october 7, 2015 the election’s digital challenge · #thithtoolwin news ;hate-speeches &...

FOR the first time in Myan-mar’s history, election infor-mation on candidates and

voters has been moved into digital databases.

But while the modernisation push has yielded apps, SMS campaigns and a voter list website stacked with mil-lions of names, it has been also been confronted by capacity challenges – still an issue in a country transition-ing from offline to online, with errors persisting on paper and mistakes dif-ficult to avoid.

Helping to address and overcome these concerns are international or-ganisations, which are collaborating with the Union Election Commission to make information from physical forms available on the internet. The Asia Foundation mainly digitised candidate data from forms that aspir-ing politicians filled out themselves, while the International Foundation of Electoral Systems (IFES) worked with the government to compile and modernise the country’s first digital nationwide voter list.

The Asia Foundation, which estab-lished an office in Myanmar in 2013, had previously worked in Indonesia to incorporate technology into the 2014 elections. Though the two countries didn’t originally seem to line up in terms of potential – Indonesia has more expe-rience with electoral races and harbours a more developed tech community – The Asia Foundation saw the process of digitisation could be “inherently useful”, according to Kim Ninh, its Myanmar representative.

Connectivity in the country has exploded by way of mobile phones – many of them “smart” – and Myan-mar’s tech community has taken shape, she continued.

“Increasingly there is a leapfrog-ging effect going on, so perhaps it would make sense for The Asia Foun-dation to look at this particular proj-ect,” she said, referring to its digitisa-tion efforts.

She said the official response to their endeavour was welcoming.

“With traditional approaches to voter education still so much needed, this one aspect [digitising election in-formation] seemed a little farfetched

... We weren’t quite sure how the UEC would receive it, but we approached them and they were surprisingly open.”

To get the information into a data-base, The Asia Foundation assembled a Unicode-friendly data entry team – an issue in itself – to type in can-didate information and scan photos from candidate registration forms. The modernisation process had to be flexible and able to tackle issues far from the digital realm, however: The foundation’s program and operations officer Ma Mi Ki Kyaw Myint said a few incomplete forms and even bad handwriting complicated their task.

Though the UEC was “extremely busy” and new to the digitisation sys-tem, Ma Mi Ki Kyaw Myint said the commission had been “wonderfully supportive”.

“There are times the UEC staff didn’t understand our process or technical aspects, but they were very open,” she said, even going so far as to request that the foundation keep records of obstacles they came up against in putting together the candi-date list.

The Asia Foundation’s data entry work was just the start: Now the infor-mation had to be put to use. For this, it was made available to hackers at an election-themed tech challenge, the community-organised Mae Pay Soh hackathon, hosted by local innova-

tion lab Phandeeyar and others. The competition ended on Sep-

tember 27, with top honours going to a team of mostly teenage developers that put together an application called MVoter 2015. The app’s interface was designed to remind of Facebook’s. It connects users with information on how to cast a ballot, voter eligibility and local candidates.

“I think sometimes we can over-hype when we talk about leapfrogging because a development process re-quires a lot of building blocks. But in this one instance, you see glimpses of what is possible – using technology in creative ways and bringing together

the information side,” said Ms Ninh.Meanwhile, the UEC collaborated

with IFES on the country’s first digital voter list, an upgrade from previous registrars of mostly handwritten infor-mation vulnerable to loss or damage.

The process of putting together the voter list began with a pilot pro-gram in three separate areas last year that involved about 100,000 regis-trants and 30 laptops. It was followed by a national rollout, a process that stretched human resource capacity and made use of 1100 laptops. In the preliminary display period, thou-sands of data entry personnel visited General Administration Department (GAD) offices nationwide to get in-formation out of logbooks and Min-istry of Immigration household lists and into an electronic database via software meant to mirror the look of physical paperwork.

