President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has urged Asia Pacific countries to consolidate the gains from democratization as the region has shown a remarkable prospect for democracy to flourish in recent years.
“Democracy is a work in progress and we need to consolidate the gains we have achieved from democratization during the past five years,” Yudhoyono said in his opening remarks at the fifth Bali Democracy Forum (BDF) in Nusa Dua, Bali, on Thursday.
The development of democracy in Asia and the Pacific has been evident in several countries. “India and Indonesia continue to be the largest democracies in the region and in the world. An impressive democratic transformation is now unfolding in Myanmar. In Mongolia and in many countries of Central Asia, democracy is thriving, and the Arab Spring continues to evolve,” he said.
However, he insisted that democracy should deliver tangible outcomes for citizens so that “people can fully enjoy economic benefits, political rights and shared ownership of governance,” he said.
The BDF is an annual event for government representatives in Asia and the Pacific to share their respective countries’ latest democratic developments. From the beginning, the forum has aimed at being a venue for sharing experiences, ideas and best practices, not to issue concrete solutions to specific problems.
There are 80 countries and international organizations represented with 11 heads of government attending this year’s forum. “I believe such growing participation shows that the Bali Democracy Forum is serving its purpose,” Yudhoyono said, comparing the first forum in 2008, when representatives from 40 countries and international organizations with three leaders attended.
Yudhoyono is co-chairing the two-day forum with South Korean President Lee Myung-bak and Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard.
Leaders have claimed that the forum has made a positive contribution to advancing democratic values and principles in the region. This year’s forum seeks to find ways to effectively implement democratic principles at a global level.
Noting the prospects for democracy in Asia in the 21st century, Lee said that Asia was making vigorous progress toward building more mature democracies. He cited the Freedom in the World Report 2012 that showed Asia and the Pacific was the only region in the world to witness a steady rise in political rights and civil liberties over the past five years.
Gillard acknowledged that many democratic success stories had occurred in Asia. “There are many records of the practice of pluralism, consultation, tolerance, consensus building, mutual accommodation, egalitarianism and protection of minority rights throughout Asia.”
She said that Australia was ready to offer practical support and encouragement to countries showing positive steps toward a democratic future.
Political expert Yudi Latief commented that the BDF could be a “lesson-learned” forum for countries in the region to compare, exchange and absorb appropriate models of democracy suitable to each country’s social, political and historical contexts. “There is no single model for democracy,” he said.
He stressed that Indonesia itself could not be a preacher for democracy since it had much to learn to improve its implementation of democratic values and principles.
Comments
Rio Rivai / Fri, 09/11/2012 - 21:11pm I agree to the last paragraph of the article, Indonesia still has a lot to learn on implementing democracy. As on Papua issue as one of the reader below me brought on; I agree that Indonesian government need to improve the treatment on Papua for the good of the people living there. However, you were questioning Indonesian sovereignty over Papua, and accusing for "fake" referendum. Do you even have data on how "fake" this referendum was? Did you witness it yourself? And similar cases are happening all over the world. There were not even any referendum or anything, some were pure invasions. Need me to name them out? England - Irish, USA - native Americans, Hawaii, Samoa, Australia - Aborigin, Spain - Basque, Israel - Palestina, New Zealand - Maoris, French - several Oceania colonies. There are separatist movement everywhere. There were lots unfair acquisition/colonialization story in the past. Filippo / Fri, 09/11/2012 - 12:11pm Before lecturing ASEAN on consolidating democracy, the Indonesian government would be well inspired to demonstrate its commitment to human rights by indicting and trying its many military officers responsible for qualified crimes against humanity. When confronted to German activists’ opposition to the German-made leopard-tank arms deal because of ongoing human rights violations in West Papua, the Indonesian generals said that "Indonesia is a sovereign and civilized country". No, Indonesia's armed forces are not civilized and the sovereignty of Indonesia on West Papua is democratically as thin as a fake referendum and heavy military presence. Maurice Gold / Fri, 09/11/2012 - 12:11pm Given the deafening silence emanating from SBY over the past few years concerning corruption, inclusiveness, religious hatred, closing houses of worship, forced religious conversion, jihadist vigilantism, police bias, corruption, brutality towards minorities, judicial religious bias, lack of justice for murdered Indonesians in 1965, Papua, etc, one might feel a bit like asking if Indonesian politicians give a damn for the electorate, understand democracy, and why its the least horrible solution so far. The double-speak geared towards naive Westerners seems to be working unfortunately. Only critical-mindedness and a long-memory work to show the reality behind the spin.