WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2002
Malaysian restaurants stop selling Coke
AP
KUALA LUMPUR: About 1,200 Malaysian restaurants have stopped selling Coca-Cola to protest what they consider a symbol of Western oppression of Muslims, a coalition of Islamic nongovernment organisations said on Tuesday.
The boycott is meant to "send a signal that Muslims will not tolerate Western efforts ... to trample on the rights of Muslims in Palestine, Iraq and anywhere else in the world," said Ma'amor Osman, secretary general of the Muslim Consumers Association of Malaysia.
The campaign against the soft-drink giant is expected to last three months. The consumer body and at least 30 other nongovernment groups that have banded together in the campaign will then select another Western business to boycott, Ma'amor told a news conference.
Jamarulkhan Kadir, president of the Association of Muslim Restaurant Operators of Malaysia, said that around 1,200 Muslim restaurants, mainly in Kuala Lumpur, had agreed to clear their shelves of Coca-Cola over the past two weeks.
A spokesman for Coca-Cola Malaysia said he could not immediately comment on the claim that the restaurants had ceased selling its soft drinks.
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