In Asia: Weekly Insight and Features from Asia

For 24 years until 1999, the police in Timor-Leste were under the command of the Indonesian military, and today, people still hold memories of the fears they felt toward the police and the security forces at that time. A national survey of community police perceptions carried out by The Asia Foundation showed that community police relations have greatly improved since then, and Timor-Leste’s political leadership continues to prioritize the need for police reform. Community policing projects have demonstrated the potential for positive impact of community policing initiatives on safety and security in Timor-Leste. Despite this, community policing is not yet seen as a high priority for reform. In this just-released paper, the ninth in The Asia Foundation’s “Occasional Paper” series, Nélson De Sousa C. Belo, director of the Fundasaun Mahein, Mark R. Koenig, Asia Foundation program fellow for Governance and Law, and Silas Everett, the Foundation’s country representative in Timor-Leste, explore the national-level political aspects of police reform in Timor-Leste and identify limitations and opportunities for improving policing and security in Timor-Leste. Download paper.

Earlier this year, Sumaiya Akhter, a 12-year-old resident of Bangladesh’s capital, Dhaka, hanged herself from her ceiling fan with a scarf. She had been verbally harassed by Selim, an older neighborhood boy, on the way to and from school every day. Sumaiya told her parents, but just prior to her death, her mother scolded her for what was happening, and she likely had nowhere else to turn.

In an effort to reduce long tensions between police and communities, the Bangladesh Police created a nationwide network of Community Policing Forums. Above, police and community members participate in a recent forum.

Regrettably, Sumaiya’s case is not an isolated incident. Crime in Bangladesh is on the rise overall, and this kind of gender-based violence is also becoming more common. According to the Bangladesh Police, between 2001 and 2010 there was a 42 percent increase in reported crimes, including narcotic-related offences (a 394% increase), child abuse (306%), and cruelty to women (25%). Many observers cite the strained relationship between the police and community members as a large factor contributing to this surge. Tensions and misunderstandings are exacerbated by a long history of distrust resulting from the application of a legal code that dates back to 1861 when the British were in power. At that time, the objective of the police was to defend British colonial rule rather than to serve and protect citizens. Unfortunately, some of these same ideas about policing continue to be applied today.

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Having worked with Indonesia’s higher education sector since 2000, I have come to believe that studying abroad is as close as one may come to a “sure thing” in Indonesian developmental assistance. Indonesian students and professors studying abroad are exposed to new educational techniques and knowledge, and will take that expertise home with them either (as graduates) to their new workplace or (as professors) to an educational system sorely in need of innovation. The likelihood that those individuals become leaders in their fields rises exponentially – and, as a result, they have the potential to bring great economic and intellectual benefit to Indonesia. In fact, almost 50 percent of the ministers in President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s current cabinet spent some time studying overseas.

Above, students mingle after class at Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University. Indonesia's student population in higher education has witnessed an explosive 35 percent increase in just six years.

Indonesians who study overseas, most of whom do so in the United States, Australia, the UK, or the Netherlands, carry their experiences – the vast majority of them overwhelmingly positive – with them for the rest of their lives. It is reflected in their work and their conversations; it becomes a part of them and thus the environment they interact with. It is arguably the ideal of what we mean when we speak of long-term impact and sustainability. Absent such exposure, perceptions of the West are often left to be derived from some combination of anti-Western rhetoric, syndicated TV shows, and internet conspiracy theories.

Yet the number of Indonesian students studying in the United States has fallen to half of what it was 10 years ago. That number, and the number of visiting professors, should ideally be increasing dramatically every year, and developmental projects should be making sure that happens. But despite some recent efforts, such as an increase in funds for U.S.-Indonesian Fulbright exchanges, the majority of these developmental opportunities remain untapped.

