NGOs warn of growing repression

Democracy and human rights advocates are warning that the future of democracy in Asia will remain unclear if human rights, popular participation and economic justice are not ensured.

A group of democracy and human rights advocates in the region gathered in Bali for a civil society conference on democracy on Thursday.

About  40  delegates  from  16  countries  in  Asia  attended  the  regional  meeting  on  “Democratization and People’s Participation in Asia”, jointly organized by the Asian Forum  for Human Rights and Development and Imparsial, an Indonesian human rights monitor.

The alliance of regional NGOs issued several recommendations for the ongoing Bali Democracy Forum, (BDF), including recommendations on what it called a growing atmosphere of political repression in several countries.

The regional meeting urged Asian governments attending the forum to review and stop legislating repressive laws that curtailed civil liberties of the peoples if they truly aspired to become a democracies.

“A vibrant civil society is a key to a functioning democracy and an enabling environment for civil society must be created and preserved. Instead of responding to democratic voices, as  highlighted in the theme of the BDF this year, however, we are alarmed that the exact  opposite  is  taking  place  in  the  region, Yap  Swee  Seng,  the  executive  director of Asian Forum, said.

Yap highlighted  a  few  examples  to  illustrate  the trend.  Cambodia  is currently making a highly restrictive law to control NGOs. The lower house of Malaysia’s parliament just passed a bill that banned street rallies and imposed fine of  more  than  US$6,000  for  participating  in  illegal  public  assemblies.

“Democratization should be considered as failed if it cannot ensure economic justice,” Maris Dela Cruz of the Institute for Popular Democracy of the Philippines and the Network for Transformative Social Protection said.

Maris said the growing gap between the rich and the poor globally; the financial crisis that was taking place in Greece, Italy and several other European countries; and austerity measures that have cut social services such as education, healthcare underscore the fundamental problem of neoliberal economic policies.

— JP/Luh De Suriyani