Coca Cola: No favour to one country over another

Thousands of employees, retailers, suppliers to be impacted if boycott happens
With a Malaysian party PEKIRA (Malaysian People’s Economic Party) coming out with a threat against companies linked with Israel doing business in Malaysia, and dragging in Coca Cola too, the beverage company has set out to put forth a few facts.
In a statement, aimed to delink itself with the latest controversy on naming of Jerusalem as the capital, Coca Cola Malaysia has argued such threats of boycott will hurt Malaysian people and interests.
Country Head, Coca Cola Malaysia, Ahmed Yehia, said, “We do not support or oppose religious causes or favor one country over another anywhere in the world.”
He further added, “We wish to stress that Coca-Cola may be a global brand but all our bottling operations are local – so the very first people to be hurt by these boycott calls are our local employees.”
In fact, as per Coca Cola Malaysia’s latest press release on investments and future plans, the company recently invested another RM500 million in Malaysia.
Part of it will be used to expand the size and production capacity of its current plant in Nilai, Negeri Sembilan that serves as the Halal production hub for Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei markets.
Expanding by another 10 acres adjacent to the 31 acres of the current plant, construction of the plant extension began this year and is expected to be fully operational by 2020.
When completed, Coca-Cola Malaysia will have over 1,000 direct employees as well as creating another 10,000 indirect jobs in companies supporting the business supply chain.
In light of the boycott call issued by Mohd Ridzuan Abdullah, PEKIRA President, wherein he called out Malaysian Muslims to boycott, “Israeli products for example Coca-Cola,” it will be interesting to note what steps will Coca Cola take to clear this mistrust.
Coca Cola has a long association with Malaysia. First bottled on local shores in 1936, the single brand beverage brand has evolved in the past 80 years to become a total beverage company in Malaysia.

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