In Asia: Weekly Insight and Features from Asia

This piece originally ran on March 28th. Due to overwhelming popularity, we are re-issuing it with a correction (Note paragraph 8: 700 interviews were conducted as opposed to 1,200).

On March 14, 2007 the Philippines topped the charts.  Unfortunately, this was not a contest that the nation had aspired to win.  The Philippines came out on top (or depending on your perspective, the bottom) of a perception survey, conducted by Political & Economic Risk Consultancy (PERC), which ranked it as the most corrupt among thirteen nations in Asia.  The survey polled expatriates in the Philippines who, when asked “How big is the problem of corruption in terms of being a feature influencing the overall business environment?” gave it a 9.40 (out of 10).  Indonesia and Thailand tied for the second most corrupt at 8.03. 

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Achievements in Afghanistan’s political, social, and economic development may prove short-lived if donor, government, and public support for continued progress falter during the next several critical years of transition. The initial stages of transition have been difficult, with both donors and the Afghan government struggling to define their roles and responsibilities for a long-term development process, while coping with huge gaps in physical and human resources. Most importantly, as Afghan institutions fully assume governance functions, major efforts must continue to strengthen the core institutions of government in order to overcome challenges to the credibility and legitimacy of government. The Afghan government needs to deliver basic human security; accelerate reconstruction, development, and delivery of basic services; and reduce the impunity and sense of opportunism by elected and government officials.

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April 9th marked a historic coming of age for East Timor: the fledgling democracy’s first presidential election as an independent nation. Record numbers of voters turned out to cast ballots for the eight candidates running for president. Three of the eight ” Nobel Laureate José Ramos-Horta, Francisco “Lu-Olo” Guterres, and Fernando “Lasama” de Araujo ” are considered front-runners, with five others from smaller opposition parties testing the waters for parliamentary elections later this year.

Results of the poll, to replace the charismatic former guerilla leader, President Xanana Gusmão, for a 5-year term are expected this week after enumeration of ballot papers from remote areas of the country. Early returns show that the crowded field splintered the vote, thus leading to a second round with no candidate achieving the 50%-plus-one vote needed for outright victory.

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On April 9th, three Muslim children were killed riding home on their school bus in Thailand’s southern province of Yala.  Two weeks before, nine Buddhist passengers (including two teenage girls) in a commuter van were viciously murdered on a main road in broad daylight.  These are just two recent examples of savage sectarian violence underway in southern Thailand.  Currently, more people are dying from violence in southern Thailand than in the southern Philippines and in ethnic-strife areas of Indonesia.  Since the September 19, 2006 coup, the monthly death toll of the insurgency has averaged 65 people, compared with an average of 50 during the last five months of the Thaksin government. 

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On March 17th, 100 citizens in Mongolia’s Zaamar district attended the first citizen-convened gathering in their recent local history. Representatives from the Toson Zaamar River Movement in north central Tov province organized town hall meetings and other events during the course of the week to engage residents and government decision-makers on issues related to responsible mining, to learn more about these issues, and to develop strategies for community improvement.

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In response to the recent escalation of the conflict in Batticaloa District in Eastern Sri Lanka, thousands of residents fled their homes, particularly from Paduvankarai, Palukamam, and Thoppikala, to the Government controlled areas near Batticaloa town.  Government agencies and NGOs provided some relief to these refugees but the assistance provided did not always meet the needs of the large numbers of mostly Tamil internally displaced persons (IDPs) for food and other staples.

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At a public forum in Phnom Penh on March 6th, held in conjunction with International Women’s Day, USAID Mission Director in Cambodia, Erin Soto, announced that, “Very quietly, without great fanfare, Cambodia has made history. The National Election Committee (NEC) has just announced that 20% of registered candidates for the upcoming Commune Council elections are women.  That’s almost 22,000 — an astounding accomplishment and an encouraging number!”

In the first-ever commune council elections held in 2002, only 9% of the total number of candidates who ran were women; they managed to secure 951 out of 11,257 commune council seats, increasing the number of women commune chiefs by nearly tenfold.

What factors explain the steady and significant increase in women’s participation between the upcoming elections and the 2002 elections? Why are more women entering politics at the local level?

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Since the declaration of a state of emergency and the cancellation of the national parliamentary election in January 2007, the affairs of state in Bangladesh have been administered by a non-party Caretaker Government (CG) that operates under the auspices of the armed forces. A recent public perception survey found that there is a broad consensus amongst the Bangladeshi people ” from local political leaders to ordinary citizens — that the state of emergency was necessary in view of the political crisis and lawlessness prevailing in the country at the time.

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An opinion piece written on April 2nd for the South Korean newspaper, JoongAng Daily, discusses how South Korean voters should examine how the presidential candidates are positioning themselves on inter-Korean relations.

“A Litmus Test for Presidential Contenders ” can be read by clicking here.

Scott Snyder is a Senior Associate at The Asia Foundation.