[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index ][Thread Index ]

Asian `Democracy' Is Debated (fwd)



/* Written  9:13 AM  Jul 29, 1994 by cesloane@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx in igc:list.thrdwrld */
/* ---------- "Asian `Democracy' Is Debated (fwd)" ---------- */
>Subject: Asian `Democracy' Is Debated
>Copyright: 1994 by The Associated Press, R
>Date: Thu, 28 Jul 94 14:10:22 PDT

        BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) -- Inside the conference halls were Asian
leaders who hold that they have their own brands of democracy and
human rights -- and that the West should stop pushing its versions
on them.
        Outside, forbidden to enter, were activists who believe the
``Asian road to democracy,'' which downplays individual rights and
competing political parties, is a pretext by authoritarian regimes
to retain power, and at times to imprison, torture and execute
opponents.
        ``I think that's so racist, so insulting to say that we Asians
deserve less human rights than you guys in the West,'' said Cecilia
Jimenez of the Philippines, one of those barred from the
conference.
        Divisions such as those in evidence at a just-ended meeting of
the Association of Southeast Asian Nations have become common in
today's rapidly changing Asia.
        Across the continent, governments say they have attained or are
moving toward democracy and that their citizens enjoy human rights.
These include nations like Burma, where a military junta has
ruthlessly crushed all political opponents, and China, which jails
worshipers in unapproved churches and dictates where people live.
        But even less authoritarian states, such as Malaysia and
Indonesia, say the West's freewheeling, individual-oriented
approach isn't suitable to Asia's developing countries. They say
``the Asian way'' must emphasize national security, economic
progress, local cultures and the needs of society as a whole.
        While virtually nobody proposes that American legal standards or
the British parliamentary system be grafted wholesale onto Asian
societies, opponents of the Asian approach stress that certain
rights are universal and that there is only real democracy or a
lack of it.
        Leaders like Malaysia's Mahathir Mohamad and Singapore's Lee
Kuan Yew, on the other hand, take periodic jabs at the West,
particularly the United States, for trying to export its values.
        ``The State Department draws up its report on China's human
rights like a headmaster drawing up a pupil's annual report for the
parents. This may make Americans feel good and Chinese look small,
but East Asians are uneasy over its long-term consequences,'' Lee
said in May.
        Lee, who has wielded autocratic power for more than three
decades, believes Singapore's leap from a backwater to one of
Asia's most prosperous states wouldn't have been possible with an
unruly, give-and-take democracy.
        He attributes Singapore's success to Confucian ideals of hard
work, stability, respect for authority and placing society above
the individual. Freedom for the majority from grinding poverty and
rampant crime, Singapore argues, is a hallmark of a democratic,
human rights-respecting society.
        Likewise focusing on economic progress, Chinese leaders say
their country's most urgent human rights problem is the 80 million
people living below the poverty line.
        A one-party state that has put millions behind bars or into
forced labor camps, China says its actions are for the general
public good and thus not undemocratic.
        Given basic differences between East and West, slavish copying
could lead to trouble, Mahathir warned.
        ``Mr. Gorbachev almost died because he thought mere espousal of
democracy and free markets would solve all problems of the Soviet
Union.''
        But Alexander Magno, a political scientist at the University of
the Philippines, called drawing a distinction between Asia and the
rest of the world ``cynical.''
        `` There is nothing that should set apart Asians from the rest
of humanity,'' he said.