Human rights activists have a clear message for the Sultan of Brunei, who is rumored to be buying the Plaza Hotel: You’re not welcome in New York.
Human rights activists have a clear message for the Sultan of Brunei, who is rumored to be buying the Plaza Hotel: You’re not welcome in New York.
Activist groups such as the Human Rights Campaign are calling on New Yorkers to oppose the prospective sale of the iconic hotel to the sultan, who is reportedly close to paying $2.2 billion to buy the property plus two other hotels from Subrata Roy, head of property empire Sahara Group.
They say that the sultan’s implementation of a strict penal code in his country could lead to the stoning of women and gays and that a promoter of that kind of barbarism should not be the owner of one of New York’s key landmarks.
“The Sultan of Brunei could start executing women and LGBT people in Brunei as soon as next year,” said Ty Cobb of the Human Rights Campaign. “The American profit stream that flows from his hotels back to his regime needs to stop. We urge all New Yorkers to have one simple and straight-forward message for the sultan: Take your business elsewhere.”
The sale of the portfolio, which also includes the Dream Hotel Downtown, at 355 West 16th St., and the Grosvenor House Hotel in London, would free its current owner, flamboyant Indian billionaire Roy, from a New Delhi jail cell.
Roy has been imprisoned since March, when India’s Supreme Court charged him with contempt and accused him of overseeing a money-laundering empire. The sale of the hotels could help him pay a hefty ransom of more than $1.6 billion to get out.
The fabulously wealthy sultan was reportedly locked in competition for the portfolio with Madison Capital Holdings, one of the city’s most active investors in luxury properties, but has now emerged as the leading bidder.
The Plaza last traded for $570 million in 2012, when Sahara bought it from Israeli company Elad Properties following a massive renovation.
The sultan’s new criminal policy would introduce several new forms of punishment to Brunei, including amputation, flogging and stoning, for so-called offenses such as adultery and same-sex relationships. The United Nations Commission on Human Rights has condemned the reforms.
And activists say a ruler with those types of views does not belong in New York City.
Meanwhile, celebrities such as Ellen DeGeneres and Russell Crowe have been participating in a public boycott of the sultan’s Beverly Hills Hotel.
Kim Kardashian was with them until she gave up the boycott on the basis that the hotel was one of the only places she wasn’t bothered by paparazzi. She said she felt sorry for the staff of the hotel. They don’t share the sultan’s views, she said, but are suffering nonetheless from the boycott.
Lindsay Lohan isn’t one to shy away on account of some flogging, either. She reportedly accepted at least $100,000 to celebrate New Year’s Eve last year with the sultan’s son, Haji Abdul Azim, who nortoriously throws wild bashes and gives out party favors such as diamonds and iPads.