Simply digitising old data does not ensure its accuracy, of course. The list has been attacked by many for vast inaccuracies, with estimates that in some areas nearly half of all eligible voters have been left out. Accidents in the transcription process have come to light – at least one voter has popped up on the list as a street name – and obsolete source materials have led to deceased people being included. This last problem has prompted jokes that, in Myanmar, people can vote from be-yond this earthly life.

The new format does have advan-tages, however, including heightened security of information. The UEC said one motivation for digitising the voter list was to keep the data perma-nently, but that before the process started it lacked technical knowledge to do so. U Win Kyi said that the com-mission faced challenges with soft-ware knowledge, and also that he was not yet sure what would happen with the computers provided for the digiti-sation process. Still, he put the voter list database at 33.5 million names, a significant achievement given the project started from scratch.

Another benefit of getting away from paper is that the data is acces-sible to more than just the UEC. Pro-spective voters can ensure their eli-gibility for polling day by heading to checkvoterlist.uecmyanmar.org.

The site has so far been visited by more than 250,000 individual users, with a massive spike in traffic com-ing on the first day the lists went on

We have to remind ourselves where we were coming from in this environment.

Kim NinhThe Asia Foundation

October 7, 2015

Election opinions on social media

@SengPanLasham Oct 5Election monitoring trip lining up for entire month in ethnic states. Can’t wait being on the ground and observe. #MyanmarElection2015Seng Pan Lasham, political commentator based in Kachin State

@nyuntaung1959 Sep 28@facebook fake page of #Thithtoolwin news ;hate-speeches & politicizing #SocialMedia to let #Myan-marElection2015 downNyunt Aung, business adviser

@matthewfsmithOct 1UN @secgen calls for cred-ible election in Myanmar (too late for that), end to abusesMatthew Smith, executive director of Fortify Rights

@Yanmyothein Oct 6“The National Development party will propose the Bud-dhist monks’ right to vote in the parliamentary sessions... Yan Myo Thein, political commentator

@SimondlewisOct 6Slick-looking “Forward” pics are being shared by Myanmar government officials. But what is the logo? #Burmavotes2015

Simon Lewis, freelance journalist

@midsomernorton5 Sep 27#MyanmarElection2015

Cartoonist, Antipro

The election’s digital challenge

A resident of Thingangyun township checks the voter lists at a ward administration office. Photo: Aung Htay Hlaing

CATHERINE TRAUTWEIN

[email protected]

CONTINUED ON PAGE 4

‘2015 is like the

pre-exams … in 2020 it will be very different’

Ko Nay Phone Latt knows quite a bit about what happens when politics and technology collide. He’s a third-generation National League for Democracy member – now running on the party’s ticket to take a seat in the Yangon Region Hluttaw – whose early brushes with activism include joining the 1988 uprising as an eight-year-old. He was sentenced to 20 years’ prison in 2008 after bloggers used his internet cafes to get news out about the 2007 protests, but was released as part of a mass amnesty in January 2012. Here, he speaks to Catherine Trautwein about Myanmar’s changes and how social media will impact the November 8 electionHow is this election different from past ones with regard to the role of technology? Technology is very different com-pared with 2010, 2012, but the prob-lem is the people who use the tech-nology have not changed. The Union Election Commission tried to use technology, but because of its weak-ness [and] mismanagement, they couldn’t take advantage. IFES [Inter-national Foundation for Electoral Sys-tems, an international NGO] is helping them to list the voters, but they have so many problems because they are not so ready to use technology.

[The former generals] think they can do everything and they are Super-man. But the voter list issue proves the former generals cannot do every-thing. They have to value technicians and intellectual people.

A big change has been the jump in mobile phone users. How can that af-fect campaigning and the election? So many people can access the inter-net and have mobile phones. But the problem is very few candidates and parliament members have enough knowledge of how to use this technol-ogy very effectively. I’ve gotten some messages from the UEC and Telenor to check the voter list ... I also told Tele-nor, as the election gets nearer and nearer, you should send SMSs to every-body: ‘two days left before the election’, ‘one day left’, ‘today is Election Day’, something like that. That kind of thing will be very useful to motivate people and increase voter turnout.