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Law has little meaning when it is not widely understood. Concepts like “conflict of interest” or “integrity” are used repeatedly in theories and explanations of law, but they are not self-explanatory. Perhaps nowhere is this more the case than in Timor-Leste, where rule of law is in the early stages of institutionalization and not well-understood by most citizens. And, until now, there were no legal texts focused on the laws of Timor-Leste. Professors were dependent on foreign law texts, primarily from Portugal or Indonesia.

Attendees at the launch of Timor-Leste's first law text focused on the laws of Timor-Leste in both official languages – Portuguese and Tetum – and the working language, English. Until now, there were no legal texts focused on the laws of Timor-Leste. Professors were dependent on foreign law texts, primarily from Portugal or Indonesia.

Last month, The Asia Foundation, in partnership with Stanford Law School, the National University of Timor-Leste (UNTL), and USAID, launched the new nation’s first law text focused on the laws of Timor-Leste in both official languages – Portuguese and Tetum – and the working language, English.

The launch of the text, An Introduction to Professional Responsibility in Timor-Leste, is a culmination of a two-year-long program, the Timor-Leste Legal Education Partnership (TLLEP), which aims to make Timor-Leste’s laws more broadly understood, clear, and equally binding to the governing and governed alike through texts that clarify existing law. It is the first in a series of texts, some of which are already completed in draft form. The texts explain legal concepts in clear, simple language (in local languages) with real-life examples that allow citizens to understand often-complex legal concepts, and give the next generation of leaders the tools to strengthen the rule of law. The content carefully analyzes the regulations of civil servants, public prosecutors, public defenders, magistrates, and private lawyers.

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As thousands of development experts and leaders gathered this week in Busan, Korea, for the Fourth High-Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness, The Asia Foundation has just published a book featuring case studies from the Philippines that focus on many of the most critical development challenges being raised in Busan.

The book, Built on Dreams, Grounded in Reality: Economic Policy Reform in the Philippines, examines both successful and unsuccessful reforms in order to draw lessons from those experiences. The five highly regarded reforms include: introducing competition and liberalization in three sectors (sea transport, civil aviation, telecommunications); privatizing water service in Metro Manila; and passing a property rights law to allow faster titling of residential lands. The book also documents two long-running reform efforts with limited success: improving tax administration for better fiscal outcomes, and reforming the National Food Authority, a government corporation responsible for ensuring food security, particularly the stability of supply and price of rice.

A number of regularities that can inform development thinking and practice emerged from the cases:

1. Institutional change is an iterative, non-linear, and context-specific process. Successful reform involves the embedding of technically sound policies within the murky and ever-shifting world of politics and coalitions. While the process is protracted and unpredictable, it can be influenced to produce positive development outcomes. The case of civil aviation provides an excellent example of this iterative process. In the initial years of the Arroyo administration (2001-2004), liberalization advocates were appointed onto the national policy body, the Civil Aeronautics Board. However, the elections of 2004 changed the policy environment when the owner of the dominant carrier is alleged to have supported the president’s election bid. In an effort to continue reform, advocates shifted strategies by combining the “open skies policy” with a political base from the president’s home province of Pampanga where there was a major airport, Clark Airport, a former U.S. military facility. Over time, an aggressive liberalization policy emerged that unleashed the development of the airport. From a low of 50,000 passengers in 2004, the airport handled about 700,000 passengers in 2010.

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This story is one that I have shared many times before. Years ago, I found myself walking through a stunning village in Bazarak, Panjshir Valley – home of the late Ahmad Shah Massoud – over 50 miles from Afghanistan’s capital, Kabul. I was there to help monitor preparations for the 2004 presidential elections. Just after 10 a.m., when we (I had three other colleagues with me: a driver, guide, and interpreter) arrived, I was brought to the village head’s house. The site was unforgettable: a cozy traditional house, basic setting, no electricity but a generous supply of natural fresh water, possibly from melted ice flowing down from the Hindu Kush Mountain range. As soon as I walked into the house, I was introduced in Pashtu: “Herizal Hazri, election worker from Malaysia.” A stocky man (the village head) immediately shook my hand, and said through our interpreter, “Malaysia is good. … Mahathir is our leader!” (Yes, I did think of testing his conviction but again, as a foreigner, I knew better than starting a debate, especially with a village head!)

