ASEAN's moral leadership amid democratic decline

Malaysian riot police stand-off with pro-democracy demonstrators in Kuala Lumpur [Credit: New Mandala] 

This month the ten leaders of ASEAN will gather in Sydney for the ASEAN-Australia Special Summit. A first for Australia, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s effort has been hailed as a diplomatic coup, providing an unprecedented opportunity to advance Australia’s commitment to the regional grouping and to underline its status as ASEAN’s oldest dialogue partner.

While Prime Minister Turnbull will want the focus of the special summit to be on the wider picture, namely strengthening Canberra’s strategic partnership with ASEAN and delivering tangible economic and security benefits to Australia and ASEAN, the event threatens to be overshadowed by issues unrelated to the ASEAN-Australia relationship. Responding to a planned protest by Cambodians living in Australia, Prime Minister Hun Sen has publicly threatened to ‘pursue them to their houses and beat them up.’ In recent months, the main opposition party was dissolved, its leader imprisoned, and a major independent newspaper critical of the government was shut down; moves that virtually guarantee the ruling Cambodian People’s Party will win the general elections this July.

Cambodia is not alone, however, in witnessing an alarming decline in democracy. A report released by the U.S. Office of the Director of National Intelligence identified Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte as a ‘threat to democracy in Southeast Asia.’ The report noted Duterte’s war on drugs, which by some estimates have claimed 12,000 lives, as well as his suggestions to suspend the constitution, declare a ‘revolutionary government’ and impose nationwide martial law.

The same report also highlighted the situation in Thailand, where a military junta has been in power since 2014. Thailand’s military government has repeatedly postponed planned elections that would return the country back to civilian rule. Only last month Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha declared that general elections would take place ‘no later’ than February 2019, having earlier promised to hold it in November this year; the latest in a string of unrealized promises.

Malaysia is also scheduled to hold elections this year. Despite being mired in a multi-billion dollar corruption scandal, Prime Minister Najib Razak looks likely to win, helped by ‘gerrymandering on an epic scale’ and a divided opposition so desperate to unseat the incumbent it has turned to former adversary, Mahathir Mohamad to lead them in the elections.

Meanwhile, here in Indonesia – once regarded as a ‘free’ democracy by Freedom House – has since backtracked. Identity politics is on the rise and threatens to intensify ahead of the 2019 presidential and general elections. Parliament has revised Law 17/2014 on Representative Assemblies that will criminalize criticism of politicians and is also looking to reintroduce a clause criminalizing insulting the President in the revised Criminal Code.

These are indeed worrying times and yet (un)surprisingly there is only silence from ASEAN. This is in spite of ASEAN’s own Charter outlining one of its purposes as: ‘To strengthen democracy, enhance good governance and the rule of law, and to promote and protect human rights and fundamental freedoms’. Defenders of ASEAN will argue there are limits to what the regional organization can do. Its intergovernmental nature and its adherence to the principle of non-interference have long worked to make ASEAN the successful regional organization it is today. Yet it also remains the key obstacles to a more effective ASEAN capable of realizing its purposes and objectives.

Whatever the case may be, ASEAN should realize that in the coming months its credibility will be at stake. The international community will be looking to see how ASEAN responds if the legitimacy of any of the aforementioned elections are called into question. While in the case of the Rohingya, ASEAN can point to the complexity and sensitivity of the issue for its limited action, it is difficult for the regional grouping to use the same argument in clear cut instances of elections that are unfree and not fair. ASEAN cannot remain unmoved and indifferent if the democratic rights of its own citizens are infringed upon.

It is at this point that ASEAN should demonstrate moral leadership. By this, ASEAN should not be scared to speak out against its own member-states. ASEAN must be unafraid to call instances of electoral fraud for what it is. ASEAN has to be brave in defending the rights of its own citizens to vote and determine their country’s future.

That is not to say that ASEAN should be in the business of megaphone diplomacy or publicly shaming governments for the sake of it. Exercising moral leadership involves sincerity and a genuine sense to help member-states and their citizens. There are no ulterior motives. There is no plot to take political or economic advantage of the situation. And there are no certainly attempts to overthrow governments. A perfect example was when ASEAN stepped in to ensure international aid could reach those in need following the disastrous Cyclone Nargis that hit Myanmar in 2008. It should be remembered that the Myanmar government at the time was suspicious of allowing foreign aid workers or military rescuers into the country and it took leadership at the ASEAN level to convince the authorities of the wider picture that trumped its narrow fears and concerns.

Fast forward ten years and such leadership may be called upon again. ASEAN must be ready to provide moral leadership amidst Southeast Asia’s democractic decline. There is the wider picture to think of!

[This article was first published in The Jakarta Post on 12th March 2018 and can be found at: https://www.thejakartapost.com/academia/2018/03/12/aseans-moral-leadership-amid-democratic-decline.html]