Facebook has gotten huge in Myan-mar. Why are you using it in your campaign? I have to do it because everybody al-ready knows me as a technology per-son. I also want to show all the other candidates they can use this technol-ogy as a campaigning tool. I would like to create some examples, and if every-body sees my page and my website, they will know that they can do it.

And messages and posts [don’t stay limited to] Facebook. Some people see something on Facebook and take the news to the outside world, so the Facebook campaign can also affect the off-line community. Now, I go around town and some people come out and welcome me because they al-ready know me on Facebook.

What do people ask you online? Some of the people from Thin-gangyun township [where Ko Nay Phone Latt is competing for an Amyo-tha Hluttaw seat] ask me when I will come to their quarter. Another thing is for voter education. I got so many questions from voters and I tried to answer all of them. So [Facebook is] very useful to get familiar with the people around this town and for voter education and the voter list.

Have there been any problems on Facebook? One candidate, Dr Soe Moe Thu, had his account reported and Facebook closed his account. Facebook asked him so many questions, so it was very problematic for him. And NLD

candidate Zeyar Thaw – one person used his photo and created a fake ac-count, so we reported it and it’s already cancelled. We can get this kind of problem, so candidates should think about digital security and how to be safe online.

Have you seen other candidates be-gin to use Facebook in this election? The NLD has around 1138 candidates. Among them are around 115 youth candidates – it’s 12pc. Most of the youth are very active on Facebook. But the problem is they don’t have enough knowledge of digital security, so they have experienced many problems.

Hopefully in 2020 Facebook will play a very big role. Internet penetration rate will have increased rapidly on 2012 ... [and] 2015 is like the pre-exams. We cannot rely only on Facebook now, but in 2020 it will be very different.

Will people’s actions on social me-dia translate into real life? Not exactly, but you can guess it. Now on social media, the NLD already won [laughs]. We can guess the amount of the audience – who likes the NLD, who doesn’t like the NLD. We cannot count every “like” as a vote, but we can make a guess.

Do you think people are more likely to vote for someone they’ve con-nected with on social media? That depends on the audience. We have the very sure voters – no matter what happens they will vote for the NLD. But another [type of] voter is

undecided. For these voters, our Face-book posts can be effective. We will post our picture, we are going around the town and introducing ourselves to the people, and at least they can see we are working very hard. I also want some candidates to write about policy and big issues. Some of the undecided voters want to see photos, but they also want to know what their poli-cies are ... We should also post some policies and promises. If they can do those kinds of things, these undecid-ed voters can shift to the NLD.

Another thing is the swing voter who already decided to vote for the USDP. If we can persuade them very strongly, they can swing to the NLD. For that kind of person, photos are not enough. We have to persuade them in so many ways – not only with photos but also with policy, and we need to learn about their life and why they decided to vote for the USDP.

What are your election hopes? We want a free and fair election, but this depends on ourselves. We have to do our best. Now we have the problem in the voter list and there will be an-other problem just before the election – the religious problem is also one of the things. Advance voting will also be a big problem. So to be a free and fair election, everyone has to take respon-sibility. We have to check the voter list, we have to monitor the election ... Now Ma Ba Tha is everywhere. They go in-side every town and campaign for the USDP, against the NLD, something like that. So we also think about that.

October 7, 2015

How has Myanmar’s tech transformation changed the way candidates campaign?

Why did you decide to use Facebook as a campaign tool?

Are there any challenges with using Facebook to run for election?

Can social media affect the election?

It only applies to the urban areas. For me, many people [online] know my ideas and that I am going to run via social media and online media. But only a few people from my constituency know that. If a candidate wants to launch a social media campaign targeting his or her own voters it is not the best way to campaign. But for the political parties, online campaigns are very effective.

