Investors departing Myanmar as criticism ups<\/p>\n
Pascale Trouillaud, Agence-France Presse, Thechaung, Myanmar<\/p>\n
Lawsuits facing French and U.S. oil firms Total and Unocal
\nover their involvement in Myanmar's Yadana gas pipeline have
\ncalled into question the role of foreign companies in this pariah
\nstate.<\/p>\n
Total, the world's fourth largest oil group, says it wants to
\nstay in Myanmar as long as the \"reasonably profitable\" gas
\nreserves of the Yadana field last -- an estimated 30 years.<\/p>\n
Unocal, Total's partner in the project which stands accused of
\nserious human rights violations, has also reiterated its firm
\nintention to remain in the military-run country.<\/p>\n
Myanmar, which is struggling under mounting Western sanctions,
\nhas in recent years also been hit by the withdrawal of big
\nWestern companies, mostly from the United States and Britain, who
\nhave fled for ethical reasons.<\/p>\n
The most recent to pull out was PricewaterhouseCoopers, the
\nUS-based international network of accountancy firms, which said
\nlast week it was withdrawing amid concerns over the country's
\nhuman rights record.<\/p>\n
It followed on the heels of other heavyweights such as Texaco,
\nPepsiCo, Coca Cola and Levi Strauss from the United States,
\nBritish American Tobacco, Ericsson from Sweden, the French group
\nAccor and Swiss company Triumph International.<\/p>\n
Human rights activists who lobby actively for firms to
\nwithdraw from Myanmar argue foreign investors help prop up one
\nthe harshest military regimes in the world and enable its ruling
\ngenerals to enrich themselves.<\/p>\n
Citing \"confidentiality clauses\", Total refuses to give any
\nindication of how much money Myanmar is making from Yadana
\nthrough its 15 percent stake in the project via the state-run
\nMyanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE) and through royalties and
\ntaxes.<\/p>\n
But the effects of disinvestment by foreign groups in Myanmar
\nis debatable.<\/p>\n
\"Whether we leave or stay changes nothing for the state of
\nMyanmar,\" says Total's Paris-based head of its Myanmar mission
\nJean du Rusquec, speaking recently to a small group of
\njournalists at the pipeline site.<\/p>\n
Asian companies have swooped in to fill the gaps left by the
\ndeparting Western firms.<\/p>\n
The 60 percent BAT stake in a Myanmar cigarette maker has been
\nbought by a Singaporean company, and British Premier Oil's stake
\nin the Yetagun gas field -- adjacent to Yadana -- was snapped up
\nby Malaysia's Petronas.<\/p>\n
Says Morten Pedersen, research scholar at the Australian
\nNational University: \"A disinvestment by Total would strictly
\nchange nothing.\"<\/p>\n
Experts point to recent cases where Asian companies taking
\nover formerly Western business have immediately cut salaries by
\nhalf, curtailed social benefits for the Myanmar workforce and
\neven laid off employees.<\/p>\n
Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, whose party won 1990
\nelections but has never been allowed to rule, herself has
\nrecently softened her pro-sanction stance.<\/p>\n
And she has even said that if the pro-democracy opposition
\ncomes to power, it would not challenge the Yadana contract as it
\nhad said it would in the mid-90s.<\/p>",
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