As part of a series of events to celebrate the Post’s 40th anniversary, the Democracy Dialogue seminar will feature several press and democracy leaders in the region, including Maria Ressa, cofounder of news website Rappler, critical of former Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte; Timor-Leste President José Ramos-Horta; and Fuadi Pitsuwan, foreign policy advisor to Thailand’s Move Forward Party.

Carrying the theme of “The Sustainability of Democracy in Southeast Asia”, the dialogue will focus on the worrying trends of democracy in the region, including military coups, economic development and the role of a free press in sustaining a region that is home to hundreds of millions who struggle to make their voices heard every day.

“We know that democracy in Southeast Asia is not in a good shape. With military coups, legal obstruction, dynastic politics and the spread of misinformation and hoaxes in the context of elections,” said M. Taufiqurrahman, the Post‘s chief editor.

“And Indonesia itself will have an election next year. So it should come naturally for us at the Post to discuss the issue, to take stock of the situation and chart a path forward.”

Alongside the global decline in democratization, military coups, rigged ballots and crackdowns on press freedom and civil liberty in several Southeast Asian nations have rung alarm bells over the prospects for democracy in the region, which appear to be on a trajectory toward autocracy.

In Thailand, people’s democratic hopes were dashed when Pita Limjaroenrat, the leader of Move Forward Party, the winner of May’s general election, failed to become the country’s prime minister after being blocked by a legal case that rendered his victory against the incumbent, military-backed Prayut Chan-o-cha, illegitimate.

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