It is like if someone commented on your post with different point of view, or says ‘I don’t support your ideas,’ ... As a candidate you should not reply to them with emotion, and should not take every comment into account.

Of course, yes ... The election business is all about communication. Among the parties and candidates, the one who can communicate effectively will be a winner. It is clear.

Facebook Q&AKo Thu Ryain Shwe, National Unity Party

I just want let the young people know I am going to run. And they should start thinking about taking part in professional politics. And I also need volunteers. It wasn’t targeted at voters from my constituency.

Nope. As far as I have experienced, there is no such thing, as long as you can understand the diversity.

Urban candidates are best-placed to make use of social media, but many are wary of how online campaigns will be received

October 7, 2015

NEW tech is transforming Myanmar – but can it also impact on the November 8

election? While some of the country’s election candidates have made Face-book their podium, the still-low num-ber of Myanmar people on the social media platform – estimated at barely 10 percent of the population – means politicians can only make so many “friends”.

In just a few years, the propor-tion of Myanmar’s population with a phone connection has risen from about 10 percent to more than 40pc. It should continue to climb strongly in the coming years as the mobile industry’s three operators battle to acquire new users by spread-ing infrastructure to the country’s furthest corners.

Yet campaigning on Facebook cur-rently has a limited reach. Though many of those getting new SIM cards are using data, it’s not everyone – and then not all of those connecting to the internet use social media. Local civil society organisation Myanmar ICT for Development (MIDO) has estimated the Myanmar user base of Facebook, by far the most popular so-cial network, at 6 million people.

These are mostly in urban areas, however, making the social media platform potentially useful for city-based candidates. Some are bullish about the opportunities.

“In 2010, a mere 1pc to 2pc of people had access to the internet. Now, we have 18 million people who are using mobile data,” said MIDO program manager Ma Htaike Htaike Aung. “That’s quite a big number, and I think the 18 million people also be-long to the areas in the country which will have good voter turnout.”

Already, she said, “It’s very clear that people are seeing social media as a medium they can use.”

Facebook’s importance as a cam-paign tool depends largely on the candidate, according to Ko Chamtha Kyaw, the executive director of Pandi-ta Development Institute. A politician running for a seat in an urban area has more use for it than one hoping to win a rural constituency.

“There are a lot of young people in Yangon ... who are using Facebook, so for Nay Phone Latt it’s effective,” he said, referring to the well-known blogger and activist running in Thin-gangyun township. “[But if] I am the candidate for a small Kayah village, if we spend money on Facebook it’s a waste of money.”

For the major parties seeking to reach a national audience and build awareness about their activities, it’s also useful.

“Now, big parties are creating their own pages on Facebook,” said Ko Than Htike Soe, technical director for local social network DoeMyanmar. “But I don’t see ethnic parties or inde-pendent candidate pages.”

It’s not only candidates that are seeking to take advantage of new tech opportunities for the election.

Pandita launched a Facebook plat-form to motivate Myanmar’s youth to get out and vote, and an accompany-ing website.

But the organisation’s election pro-gram officer, Ko Phyo Tin Oo, said he didn’t think social media could affect the election’s outcome because of the small number of Facebook users as compared to the country’s population.

“Most people don’t use Face-book,” he said.

These doubts about reach and

influence haven’t stopped some can-didates from using Facebook. The social media platform has been the stage for some of the year’s best politi-cal theatre; in August, parliamentary Speaker Thura U Shwe Mann used the site to assure people he was back at his desk after a midnight ouster as leader of the Union Solidarity and Development Party. His page boasts frequent updates, and posts generate thousands of “likes”. Scrolling Face-book’s News Feed, users might even stumble on a sponsored post from the parliamentary Speaker.

However, his more than 182,000 fans and counting can’t measure up to online support behind Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, whose official page has been “liked” by over 1.3 million people. Along with content from the cam-paign trail, the politician many call “The Lady” posted a video on how to physically cast a ballot.

