2020.

The Fort Collins Community Action Network, a charitable organisation, has already condemned New Belgium’s statement as bland and vague, and called for a boycott of New Belgium’s products in response.

Read more about the connections between the sale of New Belgium and Kirin's business in Myanmar and learn more about other mulitnational breweries that could be facing reputational risks by doing business in Myanmar.