
Startups in Myanmar - wyclif
http://www.economist.com/news/business/21647318-startup-culture-germinates-unlikely-place-land-temples-and-tech
======
rmm
As someone who is in the mining (ore not data) industry, the changes I have
seen in Myanmar in the past 2-3 years is remarkable.

I have been over with a variety of mining exploration companies, and with each
trip there are major advances in overall 'economic' freedom.

The effect of 'western' mining companies is already funneling through (much
stricter environmental and safety controls).

Look forward to watching it grow.

~~~
afarrell
I'd be interested in hearing more about what you mean? Are you saying that
there is simultaneously more economic freedom and more regulation? I'd believe
it but I'm curious to see a more detailed picture of what that looks like.

~~~
yla92
There definitely are development in technology area. There are now more "start
ups" than 3 years ago. But the thing is the infrastructure is pretty much
broken still. The Internet is (still) slow and expensive. (A year ago, I spent
the whole morning by trying to 'bundle install' and then the other half of
day, the electricity is gone). So, basically, small companies are struggling
to roll out their own products and from months to months, they have to make
their cashflow by doing services/outsource. Also there are foreign tech
companies (eg Rocket Internet) who are trying to clone their existing stuffs
into the Myanmar and trying to make it work. I can say they are struggling
either because our culture is different. What works in Singapore/Vietnam might
not work in Myanmar.

Recently, a friend of mine company tried to get some seed funding from outside
for his startup and he had to set up a lot of extra work such as opening the
same name company in Singapore, get the money for the Singapore company and
then bring it back with him to Myanmar. Because there are still lots of
restrictions around there. Feel free to ask me anything and I could try my
best to answer them.

Disclamer : I'm native Myanmar. Programmer working at a local small tech
company.

------
dharma1
There are some really talented young people in Myanmar - would like to name
Nex, Code2Lab, Total Gameplay Studio. Big open source movement too.

It's an interesting time and our company, Myanmar Plus, is building apps for
Android and web - things like
[http://myanmarestate.net](http://myanmarestate.net) which is launching soon.
You can reach me at info@myanmarplus.net - give us a shout if you're visiting
or have questions!

------
EdwardDiego
> Vagueness in the rules on foreign investment and intellectual-property
> rights do not help with the difficult task of finding funding from abroad.

Incorporating religious extremism into your law doesn't help either - a
picture of Buddha wearing headphones on Facebook gets you jail time.
[http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/268881/new-
zealander-...](http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/268881/new-zealander-
jailed-for-insulting-buddhism)

~~~
parennoob
> a picture of Buddha wearing headphones on Facebook gets you jail time.

In the West, wearing a shirt with a racy graphic design can cause a literal
rocket scientist to be pilloried on social media to the point where he is
literally crying on TV -- despite the fact that said shirt has nothing to do
with his job. [1]

Cultural differences, that's how they work. What is perfectly normal to you
can appear extremely strict, weird, or ridiculous to others.

[1]
[http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/science/space/11231320/Roset...](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/science/space/11231320/Rosetta-
mission-scientist-Dr-Matt-Taylor-cries-during-apology-over-offensive-
shirt.html)

~~~
pjlegato
1) The rocket scientist case was a) entirely ridiculous in itself, and b) is a
textbook example of the "tu quoque fallacy"[1]; the fact that some putatively
similar thing happens in the west is irrelevant to the question of whether it
is bad that it happens in Burma.

2) Do you realize that the postmodernist cultural relativism you are blithely
spreading around the world was formulated by fascists to justify their wars of
conquest and genocides? [2][3]

3) The mere fact that different cultures have differences in standards, and
that what's normal in one place is weird in another, does not imply that one
ought to be non-judgemental towards and non-critical of anything another
culture does. This does not follow from the premise.

Relativism additionally requires one to adopt an attitude of invarying
quietism towards all manner of atrocities, no matter how severe (presuming
that hypocrisy is undesirable, which does not seem to actually be a problem
for many postmodernists.) The cultural relativist, faced with the Holocaust or
the genocide in Sudan, can only passively say, "Well, that's their way, we
shouldn't impose our own standards on them."

This very cultural relativism argument is indeed routinely employed today by
the most brutal dictatorships in the world[4] to justify all manner of
atrocities, by brushing off any criticisms as mere "western imperialists
trying to impose western standards upon us and our culture."

That's the company you choose for yourself when you advocate for cultural
relativism. In the western world, it's typically adopted as some kind of
enlightened and fair worldview by kindhearted intellectuals in a liberal arts
college somewhere. Outside the western world, it's something very different:
an ideological tool for dictators to sidestep criticism of atrocity.

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tu_quoque](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tu_quoque)

[2]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Heidegger](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Heidegger)

[3] "Everything I have said and done in these last years is relativism by
intuition. If relativism signifies contempt for fixed categories and those who
claim to be the bearers of objective immortal truth … then there is nothing
more relativistic than Fascist attitudes and activity... From the fact that
all ideologies are of equal value, that all ideologies are mere fictions, the
modern relativist infers that everybody has the right to create for himself
his own ideology and to attempt to enforce it with all the energy of which he
is capable." \- Benito Mussolini, "Diuturna"

[4] President Bashir of Sudan, North Korea, the Burmese military junta itself,
the PRC, and many others.

~~~
allendoerfer
Your argumentation makes sense and I enjoyed reading it, unfortunately you
just followed Godwin's law.

Your parent comment could have just wanted to point out, that the western
world is not perfect and we should be (as always) careful when judging. He or
she could have found a better example, though, directly comparing religious
legislation to religious legislation.

Being reflective does not always equal cultural relativism.

~~~
harperlee
Also, it is fallacious to suggest, that, because of the fact that it was
initially formulated by fascists as a propagandistic weapon, postmodernist
cultural relativism is false, or not a useful view of the world. If fact I
think it is very useful to stop and consider that point of view, and be able
to reflect on it, and reach conclusions about why it is or it is not a good
cosmovision to have.

~~~
pjlegato
If you reread my argument, you will see that I never said the fact that
fascists invented moral relativism makes it false. I rather argued that those
who adopt this viewpoint are aligning themselves not only with fascists but
with all manner of other tyrants and dictators who commit what most people
regard as horrid atrocities, and that moreover moral relativists are
_required_ (insofar as they wish to avoid hypocrisy) to morally and
philosophically support these acts.

I believe that most western moral relativists do not realize this. I am
pointing out that moral relativism is not an inherently leftist or "nice"
viewpoint, contrary to common opinion among western intellectuals. I said
nothing about whether it was true or false.