But the NLD is also wary about un-filtered engagement on the site – so concerned, in fact, that it has previ-ously prohibited its candidates from speaking to the media or posting on Facebook.

“The weak point of social media is [people] can [put] abusive posts or comments on it,” said Shan National-ites League for Democracy secretary U Sai Nyunt Lwin. “The strong points

are that we can show what we have done. If we lie on Facebook, good re-sults won’t come.”

He agreed that a social media strategy could help candidates win in urban areas. “If candidates cannot go to every house, people can see his policy and who he is via Facebook,” he added.

Heading to Facebook can open up a channel for candidates to connect with voters. But it can also expose them to abuse – something that USDP lower house candidate U Ye Aung said he fears.

“I didn’t post any of my campaign activities online and on social media because I am afraid of people insult-ing me on Facebook,” said the politi-cian, who is running in Bahan town-ship. “Facebook has good and weak points, but for me it’s more annoying to see hate speech, abusive words and attacks.”

Some election candidates have more experience on social media than others. Shan Nationalities Democrat-ic Party (SNDP) MP U Ye Tun, who is re-contesting his lower house seat of Hsipaw, said he has used it for years to reach out to the media.

“I have a lot of journalist friends, and they are using social media so I can talk to them easily. The quick response spreads around the coun-

try but it is still difficult to reach my constituency,” said U Ye Tun. While voters in his area aren’t big Facebook users, young urban ethnic Shan people use it regularly. “The people in the villages can hear my contributions from the radio, not from Facebook.”

But the platform isn’t ideal for en-gaging in debate, he conceded.

“For example, when we argue about federalism, I can’t explain everything on social media. That would be a very long conversation,” he continued.

– Additional reporting by Aung Kyaw Nyunt

The Facebook election? Not quite yet

CATHERINE TRAUTWEIN

WA LONE

About one-third of political parties (roughly 33 of 91) appear to have a presence on Facebook

Active SIM cards in use: 32 million (Ministry of Communications and IT)

SIMs using internet: More than 19.2 million (MCIT)

Facebook users, estimated: 6 million (MIDO)

Have you seen this man in your news feed recently? Photo: Zarni Phyo

Following Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s visit to Kachin, The Myanmar Times examines eight parties fielding candidates in the conflict-hit state

October 7, 2015

Founded: August 2, 2010 Based: Myitkyina, Kachin State

Senior members: U Khat Htein Nan, Daw Dwe Bu

Seats won 1990: Not registered Seats won 2010: 5

Seats won 2012: Did not contest Candidates 2015: 8Overview: The UDPKS was one of a handful of ethnic parties that allied

with the Union Solidarity and Development Party in the 2010 election. This was a mixed blessing: While it meant an easier shot at winning seats, it damaged the party’s legitimacy in the eyes of most ethnic Kachin. Nevertheless, Daw Dwe Bu in particular has been one of the most impressive parliamentary performers and has a good chance to hold on to the lower house seat of Injanyang.

Unity and Democracy Party ofKachin State

Founded: December 10, 2013 Based: Myitkyina, Kachin State

Senior member: Manam Tu Jar

Seats won 1990: Not registered Seats won 2010: Not registered

Seats won 2012: Not registered Candidates 2015: 55

Overview: Could it be third time lucky for Manam Tu Jar? In 2010 the former Kachin Independence Organisation vice chair was blocked from forming a party by the election commission, while in 2012 he registered as an independent but the vote was cancelled due to conflict with the KIO. This time around his party has fielded a large slate of candidates but faces a tough fight to emerge as the preeminent ethnic Kachin party.

