Thai civil society organisations have urged the government to boycott Myanmar military’s oil and gas enterprises in light of the weapons trade scandal.

Nitchakarn Rakwongrit from the Milk Tea Alliance Thailand and Thai People’s Network for Myanmarese People submitted a letter to the Committee on National Security, Border Affairs, National Strategy, and National Reform on Thursday (25 July), urging them to consider boycotting the Myanmar Economic Bank (MEB) and Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE) as suggested by civil and international organisations, according to The Reporters.

The network’s representative stated that the international community successfully implemented measures to limit financial transactions with the MEB and MOGE, whose money is used to purchase weapons. At the same time, the Singaporean government cut ties with the Myanmar military. However, the Myanmar military is able to continue purchasing weapons through loopholes in countries that have yet to prohibit this type of transaction, one of which is Thailand.

Following the UN report ‘Banking on the Death Trade: How Banks and Governments Enable the Military Junta in Myanmar’, 5 Thai banks - Siam Commercial Bank, Bangkok Bank, KBank, TMB Thanachart Bank, and Krung Thai Bank – are reported to have inadvertently facilitated the Myanmar military’s procurement at least US$ 60 million worth of weapons in the 2022 fiscal year and at least US$120 million in 2023.

The network said that the PTT Group, a Thai oil and gas company, invests and engages in business with the MOGE. This raises concerns that the money paid by the company might be spent on weapons used in the Myanmar civil war.

The network asked the Thai government to implement the UN Special Rapporteur’s proposals to prevent the Myanmar military from accessing international transactions and thoroughly investigate Thai commercial banks to ensure that no transactions were related to weapons purchases.

The Thai commercial banks were urged to stop any transaction supporting the Myanmar military and the PTT Group was also urged not to engage in activities that violate human rights.

The network encouraged the PTT Group’s stockholders to withdraw their shares from the business due to concern that the income that the Myanmar enterprises received from the PTT Group could contribute to human rights violations in Myanmar.

Earlier this month, the Committee, together with Tom Andrews, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, summoned representatives of Thai banks and relevant government agencies to clarify the facts and discuss joint measures to prevent weapons procurement for the Myanmar military through Thai banks.

Rangsiman Rome, Chairperson of the Committee, said he will visit the Bank of Thailand and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs next month to follow up on the issue.