I was surprised; but not because he adored Malaysia and its former prime minister so much, but rather that this short exchange of words was happening here, in a remote village in the Pansjhir Valley, with no electricity, no internet, and largely buffered from the outside world due to war, or more precisely: many wars. I thought to myself, if only I had travelled here to measure the effectiveness of Malaysia’s foreign policy, my ratings will be largely boosted by this conversation.

Seven years later, this moment stuck with me as I sat down to co-write a chapter on Malaysia’s foreign policy and South-South Cooperation for the new book, Emerging Asian Approaches to Development Cooperation, jointly produced by the Korean Development Institute and The Asia Foundation which was just released at the Fourth High Level Forum in Busan.

It is not too much to claim that South-South Cooperation is an important tenet in Malaysia’s foreign policy. Since its independence in 1957, Malaysia’s involvement in promoting greater cooperation and solidarity among newly independent countries of Asia and Africa has been a prominent feature of its modern political history. While Malaysia did not participate in the inaugural Bandung Afro-Asian Conference in 1955, it quickly played an integral role in the formalized South movements such as its active membership in the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), Association of Southeast Asia Nations (ASEAN), and the G77 caucus within the United Nations.

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A global campaign is underway right now to bring attention to a pressing human rights issue which affects up to 60 percent women across the world. The 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence campaign – which falls between International Day Against Violence Against Women (November 25) and International Human Rights Day (December 10) – brings attention to the global issue of gender-based violence. While living a life free of violence is a basic human right, millions of women around the globe are victims of violent acts including domestic violence, forced prostitution, rape in wartime, marital rape, and other forms of physical and psychological abuse.

Despite the serious consequences of gender-based violence, the WHO notes that it continues to have an "unjustifiably low priority on the international development agenda." Photo by Karl Grobl.

Gender-based violence is deeply rooted in societal norms that set and reinforce the unequal power relations between men and women which perpetuate the problem. Within the Asia-Pacific region, there are a number of entrenched cultural practices that contribute to gender-based violence and pose a significant barrier to women’s equal rights. Forced early marriage, domestic violence, dowry-related violence, rape, acid throwing, female genital mutilation, forced prostitution, and the trafficking of women are major threats to health and well being of millions of women in Asia. According to the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP), many types of gender-based violence have increased in the Asia-Pacific region in recent years. Because these root causes are so deeply ingrained in patriarchal systems and cultural practices, implementing efforts to change them is complex and difficult.

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In Asia’s editor, Alma Freeman, interviewed 2011 Survey of the Afghan People co-author and former Asia Foundation program director for Law, Human Rights, and Women’s Empowerment in Kabul, Najla Ayubi, for her reaction to the findings of The Asia Foundation’s 2011 Survey and what they might mean for women’s rights, peace talks, and more. Ayubi is currently the Afghanistan country director for the Open Society Foundation.

As a survey author, what surprised you most about this year’s findings?

The high support for peace and reconciliation was a very surprising and important finding in this year’s survey. It’s surprising to see that 82 percent of the people support peace and reconciliation, which has interesting implications for the peace process. I also found it surprising that 74 percent of the respondents said they have confidence in religious leaders and 70 percent of respondents say that religious leaders should be consulted on problems facing an area. Also, 46 percent say that the country is going in the right direction, and only 35 percent say it is going in the wrong direction. That’s positive news, but since last year, the percentage of people who think the country is going in the wrong direction has increased by 8 percent. In 2009, that figure was 29 percent. To me, this reveals an unstable attitude of the people on whether their country is moving in the right direction.

Women respondents report lower levels of support than men for reconciliation with armed opposition groups. What do you make of this?

