Along with the appointment of Aung San Suu Kyi this April after it held its first parliamentary elections in more than 20 years, Burma has seen a dramatic lift in the numerous sanctions that stifled international trade and development, ushering in a new commercial era for the Southeast Asian country .
ince the military junta took control of Burma in 1962, international companies were either blocked from or voluntarily withdrew from local markets. Under the military leadership, Burma stagnated as one of the least economically developed countries in the world, with a massively inadequate healthcare system, and an endless catalogue human rights abuses recorded. It was perhaps inevitable that their iron grasp of power would slip, allowing tentative steps towards reform and the instillation of democratic leadership. Whilst it remains to be seen to what extent the Burmese government has successfully managed to address the ongoing dire violations of human rights in the region, certain international conglomerates are regardless rushing in to take advantage of resurgent business opportunities.
There is perhaps no more recognizable symbiotic marker of the embrace of international capitalist business than cola. And as Burma eases to its new found democracy, Pepsi Co, a company that has made aggressive expansion in developing markets a key driver in its corporate growth policy, has rushed to ink a new agreement with a Burmese firm to distribute Pepsi-Cola, Mirinda brands and 7-Up.
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) will be partnering with PepsiCo to initiate vocational training schemes in Burma to build future native sources of labour. Where Pepsi Co. goes, rival Coca-Cola is bound to follow, and the company has also outlined its plans to return to Burma.
Along with the sugary taste of American soft drink juggernauts, Burmese citizens are now increasingly being permitted to watch Hollywood blockbusters on the big screen. Although Burma once had its own healthy movie making industry, with even current leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s own father, Aung San, appearing in a production, the heavy censorship and limited access to the industry imposed by the military junta served to heavily stifle any works of artistic or political merit over recent decades.
Though many remember watching foreign films before the military junta embargo, for many years watching international movies was a furtive business. Cinephiles made do with shoddy pirate copies sourced from the thriving underground trade and covert small scale screenings. This all changed earlier this month, when Twentieth Century Fox blockbuster Titanic 3D played to crowded screenings at The Dagon Centre cinema in Rangoon. The company noted that the movie, was an apt choice as the first US studio title to grace Burmese screens in decades, with Titanic’s cinematic influence spanning from its premiere in 1997 to its new multimillion dollar generating 3D incarnation fifteen years on.
Fox has inked a deal with Mingalar, a company which controls more than 80 percent of the domestic film exhibition market and 90 percent of the foreign film exhibition market in Burma, to distribute its catalogue of movies throughout the state. Whilst it remains to be seen how successfully Burmese reformers can steer the state away from the antagonism and abuses which have marked the past decades, Western businesses appear to be putting their bets on a successful transition to a neo-capitalist democracy.
