Not one country among the 10 members of the Association of South East Asian Nations [ASEAN] has been ranked as free in the 2022 annual index on political rights and civil liberties issued by United States-based Freedom House.
Timor-Leste, which has applied for ASEAN membership, was the only country in Southeast Asia ranked as free, while Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines and Indonesia were among those considered partly free.
Of the ASEAN countries ranked as not free, Freedom House said Cambodia outperformed Myanmar, Laos and Vietnam but had worse scores than Brunei and Thailand, prompting a sharp rebuke from Phnom Penh, this year’s chair of ASEAN.
“Their report has the intention to go against and hit the government. Their report intends to propose to the Cambodian people to hate Cambodia’s government. It is only a report which is their political agenda,” said spokesperson for Cambodia’s Justice Ministry, Chin Malin.
A dispatch from the government-friendly Khmer Times said Chin was amazed that annual reports by other NGOs relating to freedom of expression, democracy and rule of law in Cambodia were always the same.
“According to international principles, one country can’t be ranked on democracy, rule of law and freedom of expression compared to another country because there is no one country which has the best democracy and freedom of expression,” Chin said.
However, Freedom House noted that the opposition Cambodian National Rescue Party [CNRP] was outlawed by the courts and its leaders were jailed or exiled, and independent media and civil society outlets have been curtailed.
It is now impossible to ignore the damage to democracy’s foundations and reputation … authoritarian countries have gained enormous power in the international system, and freer countries have seen their established norms challenged and fractured.
The ruling Cambodian People’s Party [CPP] then “won every seat in the lower house for the first time since the end of the Cambodian Civil War, as well as every elected seat in the upper house in indirect elections,” Freedom House said.
Its 2022 report also found that authoritarian regimes had become more effective at co-opting or circumventing the norms and institutions meant to support basic liberties, and at providing aid to others who wish to do the same.
“A total of 60 countries suffered declines over the past year, while only 25 improved. As of today, some 38 per cent of the global population live in not free countries, the highest proportion since 1997. Only about 20 per cent now live in free countries,” it said.
Freedom House said Myanmar had suffered the greatest contraction of freedom in the wake of the coup last February [Sunday Examiner, 7 February 2021].
“Civilian political leaders have been arrested en masse, over 1,000 people have been killed as security forces crack down on pro-democracy protests, and thousands of others have been thrown in jail and tortured,” it said.
But it added that popular demand for democracy remains strong across the world.
“From Sudan to Myanmar, people continue to risk their lives in the pursuit of freedom in their countries,” it said, adding regional players were undermining smaller nations with democratic systems.
“It is now impossible to ignore the damage to democracy’s foundations and reputation … authoritarian countries have gained enormous power in the international system, and freer countries have seen their established norms challenged and fractured.” UCAN
