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Thai monks can't beer Chang's
listing
By Sonny Inbaraj
BANGKOK - Buddhist monks in Asia's largest
beer-guzzling nation are up in arms against the
public listing of Thai Beverages, brewer of
Thailand's best-selling Chang Beer or "Elephant
Beer".
In a strong message to the Stock
Exchange of Thailand, which meets on Wednesday to
decide whether to allow the public listing, more
than 2,000 monks from the Thai Buddhist Monks
National Coordination Center marched to the stock
exchange headquarters in Bangkok's Ratchadaphisek
area on Friday and chanted prayers outside the
building to condemn liquor companies. In a
statement, they denounced the listing as "a grave
threat to the health and culture" of the
predominantly Thai Buddhist society, "which could
be harmed by the proliferation of the liquor
business".
"It is one of the duties of a
Buddhist monk to promote good morality to the
world. We have poured away liquor and burned
cigarettes in our protests before," monk Phra
Kittyano Bhikku told reporters at the protest. At
the heart of the matter is Thai Beverages, owned
by Charoen Sirivadhanbhakdi, who was named by
Forbes magazine as the richest man in Thailand
this year.
Charoen, a strong political and
financial supporter of Prime Minister Thaksin
Shinawatra, intends to sell one-third of Thai
Beverages' shares to the public, raising up to
US$1billion in what could be the biggest listing
in the history of the Thai stock exchange. Beer
Chang, Thai Beverages' flagship, was launched in
cooperation with Carlsberg Breweries of Denmark in
1996 and was awarded a gold medal at the
Australian International Beer Awards in 1998. It
now controls about 80% of Thailand's $2.1 billion
domestic beer market, edging out Singha Beer,
which used to be the country's top-selling brand.
In a statement, Thai Beverages said its
priority was to list on the Thai stock exchange,
even though other markets such as London,
Singapore and Hong Kong have courted it. Stock
exchange authorities are keen to list Thai
Beverages because they feel it would add to the
size of the Thai market, making it more attractive
to local and international investors. "If Thai
Beverages is listed, it could be useful to the
market and to the Thai economy because the firm
would become stronger and be in a position to
raise money to reduce debt," Kittirat Na Ranong,
president of the Stock Exchange of Thailand, told
a business seminar over the weekend.
But
the strong anti-listing sentiment among Thailand's
conservatives and anti-alcohol advocates could see
stock exchange officials delaying their decision
just to buy more time - especially when there is
increasing concern about the drinking habits of
fun-loving Thais and the rise in teenage
alcoholism. According to the Stop Drinking Alcohol
Network, a group advocating tighter restrictions
on alcohol sales, the average Thai drinks 14
liters of pure alcohol a year, higher than
anywhere else in Asia. Also, alcohol consumption
among female teenagers increased by 600% between
1996 and 2003.
Duenden Nikhomborirak, a
doctor with the Thailand Development Research
Institute, said the stock-exchange listing would
strengthen the beer giant, making alcohol sales
more difficult to control. "While large amounts of
alcohol are still being sold to young people and
while law enforcement remains poor, we should not
allow alcoholic products to be listed on the stock
exchange," said Duenden. "We first need to build
up mechanisms which help reduce the consumption of
alcohol."
Currently, alcohol sales are
banned in retail outlets, including supermarkets,
between 9am and 1am and from 2pm to 5pm. "Millions
of Thai children and women suffer at the hands of
drunks everyday," the Thai Women Leaders for
Community Development said in a statement. The
group also condemned the planned listing of Thai
Beverages as an act of pursuing economic goals
without regard for the country's social and
cultural interests.
Given the close
relations between Thai Beverages' Charoen and
Prime Minister Thaksin's ruling Thai Rak Thai
party, the prospect of the premier intervening in
the controversy cannot be ruled out. But for the
time being, the party seems to be shying away from
the issue. Deputy Interior Minister and party
chairman Somchai Sunthornvut told The Nation daily
that any move by party MPs to either support or
oppose the listing would be an individual choice,
nothing to do with the party's position.
But secretary general of the Campaign for
Popular Democracy, Suriyasai Katasila, told
reporters over the weekend that if Thai Rak Thai
MPs sincerely support the campaign against Thai
Beverages' listing, they have to push for the
issue to become government policy. "If they are
sincere about moral issues, they must not show
selective opposition. Their move could attract
suspicion if there's any hidden agenda," he said.
(Inter Press
Service) |
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