The Irrawaddy Magazine |
- In Burma, Facebook Is Increasingly Used for Social Activism
- Growing Grapes in the Golden Land
- As Car Market Expands, Japanese Models Rule
| In Burma, Facebook Is Increasingly Used for Social Activism Posted: 27 Dec 2013 11:14 PM PST  In keeping with trends in other developing economies, future Internet use in Burma could be via mobile or smartphones, rather than laptops or PCs. (Photo: Simon Roughneen / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — The immense popularity of Facebook in Burma has turned the social networking site into the default medium for most Burmese internet users, and with its growing popularity has also come an increased use of Facebook for social activism and charity fundraising. The power of this new development was on show in early November when Kyi Lin, a betel nut seller in Pegu town posted a photo on his Facebook page of 93-year-old independence fighter Thakin Hla Kyaing begging at Pegu Bridge. Soon after, local media and the Burma Veterans Organization contacted him to inquire about the case, while a campaign began on Facebook calling on people to donate money to Thakin Hla Kyaing. Within a few weeks, the veteran—who had reportedly joined the Burmese independence movement in the 1930s when he was 16 years old—received an outpouring of support. "I saw him on Pegu Bridge begging, I took a photo of him and interviewed him. Then I posted about him on Facebook," said Kyi Linn. "Later, lots of generous well-wishers came out after they saw the Facebook post and helped him. Now he has over 10,000,000 kyat [US $10,000]." "We bought a garden and are building a house for him from the donated money," he said. "I think now, a person's life has been completely changed by a Facebook post." Decades of international sanctions have left Burma with one of the most underdeveloped telecom and internet networks in the world. Internet penetration is among the lowest in Asia and is slowly creeping up. According to some estimates, the country could now have close to one million internet users, and among them Facebook is hugely popular and it is the dominant medium for using the internet. The social networking site therefore offers Burmese charity groups a good opportunity to reach out to the public and volunteer and youth-based organizations have increasingly taken to Facebook to raise funds and organize activities. Chan Nyein Phyu, a member of Myanmar Story Teller, an organization that promotes youth reading, said, "We use Facebook to organize annual donation activities and ask for donations. Our story teller groups do edutainment activities such as telling stories to children." Myanmar Story Teller is one of 20 organizations that are part of the Rangoon-based Youth Volunteer Network, which does volunteering and fundraising for victims of natural disasters and emergencies. Chan Nyein Phyu said the social media site also plays a key role in raising funds for the network's charity initiatives, adding that it managed to collect about $10,000 to help victims of the deadly 2011 floods in Pakoku town in Magwe Division. "A lot of people donated money after learning about our fundraising posts on Facebook, people from Mandalay and abroad donated to the Youth Volunteer Network when we organized help for the Pakoku flood victims," she said. Htaik Htaik Aung, of Myanmar ICT for Development Organization (MIDO), said Facebook is increasingly being used in Burma for social activism and charity work, public awareness campaigns and advocacy, adding that Burmese entrepreneurs use the social media site to market their brands. "Myanmar people use Facebook for social networking purposes, businesses have started to use it to promote their brand, and it also used for campaigning and advocacy [for social causes]," she said. MIDO holds seminars to help develop ICT skills in organizations in Burma in order to further development goals. It has also taken on the issue of freedom of expression and lobbies the government to lift restrictive laws. Htaik Htaik Aung said in MIDO's work Facebook also plays a central role. "We do advocacy and campaign using Facebook. When we have activities, we announce advertising or promotions on Facebook," she said. However, the popularity of the social networking site among Burmese internet users has also rendered it a powerful tool for political activities. During the past year, the dark side of its influence has been on display during the outbreaks of anti-Muslim violence which have affected numerous communities across Burma. Burmese Facebook users have frequently used the social network to vent their opinions about the inter-communal tensions between Burma's Buddhists and the Muslim minority, often taking extreme positions, using hate speech and further fanning conflict. Htaik Htaik Aung said these developments were a source of concern for MIDO, adding, "We are doing research on how online hate speech about the religious conflict affects the community offline." "There has been lots of propagandizing on Facebook pages by religious extremists. Some pages intend to attack individuals with hate speech. Most hate speech is done under an alias, so we can never track who actually is doing it," she said. The post In Burma, Facebook Is Increasingly Used for Social Activism appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. | |
| Growing Grapes in the Golden Land Posted: 27 Dec 2013 07:30 PM PST  In the early days of Bert Morsbach's winemaking venture in Myanmar, the land is plowed in traditional style. (Photo: Aythaya Winery) YANGON — It's half a world away, but there's something about Shan State that reminds Bert Morsbach of his native Germany, where the hills in winemaking regions undulate with vineyards. "Whenever I go through southern Germany, all the mountains are full of grapes," says the winemaker, who more than a decade ago trod uncharted terrain by establishing the first ever vineyard in Myanmar. "In Shan State, in our area, in 10 to 20 years it will look like this." With its humid climate, Myanmar has never been known as a wine country, and when Mr. Morsbach got the idea to set up a vineyard here, very little was known about tropical viticulture. Unlike Europe, Myanmar and other Southeast Asian countries experience an annual monsoon season, leaving grape harvests vulnerable to pests and fungal diseases that thrive in humidity. "That's why there was no wine in Myanmar for the past 150 years," says Mr. Morsbach. "The British tried, as did the French—here, in Thailand and in China—but they all gave up because of the rain and the fungus attacks."