Kachin State Democracy Party

Founded: January 13, 2014 Based: Sanchaung, Yangon

Leader: U Awng Hkam



Overview: Another of the new faces in Kachin State, the Kachin Democratic Party is led by U Awng Kham, the son of Kachin politician Gumgrawng Zau Ing, who in 1990 headed the Kachin State National Congress for Democracy. U Awng Kham will be expecting to win more than the three seats that his father claimed in that election, but like other Kachin State parties will face stiff competition.

Kachin Democratic Party

Founded: June 29, 2015 Based: Waingmaw, Kachin State

Senior members: U Daung Kham, U Dewi



Overview: The Lhaovo, also known as the Maru, are one of the sub-groups of the Kachin and mostly reside in the east of the state, in Waingmaw, Chipwe and Tsawlaw townships. Estimates for the group’s population vary, but could be as high as 120,000, not counting those living across the border in China. The Lhaovo went unrepresented in the 2010 election but that will change this year, with the LNUDP fielding several candidates.

Lhaovo National Unity and Development Party (LNUDP)

Founded: May 10, 2012 Based: Chan Mya Tharsi, Mandalay

Senior members: U Sai Htay Aung, U Sai Ohn Ohn



Overview: The Tai-Leng Nationalities Development Party represents the Red Shan, or Shan-ni, who are thought to number 300,000 and live in northern Sagaing Region and Kachin State. Until now the Red Shan have had little political representation, but the TNDP will be hoping to pick up the Shan ethnic affairs minister positions in Sagaing Region and Kachin State at a minimum.

Tai-Leng Nationalities Development Party

Founded: December 17, 2013 Based: Myitkina, Kachin State

Senior members: U Arki Dawu



Overview: Despite having a population estimated at 600,000 in Myanmar, the Lisu were not represented in 2010. However, the Lisu people are spread widely throughout the country and as a result the Lisu National Development Party is fielding candidates across a range of states and regions, including Kachin, Shan, Kayah and Mandalay.

Lisu National Development Party (LNDP)

Founded: December 11, 2013 Based: Myitkina, Kachin State

Senior members: U Si Si Naw Gyar, U Aung La



Overview: The Kachin National Congress for Democracy is the third major Kachin party contesting the election, and registered a day after the Kachin State Democracy Party. The breakdown in merger talks between the Kachin parties will complicate the election picture for all, as there is significant overlap across the state’s 68 constituencies.

Kachin National Congress for Democracy

Founded: May 20, 2015 Based: Maha Aung Myay, Mandalay

Senior members: U Saw Win Tun



Overview: Formed by ex-members of the TNDP, the Shan-ni & Northern Shan Ethnics Solidarity Party is led by U Saw Win Tun, whose father was a prominent Red Shan politician who was charged with treason for proposing a “Red Shan State” across northern Myanmar. U Saw Win Tun’s failed run for an upper house seat with the Shan Nationalities Democratic Party will stand him in good stead for a tilt at office this year.

Shan-ni & Northern Shan Ethnics Solidarity Party

display nationwide. The UEC also linked up with Myanmar’s three mo-bile phone operators to alert all their customers of the display’s launch.

The site has recently been updat-ed to allow users to check if they can

vote in ethnic election contests and should provide information on poll-ing stations in the future.

The digitisation process has left the UEC with new servers, an IT depart-ment and, at the township level, com-puters in every office, with the UEC matching IFES donations one-to-one.

Aside from the equipment, the biggest change from the 2010 election is the attitude.

“Every step forward is a significant step in this regard,” Ms Ninh said. “We have to remind ourselves where we were coming from in this environment ... from a time when information like

this was really closed off and viewed as only official information to a time when it’s actually available on an app.”

“There are many firsts in Myan-mar with this election and I think this is also a time in which we are working with Myanmar counterparts – whether in government or outside

– to establish new practices: making information open and available, and making it more of a process of the re-lationship between the government and citizens,” she added.

“For our little project to be able to help in that regard – it’s a very hope-ful sign.”

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

october 7, 2015 the election’s digital challenge · #thithtoolwin news ;hate-speeches &...

Documents