Elections mean brisk business for Yangon printing shops
Business has been especially good for a cluster of shops in the Shwe Gone Daing area in Yangon city who provide screen printing services for posters and company T-shirts. For the past few weeks, they have been printing political party merchandise in preparation for the coming Myanmar elections on November 8.
Screen printing is a printing technique whereby a mesh is used to transfer ink onto a substrate, whether it be T-shirts, posters, stickers, vinyl, wood, or other material. Here is a screen with an exposed image ready to be printed.
The two most obvious merchandise are those of the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), and the National League for Democracy (NLD). Caps, T-shirts and flags are prominently displayed on the storefront.
Union Solidarity and Development Party flag
Said one business owner Swe Yi,
“I volunteraily printed the NLD t-shirts. No one asked me to do it. I like NLD and I support the NLD, that’s why I did this. Likewise, people love NLD, that’s why they buy the t-shirts,”
Flag of National League for Democracy
Just a few years ago though, printing anything related to opposition political parties could not have been done without the watchful eye from the authorities. Today, there are almost 40 shops in the vicinity competing for their share of the pie.
Bogyoke Aung San Market, a major bazaar located in central Yangon
Added Swe Yi,
“Before printing Aung San Suu Kyi T-shirts, I printed vinyl posters of her. Some policemen came by to have a look but they said nothing, so I started printing the T-shirts secretly at the back of the shop. Now it’s very open. Anyone can print and sell NLD T-shirts."
Aung San Suu Kyi in the Polish Senate in 2013
Another business owner Ko Nyi Nyi started printing the NLD t-shirts at the start of October and has since sold over 30,000 NLD t-shirts. Each piece sells for 2500 kyat, about USD$2. He has received orders from all over Myanmar and even exported to countries like Singapore and Japan, where a large number of people from the Myanmar diaspora reside. Within Myanmar, people from all over the region come to Yangon to place bulk orders of these T-shirts.
Voting during the Myanmar by-elections in 2012
But it’s not all about the profit for most of these business owners. Many of them support the political party that they print for, and see their business as a good way to promote the party of their choice. Referring to his support for the NLD, Ko Nyi Nyi, who hopes to keep selling his T-shirts after the elections, mentioned,
“I want to make the whole place red.”
The Yangon City Hall
(All images - credit: Wikimedia Commons under Creative Commons licence)