Another issue was sunlight. Wine grapes typically fare best with long days, but while the summer sun sets at about 9-10 pm in parts of Europe, Myanmar's daylight hours end at about 6-7 pm throughout the year. But these problems did not faze Mr. Morsbach. Originally from Dusseldorf in Germany's west, he had already pioneered other ventures in Asia—including a windsurfing company in Thailand and an organic basmati rice business in Myanmar in the 1990s. The latter venture enjoyed solid exports but was taken away by the former military regime, so he decided to branch out again. "I thought, if the country has 150 sunny days, it must be possible to grow wine," he says. And he was right. His winery, about 25 km north of the famous Inle Lake, produces an international-standard brand of reds, whites and rosés known as Aythaya that can be found in local stores and restaurants. With a successful harvest in 2004, it became Myanmar's first winery and remains one of only a handful of wine producers in the country today. Far from the European vineyards of France, Germany, Italy and Portugal—and from the New World growers of Argentina, Australia, Chile, New Zealand and the United States—Aythaya has allowed Myanmar to join a list of so-called "new latitude" wine countries, including Brazil, India, China and Thailand, that fall outside the traditional wine-producing heartlands. But jumpstarting production in Shan State wasn't easy. The first trick was finding grapes that could withstand the climate. Nearly all of Europe's classic wine grapes—including merlot, pinot noir and chardonnay—grew poorly in Myanmar. Mr. Morsbach had studied as a mining engineer in Germany and lacked formal training in winemaking, but with help from some of the world's few tropical viticulturists, he set out to find a selection of suitable grapes. Of about 100 varieties tested over five years, half a dozen survived. Among the lucky reds were shiraz, cabernet sauvignon, tempranillo from Spain and dornfelder from Germany, while the winning whites were sauvignon blanc and chenin blanc. In 1998 he established a winery in Loikaw, the capital of Kayah State, but after importing thousands of vines from Europe, he was forced to relocate due to fighting between ethnic rebels and the government. "I had to give up because my safety was not guaranteed anymore by the local Kayah State authorities," he says. He had grown rice in neighboring Shan State and knew the region offered a major perk: less rain, with about a third of Yangon's annual rainfall. A high elevation with cooler weather would also be ideal for growing grapes, so the winery was moved near the southern Shan State town of Aythaya, at an elevation of more than 1,200 meters. Mistakes were common in the early days. "We were throwing away our wine for two or three years," says Mr. Morsbach, recalling the unsuccessful harvests. Slowly, however, the project came together. About half the grapes were grown at the winery, while more than 1,000 farmers in the central Myanmar area of Meikhtila were contracted to grow the rest, as they had already been harvesting table grapes, which have a lower sugar content. From 20,000 bottles in 2004, the winery—known as the Myanmar 1st Vineyard Estate—produced 120,000 bottles in 2012. While some bottles are exported to China, most customers are local. Foreign tourists dominated sales initially, but Myanmar diners have quickly acquired a taste for wine and now make up the majority of the Aythaya market. Mr. Morsbach's brand could see a boost in sales after the Myanmar government recently cracked down on the sale of illegally imported foreign alcohol and wines. Over the past month it has become difficult to find foreign wines in Yangon grocery stores, but it was once possible to pick up a bottle from Italy, France, Australia or the United States for slightly less than the cost of Aythaya, which runs for between 8,000 kyat (US $8.30) and 14,000 kyat per bottle. The higher price was partly due to the production costs for a relatively low yield. The slight splurge may be worth it. Aythaya has received a number of positive reviews, with one Thailand-based critic praising the 2004 sauvignon blanc as a wine that "should worry France." Tourists can taste and decide for themselves at the vineyard, which offers guest rooms and a restaurant, while planning is underway to build a second winery next year in Meikhtila, which, with its central location, serves as a crossing point for travelers. Despite Mr. Morsbach's lead, winemaking has yet to take off in a big way in the Golden Land, which so far has just one other locally produced and international-standard wine, Red Mountain Estate. Still, some smaller wineries are reportedly springing up, and the German entrepreneur heartily welcomes more. "In Germany we have 20,000 winemakers," he says. "We can do here with two, three or four." A version of this story first appeared in the December 2013 print issue of The Irrawaddy magazine. The original has been edited slightly here to reflect recent changes in the government's policy on imported foreign wine. The post Growing Grapes in the Golden Land appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. | |
