In the recent past, much of Asia had placed economic growth as the top priority; however, it has now become clear that, without political development, economic growth cannot deliver true human development. The Asian financial crisis in 1997 was a stark reminder that, without democratic practices, economic systems are open to corruption and cronyism, which if left unchecked lead to a breakdown of society. Moreover, during the so-called “War on Terror,” serious threats to democratic processes have emerged, both within many individual countries as well as from the international environment, which demanded urgent attention.

Despite these events, all too often regional forums continue to avoid engaging the essential issues of democracy, preferring to focus on economic or technical areas and overlooking the widely differing political systems in place throughout the region. For example, the East Asia Summit which was held for the first time in December 2005 welcomes several non-democratic countries as core members while excluding some democracies.

Nonetheless, the peoples of Asia fully share the universal aspirations for freedom, democracy, and human rights. Indeed, in the region today, there is a wide range of organizations and activities whose aims are to promote democratic development, as well as considerable interest from without the region. However, more work is clearly needed to ensure that democracy and human rights are placed firmly on the regional agenda where they belong.

Therefore, the World Forum for Democratization in Asia (WFDA) was launched as an effective region-wide platform to discuss and coordinate the work of the Asian groups and activists concerned with the promotion of democracy. WFDA serves to reaffirm and revalidate the core values of Asian democrats and expand the awareness of them among Asian peoples. It does this through a focus on facilitating concrete measures and strategies to assist the democratization process in Asian societies. In other words, proposals for action plans to achieve identified goals and targets take precedence.

 

1.To pledge solidarity and support for Asian democracy activists struggling against autocratic forces in the region.
2.To focus the attention of the Asian peoples on the democratization process in the region and to encourage their participation in it.
3.To seek international support for the democratization effort in Asia.
4.To stimulate and facilitate overall coordination of the various programs already underway or being created in the region. Rather than creating yet another network from scratch, WFDA will focus on supporting existing mechanisms, facilitating sharing of information and best practices, as well as encouraging the creation of new mechanisms to fulfill specific needs.

 

Based on consultations initiated by the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy (TFD), an international Steering Committee of leading regional democracy organizations was created in October 2004 to act as the main governing mechanism for WFDA. Operating on the basis of consensus, the Committee currently consists of the following organizations: the Alliance for Reform and Democracy in Asia (ARDA: www.asiandemocracy.org), Alternative Asean Network on Burma (ALTSEAN: www.altsean.org), Asian Focal Point for the International Civil Society Forum on Democracy (AFP-ICSFD), Forum Asia Democracy (FAD), Initiatives for International Dialogue (IID: www.iidnet.org), and the TFD (www.tfd.org.tw). More organizations will be invited to join to expand the representativeness of the group.

 

At its inception, WFDA decided to divide the vast Asian region not by geography, but by relative level of democratization, yielding four broad categories. In “closed societies,” there is essentially no democracy, and advocates for democracy typically have to work either underground or in exile. Countries in “transition” have some space for civil society or opposition forces, but their rulers continue to rely on non-democratic means to maintain power. Countries in “consolidation” have functioning democratic processes, and have experienced at least one democratic transfer of power, but still require some forms of international assistance or support to prevent backsliding, resolve internal conflicts, etc. Finally, the few relatively consolidated democracies in the region are those that do not need international assistance to continue their reforms, but instead ought to be encouraged to play a more active role to assist and support the processes of democratization among their neighbors in the region.

Based on this classification, a series of strategy workshops brought together civil society, political parties, media, academics, and other stakeholders to lay the ground for the First Biennial Conference. This was held in Taipei on 15-17 September 2005, and it adopted the “Taipei Declaration on Democracy in Asia,” as well as a two-year “Framework for Action,” designed to encourage concrete actions and cooperation to promote Asian democratization. Since then, these documents have guided the work of WFDA.

The Second Biennial Conference was held in Manila on 19-21 September 2007. The Second Biennial assessed and evaluated progress towards the goals in the “Framework for Action,” and adopted a revised document covering the years 2007-2009.  It also featured a keynote speech by Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, and a “Leaders Forum” of leaving regional democracy figures. Finally, on the last day of the conference, a special commemoration for the International Day of Peace was held, reflecting the unbreakable linkage between peace and democracy, as well as the particular significance of the day in the history of democracy in the Philippines. The conference then adopted the “Manila Declaration on Democracy and Peace.”

Outside of the Biennial Meetings, one of the primary focuses of WFDA over the past four years has been to facilitate the participation of Asian democrats in global democracy forums. WFDA has organized or supported regional workshops for the Non-governmental Process of the Community of Democracies, the World Movement for Democracy, and the International Civil Society Forum for Democracy.

A second function has been to amplify the voices of Asian democrats. This is done primarily through the WFDA website, www.wfda.net, which contains announcements from WFDA partners as well as a comprehensive review of democratic development in the region. WFDA has also issued a series of statements on major democracy issues in the region, which are distributed widely.

From time to time, WFDA has also worked together with other partners to dispatch missions to specific countries of concern. In 2006, the first two such missions were sent to observe the general election in Singapore and to assess the situation in Timor-Leste. A follow-up mission to Timor-Leste in 2007 observed the general election there. In 2008, a solidarity mission was sent to Mindanao, Philippines, to support efforts to bring peace to that region, and a pilot trial observation mission was sent to Singapore.