Over 50 civil society leaders from 17 countries gathered in Jakarta on 30 April and 1 May to participate in a Regional Roundtable, “The Implications of the Financial and Economic Crisis on Democratic Governance in Asia.” The event was organized by the World Forum for Democratization in Asia (WFDA) and its Indonesian partner, the Civil Society Alliance for Democracy (Yappika), with the sponsorship of the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy (TFD).
The Davao-based regional advocacy organization Initiatives for International Dialogue is a WFDA founder and steering committee member.
Over 50 civil society leaders from 17 countries gathered in Jakarta on 30 April and 1 May to participate in a Regional Roundtable, “The Implications of the Financial and Economic Crisis on Democratic Governance in Asia.” The event was organized by the World Forum for Democratization in Asia (WFDA) and its Indonesian partner, the Civil Society Alliance for Democracy (Yappika), with the sponsorship of the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy (TFD).
The Davao-based regional advocacy organization Initiatives for International Dialogue is a WFDA founder and steering committee member.
Meeting in Jakarta immediately before the Asian Development Bank (ADB) Annual Meeting in Bali, participants expressed concern that many governments appear to believe that democracy must be sacrificed or postponed in order to deal with the crisis. As TFD Senior Fellow Michael Y.M. Kau stated, “We are deeply concerned that economic pressures could lead to democratic backsliding in parts of Asia, and further retrenchment of political and civil liberties in non-democratic states.”
With this urgency in mind, participants discussed specific recommendations on how governments should use democratic means to address the economic crisis. They underscored the inherent advantages of democracy in forging broader consensus when facing difficult policy decisions. Therefore, the main conclusion of the Roundtable was that, in order to mitigate the risks to democracy, as well as deliver its potential benefits, governments must follow two basic principles.
First, governments must target stimulus packages and other crisis measures to the most vulnerable sectors of society to spread the benefits widely. The extensive resources mobilized for the crisis, both from national budgets and from international aid packages, should be used in ways that reduce structural inequalities and exclusion. For example, measures to cope with unemployment and wage cuts must be designed to enhance, rather than weaken, trade union rights and collective bargaining.
Second, stimulus packages must be carried out with maximum transparency and accountability. Citizens must be able to understand where and how public funds are spent, and who is benefiting from other measures to boost economic growth. To accomplish this, both parliamentary and civil society oversight mechanisms must be enhanced. Participants agreed that such accountability will ensure that democratic governments outperform non-democratic ones in the quality of their responses to the crisis, for example by minimizing corruption. This will also help to maintain or restore confidence in the value of democracy.
In addition to governments, international financial institutions such as the ADB must also follow the same two basic principles, and participants urged democratic members of the ADB to take the lead in promoting these principles. As Yappika Executive Director Lili Hasanuddin observed, “The ADB is also responsible to ensure its additional resources are spent wisely by endorsing that in country accountability measures and substantive participations of both the parliament and civil society be in place in implementing the proposed economic policies”. He added, “As the third largest democracy in the world, Indonesia should be rise to the occasion and be a strong voice for democratic values.”
The Roundtable forms part of a global effort by the Non-Governmental Process of the Community of Democracies to engage governments in the runup to the Community of Democracies Ministerial Meeting in Lisbon, Portugal on 10-11 July. The Roundtable’s recommendations will be presented to the Community of Democracies for inclusion in the official documents which will be adopted in Lisbon.
Media Contact:
Lili Hasanuddin, Executive Director, YAPPIKA
+62 811 822704 (or for in country call: 0811 822704)
lihasan@yappika.or.id –or- lihasan@yahoo.com
www.yappika.or.id
Bo Tedards, Coordinator, World Forum for Democratization in Asia
c/o Taiwan Foundation for Democracy
+886-2-2708-0100 ext. 212
bo@taiwandemocracy.org.tw
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