PNB and Sime Darby urged to cut ties with Caterpillar

 

FMT:

PNB and Sime Darby

urged to cut ties with

Caterpillar

Danish Raja Reza

-20 Sep 2024, 09:36 PM

Protesters say equipment manufactured by the US company has been used to demolish homes, hospitals, and refugee camps in Gaza, despite Palestinians being housed inside.

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Protesters and NGOs at PNB-owned Menara Merdeka 118.

KUALA LUMPUR: 

Permodalan Nasional Bhd (PNB) has been urged to pressure Sime Darby Bhd to sever business ties with American construction and mining equipment manufacturer Caterpillar because of the war in Gaza.

Speaking at a protest in front of Menara Merdeka 118 today, Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) Malaysia chairman Nazari Ismail said bulldozers manufactured by Caterpillar have been used to demolish homes, hospitals, and refugee camps, despite Palestinians being housed inside.

He added that the company’s bulldozers have been used to destroy infrastructure, such as roads, water and electricity systems, and to build illegal settlements in the West Bank.

“Sime Darby distributes Caterpillar machinery in the Asia-Pacific region. PNB is the largest shareholder of Sime Darby.

We are calling on PNB to pressure Sime Darby to end its business relationship with Caterpillar as long as Caterpillar continues to support Israel’s atrocities against the Palestinian people,

 he said.

Among the organisations at the protest were Gabungan Solidariti Pembebasan Palestin, Sekretariat Solidariti Palestin, Muslim Care Malaysia, Fulbrighters for Justice in Palestine, and Viva Palestina Malaysia.

Protesters were seen holding Palestinian flags and banners with slogans such as 

Caterer of Genocide,

 

Boycott Caterkiller,

 and 

PNB & Sime Darby, you are supporting the bulldozers destroying Palestinian homes

.

Among those who spoke at the protest was Chandra Muzaffar, president of the International Movement for a Just World, who highlighted the death of 23-year-old American activist Rachel Corrie, who was run over by a Caterpillar armoured bulldozer in 2003.

The instruments important to Israel, such as bulldozers, are used to perpetuate and sustain oppression. They don’t care,

 he said.

Awaluddin Shaharoun, a representative of Humanitarian Care Malaysia, said that several Palestinian cemeteries have been desecrated by bulldozers.

Not only do they kill the living, but even the dead aren’t spared,

 he said. He alleged that 18 cemeteries were excavated by the Israeli military, with bodies unearthed using Caterpillar bulldozers.

In June, Norwegian pension fund KLP divested its stake of close to US$70 million in Caterpillar over risk that its equipment is used to violate human rights in occupied Palestine.

The war in Gaza was sparked following an attack by Hamas on southern Israel on Oct 7, which resulted in the deaths of 1,205 people, mostly civilians. Israel’s retaliatory military offensive has since killed at least 41,000 people in Gaza.