Women have been marginalized by the Taliban and other armed opposition groups for decades. That’s why woman don’t have much empathy for the armed opposition groups, and are not as supportive as men for the so called peace and reconciliation process which is going on with the government. In many cases, they feel they won’t get any benefit from this type of negotiation – specifically, they worry their rights will be compromised, and for me as an Afghan woman, I’m also afraid that my rights will be compromised during these peace talks. Two of the biggest issues that affect women’s lives here are the lack of freedom of movement to work outside of the home and access to education. In the current peace talks, how this will be factored in is totally up in the air. It’s very clear that women support peace, but not the kind of approach that risks compromising their rights.

Also, women are only symbolically part of the peace talks: some women have been put in high-level positions, like at the High Peace Council or at the local, provincial level in peace talk committees, but they aren’t able to actually represent women’s voices and interests there. For example, some of the women representatives in the High Peace Council have said that in many cases when there is a peace talk trip inside of the country, they are not allowed to be part of the delegation. The male representatives say that due to the security situation, women aren’t able to come. But this makes me ask, if the security is a problem for women, why is it not a problem for men? If the men can go and be protected by security forces, then why can’t the same be done for women? It’s more of a stereotype or patriarchal thinking that women are not eligible to be in peace talks rather than anything having to do with their ability.

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Religious leaders received the highest vote of confidence and optimism of the Afghan people among local governance institutions, according to The Asia Foundation’s 2011 Survey of the Afghan People. Seventy percent of respondents say that there should be regular consultation with religious leaders about problems in their area, while 74 percent rank religious leaders as one of the three most trusted institutions. This trend is the highest since 2006, when 61 percent of respondents said there should be regular consultation with religious leaders.

In Afghanistan’s history, the only consistent, “24-7″ local governance institution available to the public has been the religious leaders, known as mullahs or imams. They are positioned in the heart of each village and community in the Masjid (mosque) which exists in every village and even in some larger houses. In fact, one cannot find a single village and community in the country where there is no Masjid. As such, religious leaders have played a critical role in all stages of an Afghan’s life – from childhood to adult. When a child is first born, her first move from the cradle is to see an imam who recites the words of Azan into the child’s ears. When a child is 2-3 years old, she starts going regularly to the Masjid to learn the Quran and other faith-related books from religious leaders. A new marriage is not complete until the imam confirms the marriage contract between the bride and groom. Religious leaders also read letters from far-flung family members for people who can’t read. Finally, an imam is the last one to speak at a funeral ceremony.

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For the first time since 2007, respondents in The Asia Foundation’s 2011 Survey of the Afghan People cited reconstruction and rebuilding as the most important reason for optimism.

The level of optimism for reconstruction and rebuilding is high across all 34 provinces, but particularly so in the West, Central/Kabul, South East, South West, and East regions and urban areas. The level of optimism is nearly the same for men and women, as well as all ethnic groups, except Hazara who reported slightly lower figures.

Respondents in the 2011 Survey who reported the need for reconstruction as a reason for pessimism is at the lowest level since the Foundation first conduced the survey in 2004.

The finding highlights a link that respondents perceive between the direction of progress in the country and the ability of government to provide essential services and support for development projects. Respondents report the highest level of satisfaction with the availability of education for children, with almost three quarters (73%) saying this is quite good or very good in their local area. A similarly high proportion of respondents say the same about the availability of clean drinking water (70%) and freedom of movement or their ability to move safely in their area or district (70%). More than two thirds (69%) of respondents say the security situation is quite good or very good in the area where they live.

On the other hand, people are least satisfied with the availability of jobs. More than two thirds (70%) of respondents say the availability of jobs in their local area is quite bad or very bad. Almost two thirds (65%) say the same about the supply of electricity. Although procurement of electricity is an ongoing focus of President Karzai’s administration, including some success at bringing in electricity from neighboring countries, local potential for greater electricity supply has not been tapped. The delay has resulted in lost of revenue for the country and potential infrastructural construction job opportunities.

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