Democracy and Back in Southeast Asia

Unfortunately, the hard earned gains of recent decades are now in jeopardy. Southeast Asia is falling back on democracy, and the erosion of accountability will lead to familiar consequences, including centralization of power, rampant corruption and rent-seeking by business and political elites, media repression and limits on freedom of assembly. Huh. Simultaneously the destabilizing effects of climate change, mass migration, growing food insecurity and economic inequality, and the risks are set to intensify.

The rise of fascism and authoritarianism, and the decline of free societies, is becoming increasingly probable; In fact, it is already happening. The only way to counter these forces is through a strong commitment to institutional reform, good governance and accountability.

Democratic backsliding is a global trend, affecting even some of the world’s most resilient examples. But this is especially evident in Southeast Asia nowadays. After a military coup in early 2021, authoritarianism has gained the upper hand in Myanmar; in Thailand, where a royal-military bloc has tightened its grip on power; And in the Philippines, where punitive populism—including extrajudicial killings—has taken root. Corruption continues to flourish across the region, taking away quality jobs, infrastructure, education and healthcare from citizens.

Along with fears of foreign interference and terrorism, the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated democratic erosion by giving politicians excuses to restrict civil liberties and human rights. In countries with authoritarianism and long histories of conflict, such as Myanmar, democratic institutions never fully matured and thus are easily destroyed. Meanwhile, in Thailand and the Philippines, failure to meet the growing social and economic expectations of the majority fueled polarization, leading to the rise of charismatic, liberal leaders.

But perhaps nowhere in Southeast Asia is democratic backsliding more evident and more dramatic than in Malaysia. Just a few years back, things were looking up for the country. In 2018, after more than six decades under one-party rule, Malaysians chose the multiracial Paktan Harapan coalition.

The coalition’s victory capped a two-decade-long movement led by a diverse group of students, civil society groups and grassroots activists. And the ensuing transition was peaceful and full of hope. Malaysia seems to have finally escaped the yoke of a quasi-authoritarian regime, with extensive institutional reforms to follow. As I optimistically wrote at the time, with the new government, Malaysia “can finally begin to build a just, equitable and effective democracy of its reformers. [had] Long imagination”.

Some progress has been made. The media gained more freedom and a constitutional amendment granted voting rights to citizens over the age of 18. Furthermore, in 2019, Malaysia increased by 10 places in Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index.

Yet, the most important reforms—ensuring judicial independence, ending preventive detention and establishing term limits for the prime minister—did not take root. And hope they fall soon: In March 2020, the ousted regime launched a coup, enabled by the toxic effects of racial polarization and the new government’s failure to deliver tangible improvements to the lives and livelihoods of Malaysia’s working class. and disadvantaged communities.

The Covid-19 crisis, which erupted shortly after, provided a smokescreen for the government to promulgate an emergency ordinance and suspend Parliament for seven months, escaping parliamentary oversight and institutional checks and balances. In 2020, Malaysia dropped six places on the Corruption Perceptions Index.

Malaysia’s 70-member cabinet—the world’s most bloated government, on a per capita basis—completely failed to manage the pandemic or the economic crisis it caused. Several global pandemic-response indices by The Economist, Bloomberg and Nikkei Asia put Malaysia at or near the bottom of the list. Not surprisingly, Malaysia’s economy shrank by 5.6% in 2020 – its worst performance since the Asian financial crisis of 1990 – and growth projections for 2021 have been repeatedly revised downwards, from 7% to 3%. Below, some economists have predicted an even slower rate. health benefit.

As Malaysia’s experience shows, providing politicians with heavy remuneration, perks and access to government procurement, while shielding them from public accountability, is a sure way to waste public resources and destroy the economy. And yet, even as the pandemic shutdown has pushed nearly 50% of the middle class—nearly 580,000 households—below the poverty line, the country’s wealthiest 10% continue to prosper.

As I wrote more than 25 years ago, prosperity in East Asia is “unlikely to be sustainable or secure if it prioritizes wealth accumulation” with “social justice and minimizing social problems”. I argued that good governance, accountability and transparency were the cornerstones of sustainable economic growth and development. If we “allow the elite to shed light on their moral entropy, corruption, nepotism and other excesses”, I warned, the “East Asian economic miracle” will be short-lived.

In Malaysia, grand corruption and rent demands have been the norm for more than three decades. In 2015, Malaysia was ranked fifth in the world for illegal capital flight, having lost approximately $420 billion since 2004. Malaysian politicians—including current and former finance ministers—have appeared in the Panama and Pandora papers—a cache of leaked documents revealing how the wealthy hide their money. The actual extent of offshore holdings of politicians, their family members and their close associates is likely to be much higher than these leaks. Further investigation is needed by the concerned authorities.

Malaysians have little faith in the fact that their country’s political leaders can find solutions to many of their problems. And for good reason: Meaningful governance reform and effective economic management are impossible in an environment of resource-hoarding, rent-seeking, and declining institutional independence. Only by rooting out corruption—and the politicians who perpetuate it—can Malaysia rebuild its economy and the livelihoods of its people after the COVID-19 pandemic. The same is true for the rest of Southeast Asia: countries must commit to building a “humane economy”.

The first step should be to implement clear time limits for emergency powers activated by governments during the COVID-19 pandemic. Politicians should not be allowed to use the crisis to tighten their grip on power and further destroy democratic institutions. Timely restoration of checks and balances is essential to support progress towards a more tolerant, pluralistic Southeast Asia, which ensures social justice, inclusive prosperity and sustainable development at home, and global efforts to address common problems. able to contribute. ©2021/Project Syndicate (www.project-syndicate.org)

Anwar Ibrahim is a member of the Parliament of Malaysia and the Leader of the Opposition.