"ミャンマー＞日本の官民ファンド・企業のメディア事業、撤退に関する情報は不透明なまま," 5 August 2025

"Unofficial Japanese-to-English translation by Business & Human Rights Resource Centre"

On June 2, seven organisations in Japan and abroad, including Mekong Watch, sent a letter of inquiry to the state-private funds Cool Japan Fund, Japan ICT Fund (JICT), and NHK subsidiary Japan International Broadcasting Inc. (JIB).

The three entities had invested in Myanmar’s Dream Vision Co., Ltd. (DVC), which itself received investment from Shwe Than Lwin Media Co., Ltd. (STLM), a major Myanmar media company, and Myanmar Business Central Co., Ltd. STLM is a subsidiary of the Shwe Than Lwin Group, identified in the report of the UN Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar as a crony company with close ties to the Myanmar military. The group has also been cited as one of the companies that, at the military’s request, made donations in support of the “clearance operations” launched against the Rohingya population in northern Rakhine State in August 2017.

Responses received from the three entities at the end of June and a press release issued simultaneously by Cool Japan Fund and JICT revealed that the three entities had already completed their withdrawal from the project. However, their replies did not mention whether human rights due diligence had been conducted following the attempted coup in 2021, nor whether they had examined the possibility that DVC was supporting the Myanmar military’s propaganda.

For this reason, on 8 July, the seven organisations sent a follow-up inquiry to the three entities...

From their responses, it appears that consideration of withdrawal only began more than a year after the coup attempt. Moreover, all three entities avoided clarifying whether their withdrawal ultimately benefitted STLM, a member of the crony conglomerate. At present, approvals from the Myanmar Investment Commission are not disclosed, and there is no way to know the current ownership structure of DVC. Equipment provided by the Japanese side may continue to be utilised by STLM.

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