The junta has started sending fully armed soldiers to supermarkets, convenience stores and pubs in Yangon to force them to sell Myanmar Beer because the military-controlled conglomerate that makes it is suffering mounting losses from a nationwide boycott, according to residents and shop and bar owners of the country’s commercial capital.
The consumer boycott extends to other products made by military-linked companies, but the downfall of Myanmar Beer appears to have gotten under the generals’ skin.
Consumers have shunned products linked to military-controlled companies since the 2021 coup. The products include cigarettes and beverages like Myanmar Beer, which had been a sizzling popular brand before the coup.
Anti-regime resistance groups and ethnic armed organizations have also banned the sale of junta-linked products in territory they control across the country.
The beer boycott, however, provoked a backlash from the junta this week.
On the afternoon of September 12, a contingent of regime personnel from the General Administration Department (GAD) and Yangon City Development Committee (YCDC) led by the junta’s military column commander from Thingangyun Township began threatening owners of convenience stores who were not selling Myanmar Beer.
“The major … asked why we were not selling Myanmar Beer. I said we don’t sell it because people are not buying it,” said a franchiser of a corner store in Thingangyun Township.
The major was angered by the reply and ordered the store owner to not only sell Myanmar Beer but also showcase cans and bottles of the brand. An official from the YCDC also warned the store owner that its license would be revoked if it did not resume selling Myanmar Beer.
Stores have been pressured by teams of junta officials since September 12 to sell products from junta-controlled companies, according to staff from City Express, G&G convenience stores, and residents of four townships: Thingangyun, South Dagon, South Okkalapa, and Botahtaung.
“The City Express in my street is now back selling Myanmar Beer. It is a challenge from the junta against us, so people also have to show our strength by boycotting stores that are back selling Myanmar Beer,” said a 29-year-old resident in Botahtaung Township.
Junta troops and officials have also threatened and forced supermarkets, including City Mart, restaurants, and bars, to resume selling Myanmar Beer.
They began patrolling the middle block of Street 19 in Chinatown at around 6:30pm on September 13. The block is popular for its rows of barbecue and beer pubs.
One pub owner said, “They entered our pub because we just sell Tiger. They told us to sell Myanmar Beer, either draft or by showcasing cans and bottles. They also warned us that if we don’t sell it, they will revoke our alcohol license.”
A franchiser of a store in South Okkalapa said armed troops accompanied officials demanding stores sell Myanmar Beer. “The officers from the YCDC, township GAD, and police informed us that they will return to check … We have tried our best to refrain from selling [military-linked products], especially Myanmar Beer, but when they arrived with fully armed military troops we were shocked.”
For years, Myanmar Beer dominated bars and supermarket shelves, its Japanese backing a sign of the economic liberalization washing into Myanmar after the military relaxed its iron grip on power in 2011.
But after the generals ousted Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s civilian government in February 2021, many turned their backs on the brew, along with a host of other goods made by companies linked to the military, from soap to coffee.
In June 2022, Japanese drinks giant Kirin said it had agreed to a buyout of its shares in a Myanmar joint venture with a junta-linked conglomerate, completing its exit from the market over the 2021 coup.
Days after the putsch in February 2021, Kirin announced it would end its joint venture Myanmar Brewery with junta-controlled Myanma Economic Holdings Limited (MEHL), saying it was “deeply concerned by the recent actions of the military in Myanmar.”
But Kirin struggled to disentangle itself from the secretive conglomerate and contested a bid by MEHL to dissolve the joint venture as it feared liquidation proceedings would be unfair.
The threats and forcible efforts of the junta to revive sales of its Myanmar Beer and other products produced by military-tied conglomerates and companies followed a boycott launched several weeks ago by U Min Ko Naing, a prominent pro-democracy activist. He called on people within and outside Myanmar to open a new front in the war against the junta by boycotting eight products produced by companies it controls.
He said the boycott would help cut off funding to a regime that is using the money made from the sale of its products to massacre its own people.
“The time has come for us to launch a war on the financial and economic [front] at the highest level, which will cut off all sources of income of the terrorist [junta],” said U Min Ko Naing, a leader of the 88 generation.
The eight products requested by him and other revolutionary actors to boycott are Myanmar Beer, Andaman Gold Beverages, Dagon Beer and Beverages, Mandalay beer and rum, Black Shield Stout Beer, Army Rum, Red Ruby cigarettes, and Premium Gold cigarettes.
In response to that call, the junta’s military council started issuing warnings to the public in the first week of September, warning people not to participate in the boycott.
However, residents from different townships in Yangon widely agreed that even if the junta puts pressure on stores, it will be ineffective if people remain united in boycotting the products.
“What would they do if no one bought Myanmar beer or any of their products?” asked a 45-year-old taxi driver who stopped drinking Myanmar beer after the coup.
On September 8, the GAD and Township Development Committee in Ayerwaddy Region’s Nyaung Tone Township fined at least at least 30 liquor shops and beer pubs 1 million kyats each for not selling Myanmar beer.
This week, the junta’s military and regime officers also began putting pressure on supermarkets, stores and mini-marts to force them to sell SIM cards from military-owned telecom operator Mytel.
City Mart, the biggest supermarket chain in the country, began showcasing Myanmar Beer and other military-linked products, including MyTel SIM cards, this week. City Mart outlets stopped showcasing or even selling them in late 2021 due to the calls from consumers to boycott them.