| As Car Market Expands, Japanese Models Rule Posted: 27 Dec 2013 07:20 PM PST  Traffic jams in Yangon are becoming a major downside of the rapidly expanding car market. (Photo: Reuters) YANGON — Like most residents of Myanmar's largest city, U Myint Maung never imagined that he would one day be able to buy a car of his own. Now, however, the 63-year-old retired government official is the proud owner of a used Toyota Belta—a vehicle that not so long ago would have been far beyond his means. Until very recently, Myanmar was probably one of the most expensive countries in the world to purchase a car. Under the former military regime, import restrictions sent prices sky high, making it impossible for all but the well-connected to buy high-end vehicles or even relatively new used models. That all changed in 2011, when the current quasi-civilian government took power and started steadily opening up the country's economy. Since then, the Ministry of Transport has changed the rules for importing cars eight times, starting with a scheme that allowed owners of decades-old clunkers to replace them with newer models. That first step toward liberalizing the domestic automobile market saw the import of more than 100,000 cars, mostly from Japan and South Korea. Then, in 2012, the government announced that anyone with a foreign savings account could import cars. Soon car showrooms were placing more orders for vehicles from Japan. According to Daw Mar Lar, the director of the Best Auto car showroom in Yangon, small used cars with 1.3-liter engines from Japan are especially popular because they're reasonably priced and generally in good condition. Another plus, she said, is that it's easy to find spare parts. Dealers say that over the past two years, used cars from Japan—which can be shipped to Yangon from any major port in Japan within about three weeks of receiving payment—have made up about 95 percent of sales in a rapidly expanding market. "Nissan vans, Suzukis, the Toyota Probox, the Honda Fit, the Honda Vitz and the Nissan March are now in strong demand in my showroom," said Daw Mar Lar. "Most of these models sell for around 10 million kyat (US $10,340)." "Demand has increased a lot, because in the past, such imported cars would have cost several times as much as they do now," she added. Import licenses can be issued by several different ministries, including the ministries of transport, commerce and customs, and must specify the age and make of the vehicle to be imported. Several Toyota models, including the Harrier, Mark II, Mark X, Hilux Surf, Probox, Belta and Landcruiser, are among the most popular. Growing demand for cars has also brought increasing competition among car dealers. In Yangon, more than 200 showrooms have opened since 2011. Each one is required to deposit $100,000 with the government and provide a surety of 300 million kyat ($310,000), plus pay an annual fee of $900 to the government, said the owner of one showroom. These expenses mean that many dealers still prefer to operate out of one of three major trading centers that dominated Yangon's car market until 2011. According to Ko Tun Myat, a broker at the St. John's trading center in Lanmadaw Township, cars sold here typically cost about 500,000 kyat ($517) less than the same models on sale in showrooms. On the other hand, he said, his customers must get a license plate within 20 days of making a purchase, whereas those who buy from showrooms have up to a year before they have to replace their dealer plates. "But in the end, it all depends on what the customer wants," he said. "If someone likes a car they see here, they'll buy it. But if they can get what they're looking for at a reasonable price from a showroom, they'll buy it there." A bigger worry, he said, is that prices overall are falling—something that he hopes will change next year, when the government is expected to allow the import of 2009 models. Although Japanese cars have a clear lead in the race to capitalize on Myanmar's car craze, other country's carmakers are also hoping to position themselves for future growth in one of the world's last large frontier markets. US automaker Ford and Mercedes Benz from Germany already have a presence here, and are soon to be joined by Jaguar Land Rover, a British brand now owned by India's Tata Motors. But it could be Japan's nearest neighbor, South Korea, that offers the stiffest challenge to Japanese preeminence. Hyundai Motors, which opened its first showroom in August and has plans to open 14 dealerships across the country by 2018, said it hopes to capitalize on the popularity of South Korean pop culture in Myanmar to expand its market share in the country. "Young people in Myanmar who watch Korean dramas visit our showroom and look for cars that were shown in the dramas," said Oh Sei-young, the chief executive of Kolao Holdings, the sole dealer for Hyundai in Myanmar, according to a report by Reuters. "Hyundai is really keen on the Myanmar market." For now, however, Japanese cars look set to rule the roost for the foreseeable future. "Japanese used cars will continue to be most people's number one choice because they really meet their needs," said U Thura Kyaw, a customer service agent at the Diamond Auto showroom, citing the good value for money of Japanese cars and the ease of finding replacement parts. At any rate, with import barriers steadily being lowered, all that remains for Myanmar's car market to really take off is the introduction of a system of credit that puts car ownership within reach of more consumers. So far, however, only a few showrooms offer installment plans—most requiring a 30 percent down payment and full payment within 15 months. "If we could get long-term installment plans to buy cars in the future, everyone would be able to own a car, just like in neighboring countries," said retiree and first-time car owner U Myint Maung. The post As Car Market Expands, Japanese Models Rule appeared first on The Irrawaddy Magazine. |
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