Asean People’s Forum/Asean Civil Society Conference 4

Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand

February 20-22, 2009

Plenary 1 - Responding to the Key Challenges Faced by Southeast Asian

Peoples Today: People’s Participation and Democracy
By Khin Ohmar
Burma Partnership Secretariat

Democratization processes have taken place in many of the ASEAN countries during the last
decades, in many cases thanks to the heroic/decisive/courageous efforts of people’s
movements. There is still a long way to go to strong people’s participation in democracy
development in most ASEAN countries, but overall there has been an increase in the civil
society mobilization in the region over the past 4 years. In fact, this forum proves that there is
a vibrant civil society in many parts of the region – we the people have shown we are ready to
take responsibility for our societies and want to have a say in our own future.

However, governments in ASEAN are often more concerned with ‘stability and economic
development’ in their own terms than promoting democracy and participation of the people.
Many of the member state governments do not promote people's participation, but in fact hold
on to a top-down authoritarian system in their relationship to citizens. This authoritarian rule
makes it impossible for people to participate in the decision making and development in most
sectors of society, which in turn prevent real democracy building. Instead of making efforts to
listen to the people to be able to represent them - which is the role of the government in a
democracy – the rulers in our region see the people as the enemy, as a threat to their power.
And in many cases the strategy they use to keep the threat away is to govern people with fear.

We can claim that this authoritarian non-participatory ruling system is not only morally wrong
but is a key challenge faced by the Southeast Asian people today - what gives some people the
right to rule over others with fear? But I also think it builds on a false assumption about
stability and peace. It is certainly true that an elite can rule the people with fear and control
internal unrest for a certain period of time, but history has proven that in the long run the
people’s will for freedom and democracy cannot be held back. Only when people are allowed
to truly participate on equal terms and have an influence in decisions that affect their lives,
will there be sustainably democracy, stability and peace. Similarly, temporary economic
growth and a good business climate may be achieved through top-down rule, but a sustainable
 Asean People’s Forum/Asean Civil Society Conference 4
Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand
February 20-22, 2009
economic development that benefits the people can only be built through empowerment and
participation of the people.

Here I want to bring some ASEAN countries, Burma and Singapore as examples.

The most obvious example is Burma. As you all know Burma has been ruled by the most
brutal military regime for decades, a regime which has consistently oppressed all political
opposition and crushed the people’s uprisings for democracy and peace. I myself took part in
the 1988 nationwide uprising as a young student activist. At that time, just like in September
2007 of the monks led peaceful demonstrations, the people of Burma showed perfectly and
clearly that we want democratic change. But the regime has so far managed to control the
people by frightening them to silence.

Does this mean the situation in Burma is stable and economically prosperous? As you all
know, this is far from the case. The military regime’s refusal to listen to its people and address
their hardships has resulted in migration flows, HIV/AIDS epidemics and drug trade which in
fact affect the stability and peace of the whole region.

Now the regime in Burma claims to be on a roadmap to democracy. But this roadmap
completely lacks the participation of the opposition and anyone else except the handpicked
representatives of the regime. A new constitution which legitimizes military rule has been
forcefully adopted and a sham election is planned for 2010. The regime usually uses the term
‘disciplined democracy’ which tells a lot about its mindset – it’s not the kind of democracy
where people can openly protest against injustices. And it is not the kind of democracy where
people freely get to choose their representatives in government – at best they will get to
choose between different representatives of the military regime. The truth is the regime does
not want people’s participation; it sees the people as a threat to its power and wants to create a
system which guarantees its grip on power.

Burma is the extreme case but other governments in the region also severely oppress the
human freedoms of its citizens and thus lack the important foundation for democracy.
Democracy is a process and there is still a long way to go for most of the countries in Asean.

Singapore for example is a country much unlike Burma when it comes to economic
development but with similar shortcomings in the area of democracy and political freedoms.
 Asean People’s Forum/Asean Civil Society Conference 4
Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand
February 20-22, 2009
As we all know well, with its Internal Security Act (ISA) the Singaporean Government is
allowed to arbitrarily arrest citizens and detain them without trial. Many opposition leaders,
trade union leaders, journalists and activists have been imprisoned under this Act for opposing
the ruling party.

Asean Charter – Historical Juncture: ASEAN is now at this historical juncture with the
Charter adopted in 2007. This Charter was adopted with not much input from civil society,
and arguably we could say it is an agreement between elites in the member states.
Nevertheless there is hope that the democratic values expressed in the Charter and the
establishment of a Human Rights Body could be steps in the right direction.

But the question remains, how much will the governments relax their authoritarian rules and
norms and give space for the people to really participate in this democracy promotion outlined
in the Charter? There are not yet clear evidences that those who signed this agreement plan to
go beyond the rhetoric and actively work for the implementation of the democratic values.
Again, take the case of Burma. One of the least democratic countries in the world with grave
ongoing human rights violations, Burma is one of the Charter’s signatories. And since the
adoption of the Charter, the situation in Burma has even worsened. For example hundreds of
democracy activists have been sentenced with up to 68 years and more in prison for their
peaceful protests. More than 2,000 political prisoners are detained in Burma’s prisons. Torture
is the state policy in Burma. What does this tell us about the effectiveness of the ASEAN
Charter? Clearly Burma’s actions violate key factors of the Charter and the fact that the other
member states are not able to do something about it puts into question the sincerity and
political will of the regional body in promoting these values.

It is time to realize that the Asean’s non-interference policy is not going to help in
implementing democratic and human rights values in the region. It’s clearly double standards
by the governments to interfere when it comes to the economic development, but not when it
comes to human rights violations and the interest of the people. Again, this shows how the
economy and stability issues in their own terms are in focus rather than democracy
development and people’s participation. But now that we have this Charter, it must be used to
keep the member states accountable to each other even in the area of democracy and human
rights.
 Asean People’s Forum/Asean Civil Society Conference 4
Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand
February 20-22, 2009
I have a message to the people of ASEAN countries I would like to say: We should be
encouraged by the fact that we have this regional body and a doctrine promoting human rights
and democratic values for all member states. But we have to continue to work for the
implementation of its values, because many of our governments will not automatically do so.
Let us also take note and be proud of the stronger mobilization of civil society in the region
we have experienced in recent years. Civil society has shown its commitment to democracy
and people’s power. We must now continue to nurture these ideals and build our societies
from the bottom so that future generation will stand a better chance of experiencing genuine
democracy in the region. It’s a process and it will take time, but we are on the right track.

To the governments of ASEAN I’d like to say: Please show us that you will open up for
increased people’s participation and take concrete measures to implement the democratic
values and norms of the Charter. If you start to see the people and civil society organizations
as an asset and not a threat, together we can build sustainable democratic societies, or the
truly genuine people-centered Asean.

END.