Who buys and controls the CCTV? Back to contents 20 and before the coup in 2021, the Mayor of Mandalay, Dr Ye Lwin,21 posted on his Facebook profile a list of city development projects achieved during his term, many of which were smart public services. On the other hand, both Yangon (the largest commercial city in Myanmar) and Naypyidaw (the administrative capital and seat of the government) were also part of Myanmar’s pledge to the ASCN. However, both cities focused on other projects like public housing in their smart city action plan,22 while Mandalay’s focus was heavily on other public services. Driven by ASEAN recognition and an award, the MCDC has strived to push the integration of AI into its infrastructure as part of its 30-year plan.23 Services include GPS to track garbage disposals, remote sensors to control traffic flows, smart technology for solid waste management, smart payment for Mandalay’s digital payment system, and CCTV installation in crime-heavy neighbourhoods, to name a few. By 2019, MCDC had a fully operative control centre24 where the officers monitor traffic flows and congestion on 13 screens and adjust the sequencing of traffic lights accordingly through the detection of the sensors installed in CCTV cameras. At the same time, other cities were also integrating AI into public spaces, albeit not under the smart city umbrella. For example, since 2018, Yangon has been setting up smart payment for buses, while installing CCTVs across the city in traffic lights, popular public areas, and airports that are not necessarily under the frame of ‘smart city’ projects in media or government narratives. According to interviews conducted for this project, a member of the Yangon IT development committee informed us that the committee had been less transparent about such projects compared to Mandalay. Under the NLD government, one of the primary reasons given for the CCTV installation was to ‘empower police by complementing the lack of police staffing in preventing crimes to make places safe’.25 The Myanmar Government has been well versed in using this justification of safety to exert control; one of the most notorious examples is the ‘guest registration’ law, whereby a visitor staying overnight at a person’s house needs to register at the neighbourhood administrator appointed by the government. This law was practised throughout the old military regime and removed during the NLD