
Political and religous groups recently
requested a boycott of two high-profile US companies, Starbucks (
SBUX) and Coca Cola (
KO), in predominately Muslim Malaysia. The boycott seeks to protest "US failure to prevent Israel's military actions" against Hezbollah in Gaza and southern Lebanon. Organizer
Jamarulkhan Kadir is quoted in the
Agence France-Presse news service story saying that a similar boycott three years ago protesting the US invasion of Iraq made a "dent' in sales. Last time I checked, the US is still in Iraq.
In any case,
Norman Fernandez writing to www.malaysiakini.com, urges Malaysians to strongly consider the national impact before participating in such a boycott. The US is Malaysia's largest trade partner and Fernandez sites that that trade relationship is valued at $44 billion a year (2005).Michael Canfield is a private investor, a business and media writer, living in Seattle. He doesn't own stock in Starbucks.