IT SEEMS that the call by Berjaya Group patriarch Tan Sri Vincent Tan Chee Yioun from Tokyo to the public to stop boycotting Starbucks Malaysia – even on the basis that 80%-85% of employees at the premium coffee chain are Malay Muslims – have fallen on deaf ears.
Neither would boycotters who are sympathetic to the Palestinian plight heed Tan’s justification that the coffee chain’s operation is “all Malaysian-owned, run by Malaysian” or that “it’s just a franchise and not owned by an American.”
“Neither Starbucks nor former chairman, president and CEO Howard Schultz provide financial support to the Israeli government and or the Israeli Army in any way,” Starbucks Malaysia had further stated.
Interestingly, not only that the plea by the 72-year-old Berjaya Corp Bhd founder went unheeded, X (previously Twitter) user 𝑨𝒌𝒂𝒖𝒏𝑨𝒏𝒐𝒏 (@AkaunAnon) has instigated the boycott “of all types of businesses from Vincent Tan, his family and cronies”.
Boikot semua jenis perniagaan dari Vincent Tan, keluaga dan kroni2 pun takde masalah. Lagi bagus.
— 𝑨𝒌𝒂𝒖𝒏𝑨𝒏𝒐𝒏 🇲🇾 (@AkaunAnon) March 4, 2024
The tweet was immediately echoed by other netizens who went on to list down Tan’s businesses:
Ingatkan dia tentang pesanan ini 👇🏻 pic.twitter.com/06AMVHo1JN
— AW (@AWTrdg) March 4, 2024
At least one netizen reckoned that it will be a futile task to bring down the Berjaya business empire given its wide support base which extends to the “yellow umbrella” a.k.a. Malay royalty.
Some netizens wonder if Tan should re-brand Starbucks to become “Berjaya Coffee” to appease the Malay Muslim boycotters – who seemingly have huge buying power – that his businesses do not partake in supporting the Zionist genocide act.
In another tweet by X, user Xavier Naxa (@XavierNaxa) which cited Tan as saying that the boycott of Starbucks Malaysia would only be a loss to Malaysians, netizens harped on the prospect of patronising local coffee brand as an alternative to Starbucks.
Boikot @StarbucksMY hanya merugikan rakyat negara ini – Tan Sri Vincent Tan
— Xavier Naxa (@XavierNaxa) March 4, 2024
By so doing, concerns over the Malay Muslims staff losing their jobs can be allayed. – March 5, 2024
Main image credit: Berita Perak
