The Brunei-owned luxury hotels, which are operated under the Dorchester Collection brand, face an international boycott after backlash over laws in the country that made gay sex punishable by death.
The boycott was started by actor George Clooney, who said that a boycott was needed for the high-end hotels, to keep money away from flowing "directly into the pockets of men who choose to stone and whip to death their own citizens for being gay or accused of adultery."
His logic was also that every dollar spent in one of Brunei-owned properties will end up with someone who already has a lot of money.
According to Forbes the Sultan of Brunei is one of the richest person in the world, and also one of the most richest monarch, with a net worth of $20 billion as of 2011.
"Are we really going to help fund the murder of innocent citizens?" the actor said, highlighting that people can't shame "murderous regimes," but they can shame "the banks, the financiers and the institutions that do business with them."
The hotels affected, include:
- The Dorchester, London.
- 45 Park Lane, London.
- Coworth Park, UK.
- The Beverly Hills Hotel, Beverly Hills.
- Hotel Bel-Air, Los Angeles.
- Le Meurice, Paris.
- Hotel Plaza Athenee, Paris.
- Hotel Eden, Rome.
- Hotel Principe di Savoia, Milan.
Following the backlash and boycott, the social media accounts of most of the hotels mentioned above, have either been made private/protected, or deleted, or deactivated.
Dorchester Collection explained that:
"Inclusion, diversity and equality are the foundation of Dorchester Collection … We understand people’s anger and frustration but this is a political and religious issue that we don’t believe should be played out in our hotels."
"Our values are far removed from the politics of ownership."
Brunei is a small country, just north of Malaysia, and near Indonesia, at the island Borneo.
It's wealthy economic is based on its exports of crude oil and natural gas, with revenues from the petroleum sector accounting to more than half of its GDP.
The country also has foreign and domestic business investments that further supplement its income.
With population less than 1 million, Brunei is governed by the constitution and the national tradition of the Malay Islamic Monarchy, the concept of Melayu Islam Beraja.
While it has a legal system based on English common law, the country also has a strict Islamic shariah law.
Even before 2014, homosexuality was already punishable in Brunei by a jail term of up to 10 years. But the law has since changed, to also apply to children and foreigners, even if they not Muslims.
If found guilty, adultery and gay sex could be whipped or stoned to death. Thieves can face amputation of a right hand on their first offense and a left foot on their second.
