Weird times in Thailand, Malaysia – but democracy is working
- From: Chim <ChimS1@xxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 19 Sep 2008 05:24:28 -0700 (PDT)
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080918.wcogee19/BNStory/specialComment/home?cid=al_gam_mostview
Weird times in Thailand, Malaysia – but democracy is working
MARCUS GEE
From Friday's Globe and Mail
September 18, 2008 at 10:16 PM EDT
In Thailand, a court orders the prime minister to step down because he
appeared on a TV cooking show. In Malaysia, an opposition leader
threatening to bring down the government is accused, for a second
time, of sodomy.
These are weird times in Asian politics. The wave of democratization
that swept through the region in the 1980s and 1990s has given way to
eddies of confusion and turmoil. From Bangkok to Kuala Lumpur,
besieged governments and angry citizens are the order of the day. It
is tempting to conclude that Asians simply aren't ready for "Western-
style" democracy. A popular school of thought argues that traditional
"Asian values" - a Confucian deference to authority, love of order and
preference for consensus over open dispute - make Asians unwilling
players of the competitive gamesmanship of democratic politics.
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