In Asia: Weekly Insight and Features from Asia

As Thailand approaches national elections, the government and election commission express increasing concern that the process will be subverted by massive vote-buying. Based on my experience in previous elections, that concern is probably justified.

Over the past decades, there have been numerous attempts to combat vote-buying in Thailand, but none have been very successful. In the latest initiative, the government has instituted a program that enlists local leaders ” the very people most likely to be engaged in vote-buying ” to turn in people who sell their votes for a reward. This program, like past ones, is unlikely to be successful and it is surely unfair.

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The devastation of the 2004 tsunami came on the heels of two separate, decades-long conflicts between insurgent armies and the governments in Sri Lanka and Aceh, Indonesia. These conflicts had led to the deaths of tens of thousands of people, but they progressed very differently after the disaster: Aceh moved toward peace, while Sri Lanka was engulfed by increasing violence. Of course, the roots of these conflicts existed before December 2004, and it can be argued that the tsunami accelerated changes already in progress.

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In recent years, the Lao government has given increased attention to improving the rule of law. Yet the public still has a limited understanding of existing laws, citizen rights, the legal system, and the role of lawyers. This is especially true in remote areas of the country and among ethnic community populations where there is very little awareness about the formal justice system or how it can help people in their daily lives.

In Laos, people tend to consult relatives and friends, rather than lawyers, regarding legal matters. While this may be useful in small civil conflicts, it has not proven effective when confronting larger legal issues, especially those that involve criminal charges. In many such cases, even though there are laws to protect the rights of the accused, violation of rights still occur and many people do not know they have any form of redress.

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A quick look through the Vientiane Times or other local newspapers in Laos reveals help-wanted ads for all sorts of professional positions, from engineers to managers to financial officers. With few exceptions, the ads clearly state they are looking for “Lao nationals only.” Work permit restrictions, the need for Lao language capability, and tremendous bureaucratic hurdles regarding hiring foreigners all come into play, as does the fact that it is substantially cheaper and less time-consuming to hire a Lao citizen than a foreigner with an expatriate salary and benefits.

One interpretation is that this is another sign of Laos’ remarkable economic growth. The economy has been booming at over 7% growth for the past two years, due largely to massive foreign investment in hydro-power and mining. But, in reality, demand for the level of professional employees needed to maintain this economic growth — and to build institutions to support and sustain it — well surpasses the supply. Laos is facing a skilled labor shortage with no remedy in sight.

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After decades of misery and conflict, Cambodia is now a hot destination. A staggering two million foreign tourists are expected to visit Angkor and other destinations in 2008. The benefits are real and numerous; decent jobs have been created in the tens of thousands. Other benefits abound, including growth in tax revenue, and the expansion of labor-hungry auxiliary industries such as handicrafts, food supply and distribution, and transport. Moreover, as more tourists leave with happy memories, Cambodia will shake off its reputation as a shadowy, grim place, and assume standing as a normal developing country in Asia; an intangible gain but one that many ordinary Cambodians yearn for.

There is close to unanimous support for the growth of tourism in Cambodia. So it was surprising to read a recent opinion piece in the Boston Globe, written by Dante Ramos, saying that the benefits of Cambodia’s tourism boom are uncertain. In a classic “good news is really bad news” op-ed, Ramos made several highly contestable claims:

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“While great advances have been made in reducing poverty in Asia, there remain stubborn pockets of deprivation,” said Dr. Arsenio Balisacan, speaking at a recent economic and reform seminar organized by The Asia Foundation in San Francisco.

Dr. Balisacan is a noted poverty analyst from the Philippines, the current Director of the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA).

The statistics expressed in terms of Asia-wide averages gloss over wide disparities in per-country growth. China, Vietnam, and Thailand show major decreases in poverty between the early 1990s and the early 2000s ” largely explaining the fall in the proportion of people living on US$1 per day or less from as much as 80% to only 20%. However, poor people continue to dominate the populations of Cambodia, Laos, and Timor-Leste.

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Although generally perceived by Malaysians to be ignorant on political issues, young people — 21 to 35-year-olds — account for nearly 45% of all eligible voters in Malaysia and could soon become the primary force in determining the issues and discourse of public policy and debate in the country.

It is in this context that a survey by Merdeka Center and The Asia Foundation was formulated ” to uncover and examine the opinions and expectations of Malaysia’s younger voters for a wider audience, with the intention of sparking interest and attention among policy makers and community leaders. Last year was the first time this poll was conducted. The second poll was just completed, providing a chance to compare and contrast the data against current events in the country.

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“In the past, we could live anywhere on the sea or along the coast,” says Hong Klatalaey, the head of Thung Wa, a Moken sea gypsy community of some 70 families who were forced to settle further inland after the 2004 tsunami destroyed their coastal homes. “We would sail until we found places with plentiful supplies of fish and fresh water. We built our houses from the wood of trees that lined the beach. We were totally self-sufficient and free. Today, of course, things are very different. We have had to settle now, and we must learn how to live on the land among other people.”

The Moken are traditionally a nomadic tribe of sea gypsies who have been trying to adapt to a more static way of life along the developing coastlines of Thailand. After the devastating 2004 tsunami, their lives changed dramatically as they were forced to deal with new challenges of rebuilding their homes, boats, and livelihoods in unfamiliar surroundings.

As they adapt to modern living, one specific problem for the Moken has been their inability to obtain driving licenses.

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December 9th marks International Corruption Day. But, is this a holiday Mongolia can rightly commemorate? This year, the year-old Mongolian Independent Authority Against Corruption (IAAC) is leading commemorative events on International Anti-Corruption Day, and for good reason.

Over the past decade, Mongolia has made considerable progress towards a market economy. The same can be said about Mongolia’s fight against corruption over the last two years. In 2006 the Mongolia’s government ratified the Anti-Corruption Law and, in January 2007, it created the IAAC. Since then, eight corruption cases involving 18 people have been prosecuted. Since September 2007 alone, the IAAC has referred 21 cases of corruption to the General Prosecutor’s Office for prosecution and is now investigating over 50 cases.

This is no small feat given Mongolia’s history of indifference towards corruption prosecution.

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On November 21st, the 493-member National Assembly of Vietnam (NA) finished its second session. Elected in May 2007 for a term of five years, these NA deputies meet twice a year for about 30 days to review the country’s legislative agenda and the government’s work.

Recently, a question and answer component was introduced into these NA sessions, which is now also broadcast on television and radio and reported widely in news outlets across the country. For the first time, Vietnamese citizens have been able to directly see and hear high-level government officials explain the visions they hold for the country’s development in their areas of responsibility and defend their agencies’ records. These officials are no longer simply names on paper; they are real people ripe for public judgment on their capacity to answer questions without being evasive, their thoughtful knowledge of the issues’ impact on citizens, and their readiness to offer meaningful solutions.

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