Companies across the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) region are supplying Myanmar’s military regime with revenue, technology, and aviation fuel to sustain its ongoing nationwide terror campaigns, including air and artillery strikes against its own people, according to Justice For Myanmar (JFM).
The rights group said its latest investigation showed state-owned enterprises are among firms from Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, and Indonesia still doing business with the junta more than four years after the coup.
This “network of corporate complicity” enables the regime’s atrocities against Myanmar people, in defiance of international sanctions and ASEAN’s Five-Point Consensus for peace, it stated.
“ASEAN governments have turned a blind eye to corporate complicity,” the report states, accusing member states of legitimizing the junta while impeding global action to halt its violence.
Oil and Gas Revenue
According to JFM, the junta’s largest foreign revenue source remains the Myanma Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE), despite sanctions imposed by the EU and US.
Thailand’s PTT Exploration and Production (PTTEP) continues to operate the Yadana and Zawtika gas projects, generating millions of dollars for MOGE that allegedly fund regime war crimes.
Singapore’s Interra Resources (Goldpetrol) has supplied over three million barrels of oil worth $200 million to Myanma Petrochemical Enterprise, which produces aviation fuel for the junta.
Thailand’s Northern Gulf Petroleum, which operates the Yetagun gas field in partnership with Myanmar’s SMART Group, is risking environmental damage as the field nears depletion. Kyaw Kyaw Hlaing, chair of SMART Group, is a prominent junta crony who heads Gulf Petroleum Myanmar (GPM), appointed by the junta in 2022 to run the Yetagun gas project after Malaysia’s Petronas withdrew.
Malaysian firms ENRA Group and Uzma Berhad are supporting Yetagun and Zawtika operations, earning $5.5 million and $9.27 million in 2024, respectively.
Vietnam’s PetroVietnam and AlphaECC provide technical services to MOGE and PTTEP, while Indonesia’s Advanced Offshore Services and Singapore’s Federal International bolster Zawtika’s infrastructure, the report adds.
Aviation Fuel Supplies
The junta’s deadly airstrikes targeting resistance-held civilian areas rely on aviation fuel from ASEAN-based firms, JFM said.
Singapore’s Shoon Group, via subsidiaries PEIA, P.E.I Energy, and Shoon Energy, imports and stores fuel for the junta, defying US and UK sanctions.
Vietnam’s Hai Linh, operating Cai Mep Petroleum terminal, facilitated nine fuel shipments to Myanmar in 2023-2024, undermining sanctions, according to Amnesty International.
Timber and Real Estate
Singapore’s Greenply Alkemal, Natural Forest, and Valency International exported $12 million in timber via Myanma Timber Enterprise (MTE) from 2021 to 2023, in the face of US, EU, and UK sanctions. Natural Forest used junta-owned ships, directly enriching the junta’s Myanma Economic Holdings Limited (MEHL).
Property leased to ASEAN operators by MEHL, Myanmar Economic Corporation (MEC), and junta-controlled ministries also generates millions for the regime.
Singapore’s Krislite Group develops New Strand Development for office and retail space, a hotel and serviced apartments at the military-controlled Ahlone port in Yangon. The city state’s Grand Ally Investments bought Golden City, a real estate development on land leased from the Myanmar Army’s Office of the Quartermaster General, paying $191.1 million over 70 years.
KT Pegu Development, a Singapore subsidiary redeveloping the Pegu Club in Yangon on land leased from the junta’s Office of the Quartermaster General and MEC, is headed by Jonathan Myo Kyaw Thaung, head of the KT Group. The group, sanctioned by the US, also engages in military procurement, directly benefiting junta generals.
Malaysia’s MAMEE-Double Decker and Thailand’s Charoen Pokphand (CP) Group lease land in MEHL’s Pyinmabin zone.
Vietnam’s Truong Hai Group and Singapore’s Yoma Group, backed by a $237.5 million Philippine investment, operate complexes on junta-leased land, the report added.
Yoma Group was led by Serge Pun, who was charged with money laundering and other financial crimes by the junta. The group owns Yoma Bank, which transacts with MEC and has loaned funds to a company owned by Khin Thiri Thet Mon, daughter of junta boss Min Aung Hlaing.
Communications and Banking
Vietnam’s Viettel, via Mytel, generates $700 million for the Myanmar military-owned MEC, providing surveillance tech with Malaysia’s OCK and Axiata leasing towers.
Vietnam’s OSB and VNPT supply satellite equipment, enabling junta censorship. Thailand’s Mascots Group brokers surveillance tech deals, expanding operations in 2024.
Banks like Singapore’s OCBC and DBS, Malaysia’s Maybank, Thailand’s Krungthai and Siam Commercial, and Vietnam’s HDBank and BIDV hold accounts for junta banks, facilitating $100 million in regime arms and fuel deals during 2023, said the report, citing the UN’s Special Rapporteur.
Siam Commercial’s transactions related to junta military procurement surged from $5 million in 2022 to $100 million in 2023, according to the UN Rapporteur – though the bank later denied arms trade links.
ASEAN’s Inaction
The report said companies across ASEAN are profiting as regime war crimes against Myanmar people gain momentum.
It also observed that the bloc’s Five Point Consensus peace plan for Myanmar has failed outright. The junta has ignored the plan, with ASEAN-based firms aiding its intensification of atrocities by providing revenue, aviation fuel and communications technology, JFM said.
“Without its corporate enablers, the junta would be choked of funds, arms, technology and aviation fuel. Its campaign of terror would grind to a halt,” the report said.
It urges ASEAN firms to cut junta ties and regional governments to move on from the failed peace plan and crack down on companies that still trade with the junta.
Without changing course, Myanmar civilians will continue to die in large numbers as the crisis worsens, the investigation warned.
“It is time for ASEAN, its member states and businesses to end their complicity with the Myanmar junta. The lives of Myanmar people depend on it,” the report said.
