In Asia: Weekly Insight and Features from Asia

This past weekend, twenty-one international Asian observers arrived in the Philippines. The Commission on Elections-accredited observers come from Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Thailand, Indonesia, and Malaysia and were deployed on Monday, May 7th to each of the six provinces in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). The observer mission is being coordinated by the Asian Network for Free Elections (ANFREL) and supported by The Asia Foundation with funding from the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA). During their deployment in the ARMM, the observer team members will be hosted by six local Muslim civil society groups that have signed a memorandum of agreement (MOA) with the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) on April 3, 2007. This MOA marks a full-fledged partnership between the Catholic-based PPCRV and Muslim organizations to conduct joint election monitoring. To read more, click here.

Mother’s Day will soon be celebrated in the United States, but in Thailand we celebrate this holiday on the Queen’s birthday, in August. On this occasion, I take time to reflect on another important, albeit, very sad, day in Thailand.

On December 26, 2004, as I watched on television the killer waves striking the Andaman Coast on television, I emotionally and consciously wanted to help the victims in this vast tragedy. Within two weeks of the tsunami disaster I traveled to Phangna province with colleagues from the Women and the Constitution Network in an exploratory assessment for The Asia Foundation. We visited several camps filled with countless, exhausted survivors staying in thousands of tents. We talked with hundreds of people and observed the humanitarian assistance storming in.

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On May 14th, Filipinos will make their way to over 250,000 precincts across the country in “mid-term” elections (that is, in the middle of the term for President).  Though the highest office in the land is not on the ballot, citizens will vote for 17,889 different positions at different levels:  Senators (twelve elected nationwide), Members of Congress (both district and party list), provincial governors, vice governors, and board members, and city or municipal mayors, vice mayors, and councilors.  Given that the ballot is entirely write-in, voters will laboriously write dozens of names (or officially recognized nicknames). The ballots are then, even more laboriously, tallied at the precinct level before being transported to over 1,500 city and municipal halls to be aggregated before being transmitted upward for final tallies.

The 2004 Presidential Elections revealed serious deficiencies in the current electoral process, and highlighted setbacks in the ongoing process of democratization in the country. Confusion, inefficiency, corruption, and cheating damaged the credibility of elections, and cast doubt on the democratic legitimacy of elected officials. 

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About a decade ago, following the installation of the last caretaker regime of the “democratic era” in Pakistan, I suggested to a prominent Pakistani politician that the doctrine of necessity was one of Pakistan’s core jurisprudential principles.  To this he replied, “yes, too much necessity and not enough doctrine.”  Indeed, the Supreme Court has thrice justified transitions to military rule ” in 1958, 1977 and 1999 – through a legal fiction known as the doctrine of necessity, more than any other fledgling democracy in Asia.  Essentially, the doctrine of necessity is invoked by courts when faced with the consequences of extra-constitutional transitions to avoid a break in the constitutional umbilical cord.  The reasoning goes that the Court must stay open for business in order to avoid plunging the country into deeper chaos.  As Justice Dorab Patel wrote many years ago with palpable frustration:  “how do you expect five men alone, unsupported by anyone, to declare martial law unconstitutional?”

The removal of Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, the chief justice suspended by President Pervez Musharraff on March 9, sparked protests across Pakistan and posed perhaps the most serious challenge to the President during his tenure.  Mr. Chaudhry’s removal also stirred an old debate about the relationship of the military-executive with the judiciary. 

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Since January 2006, The Asia Foundation has supported a wide range of economic, legal, educational, and political empowerment projects to improve the status of women in Aceh, Indonesia. Building on more than three decades of collaboration with civil society organizations in Aceh, the Foundation has drawn upon the expertise of its own staff and that of its partners to implement programs in a culturally sensitive way.

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With Dr. James Klein, Country Representative in Thailand, The Asia Foundation

The Asia Foundation is pleased to invite you to a luncheon discussion with Dr. James Klein, who will provide first-hand insight and analysis of recent developments in Thailand, in particular political developments since the September 19, 2006 military coup, and Thai perceptions of the current environment.

Dr. Klein has been a long-time Southeast Asian specialist having lived in the region for over 25 years. Since 1996, Dr. Klein has been the Foundation’s resident Representative in Bangkok. Before then he served as The Asia Foundation’s Representative to Cambodia and Malaysia. His introduction to Asia came when he served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Khon Kaen, Thailand from 1973 to 1976. Dr. Klein has a Ph.D. in History and Southeast Asian Studies from Northern Illinois University.

Location:
The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace Building, Choate Room, Ground Floor
1779 Massachusetts Avenue, NW

RSVP:
To attend, or for more information, please contact Ms. Nicole Sayres at nsayres@asiafound-dc.org, or 202-588-9420 ext. 1313. If leaving a message, please include your name, title, affiliation, and contact details.

As seating is limited, please RSVP by Tuesday, May 15th.