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Majordomo@guardian.co.uk From: Sent: Monday, May 24, 2004 5:13 PM To: Bove, Roger Even Subject: Majordomo file: list 'guardian-weekly' file 'gw-international/2004.5.16/200405130601.txt' -International News / Embrace of democracy confounds Confucian theory / Jonathan Watts in Beijing Embrace of democracy confounds Confucian theory Inside Asia Jonathan Watts in Beijing Jonathan Watts in Beijing The formerly vociferous advocates of "Asian values" have been remarkably quiet in the past few months - and no wonder. Their claim that Confucian-influenced nations are allergic to democracy has been rejected as never before at the ballot box.In a wave of elections this spring record numbers of Asian voters have exercised recently granted suffrage rights. And the vast majority have used their ballots to reject extremism and any hint of a return to the one-party government of the past. It is a far cry from 10 years ago, when regional leaders such as Singapore's Lee Kuan Yew, Malaysia's Mahathir Mohamad and Japan's Shintaro Ishihara were arguing that Asia owed its "economic miracle" to benevolent authoritarian government and the sacrifice of individual rights for social harmony. At the time such a view was also accepted by many in the West. Among them was Samuel Huntington, who believed a clash of civilisations was inevitable because the differences between the Occident and the Orient were driving the two apart faster than the similarities were pulling them together. The Asian 1997-98 financial crisis knocked some of the stuffing out of the Asian values argument, as did the subsequent political demise of some of its chief proponents. But it has been dealt perhaps its fiercest blow by the return of surging economic growth, which appears unhindered by a new-found enthusiasm for political participation. Asia is in the middle of a high season of democracy. Since February there have been polls in Malaysia and the former dictatorships of South Korea, Indonesia and Taiwan. The Philippines followed suit this week. Japanese voters get their chance in July. Elections are also being held in India and Sri Lanka - though these nations would never be considered in the Confucian sphere. In a continent so large and diverse there are, of course, very different cultural attitudes and political circumstances (itself an argument against universally applicable Asian values), but several trends have been apparent. The most significant has been the erosion of power of the parties most closely associated with the authoritarian rule of the past. In South Korea the Grand National party lost its majority in parliament for the first time. In Taiwan the Kuomintang - which ruled for almost 50 years - suffered its second consecutive presidential election defeat and moved closer to voter oblivion. In Indonesia the Golkar party - formed by the old dictator - Suharto came first in a crowded electoral field, but its share of the vote slipped to a low point of only 21.6%. Opposition to formerly dominant "government parties" also appears to be growing in more mature Asian democracies. In India polls indicate that the Congress party will see a further decline in its support. In Japan the ruling Liberal Democrats are faced with the most united opposition in decades and strong public opposition to the country's participation in the occupation of Iraq. Levels of political participation have been incredibly high. In Taiwan and Indonesia the turnout was at, or above, 80% of the electorate. In Malaysia the figure was 73% in a poll where voters rejected a shift towards fundamentalist Islamic values. If this were not enough to shame the apathetic older democracies of the West, then the mass involvement in campaign rallies of the Philippines and Taiwan, the colour and excitement of campaigns in Indonesia, and the remarkable online politicking of South Korea certainly made polls in Europe seem very quiet, grey and low-tech by comparison. Inevitably the combination of fledgling democracies and developing economies has also generated political crises. So far, however, the problems are being managed in a peaceful and democratic way. In Taiwan the tight election result is still being contested, but President Chen Shui-bian has agreed to a recount and the protests have moved off the streets and into the courts. In South Korea the dubious impeachment of President Roh Moo-hyun has sparked protests, but not the deadly clashes common under military rule. Instead public anger has been channelled into the election campaign and the justice system, where Roh has a very good chance of winning reinstatement. There are numerous other reminders that democracy is neither perfect nor the same in every country. In Malaysia monitors reported widespread election violations. Indonesia's poll has left such a fragmented parliament that it will be difficult to form a stable government. In the Philippines pop stars get chosen as presidential candidates because the political culture is so geared towards celebrity. In South Korea and Taiwan voters have chosen nationalist leaders who could spark tension between the US and China. For Beijing's mandarins these are all signs that democracy is not to be trusted. As senior Chinese officials admit privately, many at the top of the modern Communist party believe that rule by the masses is inferior to rule by an educated elite. It is a new manifestation of the old Asian values argument. And not surprisingly it comes from one of the last one-party states in the region. Little wonder, then, that the darkest cloud over this high season of Asian democracy has been China's ruling to block democratic elections in Hong Kong. The Guardian Weekly 20-4-0513, page 6

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