Royal capital to ‘smart city’: Myanmar’s Mandalay gets high-tech makeover, sparks ‘spy’ fears

YANGON (Reuters) – Once a seat of kings, town of Mandalay in northern Myanmar has seen turbulent chapters in its 162-year historical past – the autumn of Burma’s final royal dynasty and many years of colonial rule. Now, officers are trying to remodel the previous royal capital into Myanmar’s first “smart city”. A lady seems to be at her telephone on the metropolis wall space of the Mandalay palace in Mandalay, Myanmar, March 30, 2019. REUTERS/Ann WangIn a rustic the place officers nonetheless largely labour with pen and ink, surrounded by stacks of mouldering papers, authorities in Mandalay are tapping social media and new applied sciences akin to synthetic intelligence software program and drones to revamp a torpid forms. Under the secretive army junta that dominated Myanmar till 2011, individuals within the nation’s second largest metropolis hardly ever had any contact with those that ruled them. Now, they discuss to the mayor on Facebook and pay for companies with QR codes, one thing not accessible in Myanmar’s business capital, Yangon. Authorities monitor rubbish disposal with GPS and management site visitors flows with distant sensors. “It is very good that we can communicate with the mayor like this,” mentioned 55-year-old taxi driver Kyi Thein. “Before, we could only see their motorcades.” Formerly dominated by military-linked males and considered a hotbed of graft and mismanagement, town’s first municipal authorities with an overwhelmingly civilian background has pushed the plan, which is a part of a regional initiative. The tempo of change has gained plaudits in regional media and from abroad Myanmar nationals – the mayor was given the Citizen of Burma award by a U.S. diaspora group in May – underscoring alternatives for Myanmar because the nation emerges from half a century of isolation right into a world dominated by quickly evolving know-how. But among the makes an attempt to push via change have met with resistance, not solely from corners of the creaky forms, however from activists involved that good know-how, deployed with out regulating laws, may enable authorities to extra intently surveil them. “LIVEABLE CITY” In April 2018, Singapore, then the chair of the Association of South East Asian Nations, proposed the creation of a community of 26 “smart cities” that will harness know-how to deal with among the challenges created because the area’s as soon as principally rural inhabitants converges in cities. Three Myanmar cities have been chosen, however it’s in Mandalay, within the centre of the nation, the place authorities have achieved most to embrace the proposal. Locals there say points are myriad. The faucet water shouldn’t be drinkable. Congestion is rising because the variety of autos has skyrocketed because the liberalization of imports in 2012. The roads are potholed and pavements affected by trash. Many credit score mayor Ye Lwin, a former eye surgeon turned politician and the primary appointed to the submit by a civilian authorities after elections in 2015, with overseeing a turnaround over the previous two years. He responds to gripes on his Facebook web page each day, tagging subordinates and issuing directives. He declined an interview request by Reuters, referring inquiries to officers in his workplace. “Our goal is to create a city which doesn’t damage the environment, is liveable for people, with a good economy and friendly environment,” mentioned Ye Myat Thu, an IT professional who created Myanmar’s hottest Burmese-language font and now works alongside the mayor within the Mandalay City Development Committee. “We get there using technology.” Although the Asian Development Bank gave cash for an improve to the waste administration system, many of the reforms have been funded by taxation, Ye Myat Thu mentioned. Authorities undertook a digital survey of town, utilizing 3D photos shot by drones and knowledge obtained by municipal officers roaming town with GPS units that they are saying has given them a greater image of the households and companies that ought to be paying property tax. The funds have paid for an Australian-made site visitors management system and units for workers to learn electrical energy payments routinely by strolling previous homes slightly than checking the meters. Inside a brand new management centre hooked up to town’s municipal workplace on a latest morning, two site visitors officers monitored probably the most congested roads on 13 screens. Sensors put in in CCTV cameras detect congestion and regulate the sequencing of site visitors lights accordingly, defined Ye Myat Thu. FACIAL RECOGNITION But change has not come straightforward. “Only after I joined here, I realized how bureaucratic the system was,” mentioned Ye Myat Thu. For instance, authorities departments throughout the nation nonetheless eschew e-mail for a paper-based letter system, he mentioned, and Mandalay is not any exception. When authorities put in monitoring on rubbish vans to ensure they have been amassing the litter, drivers poured water on the units in an effort to destroy them, Ye Myat Thu and one other official mentioned. Recent weeks have introduced a backlash in opposition to a proposed deal between Mandalay’s regional authorities and Chinese tech large Huawei to supply CCTV cameras outfitted with facial recognition know-how and different safety tools as a part of a “safe city” mission value $1.24 million, in line with native media. The United States has instructed its allies to not use Huawei’s know-how due to fears it might be a car for Chinese spying, an accusation the corporate has denied. “Huawei supports privacy protection,” Bob Zhu, a spokesman for Huawei Myanmar, instructed Reuters in an e-mail, including that the deal in Mandalay had not but been formally signed. Nyi Kyaw, an activist from the Mandalay-based non-profit Metta, mentioned authorities already saved a detailed eye on their actions and facial recognition may allow abuses. Slideshow (9 Images)“There is no trust between civil society organizations and the government. If this happens with the excuse of security, activists and political activists will be watched, rather than the criminals.” Ye Myat Thu from MCDC mentioned the nation ought to have higher “legal infrastructure” round private knowledge earlier than the mission might be carried out. “We face many challenges,” Ye Myat Thu mentioned, “We have been trying to change a system that has been going its own way.” Editing by Poppy McPherson and Alex RichardsonOur Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.