For the price of a cup of coffee

Bridging cultures with free WiFi at Pansodan Scene

Finding an internet connection in Yangon is as easy as ordering a US$4 (K4000) cup of coffee in one of the city’s upscale hotels. Atmosphere and (relatively) quick WiFi are available in abundance, but for ordinary Myanmar and many expats, that’s too much to pay for the convenience of an easy connection.

Pansodan Scene owner U Aung Soe Min has opted for a less exclusive approach.

“There is a need for more civic space,” U Aung Soe Min said, sitting on one of the small wooden stools in his gallery. “That’s why we don’t make our place too fancy. Common people don’t want a fancy place. We don’t have air-con or closed doors. More open space means more open ideas for the people.”

Sitting in Pansodan Scene gallery may bring your knees a little closer to your chin than you would prefer but it’s a relaxing space to enjoy a $1 (K1000) cup of fresh coffee, instead of a beverage made from a mix, a lime soda or a green tea.

And apart from serving fresh coffee, Pansodan Scene offers free WiFi.

“We are trying to create a space for people who love creativity to come and join,” said U Aung Soe Min.

Providing free WiFi connections is an essential ingredient of his vision. “WiFi is the best way to share knowledge. A lot of my friends struggle to find WiFi. The internet is important as Burma has not many spaces, places and institutions like libraries or college resources, so the internet is one of the most easy ways to access information for everyone. Young people come here and use their laptop or tablet.”

U Aung Soe Min spoke of the changes he has seen since 2001 when he and a member of Military Intelligence were interviewed by Asiaweek magazine for a feature about the potential for the internet in Myanmar.

“I said we needed to be connected with the outside world,” recalled U Aung Soe Min. “The Military Intelligence officer questioned what the consequences of access to the internet would be. He was afraid of an open society. Back then we only had two or three shops with internet.”

U Aung Soe Min acknowledges criticism of the internet by some academics and commentators for having contributed to an erosion of genuine personal interaction in Western civil society. But in Myanmar, he says, providing the internet in a public space such as his gallery can help to nurture interaction and civil society.

“Our coffee shop is a place for the literary local community,” said U Aung Soe Min. “For cultural exchange with those wishing to learn, we are trying to make a relaxed homely feeling. Myanmar is changing quickly. If changes happen too quickly we may not have time to understand each other. So to avoid cultural shock, we must learn from each other.”

There are long-term plans for the gallery. They include regular lectures on history or culture and a small museum devoted to public mementoes from the 20th century.

The gallery is already the venue for Myanmar language classes on Saturdays and a painting club on Sunday mornings. The Myanmar and visitors who mingle at the gallery include musicians whose impromptu performances blend traditional music and modern genres.

U Aung Soe Min hopes that the “space” created at Pansodan Scene will be the model for similar venues throughout Myanmar. He wants others to follow his example and create spaces that, rather than using the internet to sell drinks, contribute towards the creation of “a deeper and democratic understanding of space to understand society and the outside world”.