Just over a week ago, actor George Clooney publicly called for a boycott of luxury hotels owned by the Sultan of Brunei, Hassanal Bolkiah. Clooney listed nine luxury hotels in England, France, Italy and California owned by the Brunei Investment Agency. With each visit to these hotels, one would help finance the murder of innocent people, Clooney warned. His boycott appeal was spread among others by pop star Elton John.

The background to Clooney's rage was the tightening of criminal law in Brunei, which came into force on Wednesday. They are based on the Islamic law of the Sharia and provide for same sex sex, for example, the death penalty by stoning.

In the spirit of Clooney's appeal, a number of larger companies have now drawn consequences from the new rules in Brunei:

  • Travel agency STA Travel has announced that it will no longer offer flights from Brunei's national carrier Royal Brunei Airlines for the time being.
  • Australian airline Virgin Australia Airlines has signed a deal with Royal Brunei Airlines for discounted airline tickets for employees.
  • Transport For London, which is responsible for the London Transport System, said it had removed advertising for holiday travel to Brunei.
  • Deutsche Bank announced that it is removing the nine hotels from the list of accommodations where they bill their employees while traveling. Stuart Lewis, the bank's chief risk officer, loudly said "World": "The new laws introduced by Brunei violate fundamental human rights and we believe it is our duty as a business to take action."
  • The "World" and the "Financial Times" According to the past few days events of various companies in London "The Dorchester", one of the hotels mentioned, have been canceled. The same is reported from Los Angeles.

Clooney knows the hotels from their own experience

One can hardly change murderous regimes, but banks and companies doing business with them can be pilloried, Clooney wrote in his guest article for the magazine "Deadline". Among other things, he referred to a boycott action against two of the hotels in Los Angeles a few years ago: it had been "to some extent" effective. The actor acknowledged, however, that he himself had unknowingly lived in some of the luxury hotels in question.

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Sultan of Brunei: Almighty!

The nine hotels that have become Clooney's focus are trading under the Dorchester Collection brand name. On the website of the hotel group, there is now a prominent statement in which one speaks for "inclusion, diversity and equality": one does not tolerate any form of discrimination, has never done so and never will.

"We understand the anger and the frustration of the people," it continues. But what happens now is a political and religious issue. The hotels with their 3630 employees are not the right place for this dispute.

Several social media accounts from the Dorchester Collection environment, such as the Twitter account @TheDorchester, have been taken offline in the past few days. The operators may see the deactivation of the accounts as a way to avoid negative reactions from Internet users.

Protests and indignation

Protests against Brunei and its new criminal regulations are online, but also at universities. For example, there is a petition calling on Oxford University to revoke an honorary title awarded to Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah in 1993. The university said in a first statement that they would deal with the topic again.

In London, there had also been a minor street protest against Brunei's legislative changes over the weekend. About a hundred people showed up with the rainbow flag in front of the Dorchester Hotel.

The tightening of Sharia law in Brunei had caused outrage in many countries worldwide. UN Human Rights Commissioner Michelle Bachelet, for example, described the punishments as "cruel and inhuman." Germany, France and the US called for the Sultanate to respect human rights.

The Federal Foreign Office advised travelers in Brunei to be particularly cautious in view of the tightening of criminal law on Wednesday. Visitors are strongly recommended to "familiarize themselves with the country-specific laws".