Myanmar protesters test values of their Japanese employers

Companies fear boycotts if they give employee withholdings to the junta

20210407 Myanmar Yangon Demonstrators

The coup and resultant demonstrations in Myanmar have foreign companies operating in the country on an edge. © Reuters

SHUICHIRO SESE, Nikkei staff writer

TOKYO -- Japanese companies operating in Myanmar, where a junta is violently putting down protests, find themselves in a dilemma: Do they respect local tax laws or public sentiment?

If they follow tax laws -- and some of their Myanmar employees are asking them not to -- the companies expose themselves to a public backlash, perhaps in the form of boycotts, as their abidance will be seen as financing the junta that staged a coup on Feb 1.

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