Petronas urged to cease doing business with Myanmar military

National oil company Petronas is urged to cease doing business with firms linked to the Myanmar military, amid accusations of military genocide of the ethnic Rohingya in the country’s Rakhine state.

This comes after Petronas today announced its subsidiary Petronas LNG Ltd’s maiden delivery of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to Yangon to CNTIC VPower.

CNTIC VPower is a joint venture between China National Technical Import Export Corporation (CNTIC) and Hong Kong-based power distributor V Power Group International Holdings.

The consortium is behind an LNG-to-power project, located on a plot owned by the Myanmar Economic Holdings Limited (MHEL), a military holding company.

“Justice For Myanmar is calling on all businesses to cut ties with the Myanmar military.

"Profits from military-linked businesses like this LNG project enrich war criminals, including senior general Min Aung Hlaing, who led the military’s genocide against the Rohingya, and can finance continuing war crimes and crimes against humanity,” the activist group said in a statement.

Rohingya refugees

Senior general Min Aug Hlaing is chairperson of the MHEL patron group, according to the United Nations Human Right’s Independent Fact-finding Mission on Myanmar in 2017.

Last December, Min Aung Hlaing and Myanmar’s civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi were sanctioned by the United States for alleged human rights abuses against the Rohingya and other minorities.

Suu Kyi denied genocide claims at the United Nation’s International Court of Justice last December.

In January the court issued an initial ruling for Myanmar to take measures to protect the Rohingya from being persecuted and killed.

Up to April, there are 101,280 Rohingya asylum-seekers registered with the UN Refugee Agency UNHCR in Malaysia.

Anti-Rohingya sentiments among Malaysians spiked earlier this year when international human rights groups condemned Malaysia for turning away boatloads of Rohingya refugees from Malaysian shores.

The government said the boats were turned away because foreigners were not allowed into the country due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

However, on April 5, the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency intercepted a boat carrying 202 Rohingya people and its passengers were rescued and sent to Covid-19 quarantine.

'Corruption risks'

Justice for Myanmar said the LNG project carries corruption risks as MEHL directors also serve as heads of Myanmar’s customs department and port authority.

Malaysiakini is contacting Petronas for a response on the matter.

In its statement today, Petronas said it delivered two LNG cargoes to Yangon in May and June under a sales and purchase agreement signed with CNTIC VPower.

The cargoes totalling 190,000 cubic metres were sold on a free-on-board basis from Petronas LNG complex at Bintulu, Sarawak.

“The two LNG cargoes that were successfully delivered to CNTIC VPower marks a new era in the growth of LNG demand in the Southeast Asian region,” Petronas LNG chief executive Abdul Aziz Othman said. - Mkini