A diversity of challenges confronted those who would advance democracy in Asia in 2003. These included the familiar restrictions and repression of authoritarian states, the weak institutions and corruption of more nominal democracies, as well as newer pressures that are a result of government strategies to combat international terrorist networks operating throughout the region.
In response to these circumstances, NED continued to concentrate its resources in Asia on organizations working to pry open dictatorial systems and broaden rights and political space in semi-authoritarian countries. When possible,
support was also extended to groups seeking to consolidate reforms in new democracies, work in war-torn societies, and address two cross-cutting issues: aiding democracy in the Muslim world and strengthening solidarity networks among democratic activists and thinkers.
Support for democratization in China and Burma remained the Endowment’s largest programs in Asia. In China, the Endowment continued its strategy of support for vigorous advocacy on human rights and democracy as well as programs designed to advance reforms in the country in such areas as building a market economy, the rule of law, and responsive and accountable local government. The Endowment’s program to facilitate the free flow of information and help Internet users evade the government firewalls encompassed the efforts of a wide variety of dedicated editors: from policy-oriented journals such as the Modern China Studies quarterly journal, to news providers such as the China Information Center’s ObserveChina service, to journals of opinion and commentary on culture and
democratic values, such as Democratic China and Beijing Spring. Inside China, CIPE continued its support for independent public policy research and debate, while ACILS expanded its project to aid workers affected by China’s rapidly changing economic environment. In the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of China, more than half a million people, out of a total population of seven million, surprised the world by demonstrating against proposed restrictive national security legislation, sending an unmistakable message testifying to the readiness of the Hong Kong public to step forward to protect its rights. In response to this unprecedented political activism in Hong Kong, NED increased its support for public opinion polling, groups monitoring civil liberties, and think tanks examining governance and constitutional review issues.
In Burma, the ruling military junta responded to Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s continued and ever more evident
popularity by orchestrating an ambush on May 30. The attack left scores of her defenseless National League
for Democracy party supporters injured or killed, and Suu Kyi was abducted and ultimately returned to house arrest. Throughout the year, NED continued its large-scale assistance to the beleaguered democracy movement in the country. Key areas of work included assistance to political prisoners and their families, human rights documentation and advocacy, the free flow of information and independent media, labor organizing, ethnic reconciliation, women’s political participation, and transition research and preparation.
A notable example among NED’s large portfolio of programs supporting small but dynamic ethnic-nationality
civil society groups is the work of a Shan women’s group that conducts women’s empowerment and capacity building workshops for women from the Shan ethnic minority and reports on the situation of women in Shan State.
For North Korea, where continued iron-fisted political control makes pro-democracy activity impossible, the Endowment increased its support to South Korea-based organizations carrying out human rights research and advocacy. A new grantee, the Democracy Network Against North Korean Gulag, is the first human rights organization founded by survivors of the North Korean prison-camp system.
NED support will enable the group to conduct research and advocacy to raise awareness of the North Korean system and to increase pressure on the human rights issue.
Pakistan’s democratic activists worked in an increasingly difficult environment in which to advocate for freedom of the press, defense of individual liberties, accountable government, and minority rights. The Endowment was able to target
increased support there, including a grant to the Democratic Commission for Human Development for a far-reaching civic education program to foster the principles of secular democracy, nonviolent political discourse, and global engagement.
In Southeast Asia, the new security positions of several governments, most notably in Malaysia and Thailand, further restricted civil liberties and served as an excuse to repress peaceful political opponents. As a result, cross-border
solidarity among democrats became more important and support for regional programs took on an expanded role in the NED’s Asia portfolio. Noteworthy regional programs included NDI’s highly successful political party anti-corruption project, which has attracted the sustained involvement over several
years of those political parties across the region most committed to democratic principles, and the innovative ACILS project of labor law research and activism involving lawyers, legal scholars, community groups and NGOs throughout Asia.
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