Asia Program Highlights (2006)

Across Asia, a spectrum of authoritarian governments—including those in Pakistan, Burma, Vietnam, China, and North Korea—maintained their tight grip on political power in 2006. Moreover, political developments in countries throughout the Asia region, in Bangladesh, Nepal, Thailand, and East Timor in particular, underscored the fragility of young democracies and the need for long-term and systemic approaches to democracy promotion. Throughout 2006, the Endowment continued to concentrate its resources in Asia in eight countries, all of which are among the region's least democratic or have recently made the transition to democratic rule: China, including Tibet, and North Korea in East Asia; Burma, Indonesia, and Malaysia in Southeast Asia; and Pakistan and Nepal in South Asia.

In China, the Endowment increased support for a wide variety of programs designed to promote the development of democratic values; carry out human rights education and protection; address labor rights, the rights of ethnic minorities, and the right to free exercise of religion; foster public debate of policy alternatives and proposals for constitutional and political reform; and play a watchdog role through advocacy and organizing.

A core feature of NED's China program is its support for freedom of expression, the free flow of information, and independent media outlets devoted to the circulation of objective news and information inside China. These independent media outlets provide a forum for diverse opinion and commentary, particularly on issues that may be distorted or filtered by government-controlled mass media. NED supported several important Chinese-language news services, journals of opinion and cultural criticism, and academic journals, reaching audiences in China primarily through Internet distribution. The Independent Chinese PEN Center (ICPC), for example, provides online publication of banned works and, through its membership of distinguished writers living in China and abroad, actively advocates for freedom of expression and for the release of imprisoned writers, editors, and "cyber-dissidents."

The struggle to advance human rights and political freedom in Tibet continues to be driven in large measure by the efforts of the exile Tibetan community under the leadership of the Dalai Lama. The Endowment's Tibet program, which concentrates its resources on the exile community, focused on three areas of activity: information and media, institution and civil society building, and democracy and human rights education. NED-supported Tibetan-language media outlets such as the Tibet Times newspaper and the Voice of Tibet radio provide an independent source of information to the Tibetan people. And, through a mini-grants program, the NED helped strengthen grassroots democracy and civil society in Tibetan communities throughout India.

For North Korea, NED looked to provide access to information inside the country and to improve the human rights situation through documentation and advocacy. In 2006, the Endowment greatly expanded its program, including efforts to provide radio listeners in North Korea with independent sources of news and information. To this end, it has funded three start-up projects providing daily radio broadcasts that cover the testimony of defectors, objective analysis and information about conditions in North Korea, and educational features that include English-language lessons and programs on basic economics and international developments.

In 2006, the political situation in Burma remained largely unchanged despite increasing attention from the international community, including at the UN Security Council, public calls for political reform from within the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), and small but notable demonstrations within the country protesting the military regime's oppressive measures. The Endowment continued to fund programs in several core areas: independent media; human rights education, documentation, and advocacy; international advocacy and organizing; ethnic nationality affairs; and women's participation and empowerment. In 2006, NED-funded projects were instrumental in building support within ASEAN for democracy in Burma; in documenting on-going human rights issues, including internal displacement, religious freedom, women's rights, and political prisoners; and in building and expanding independent media. Today, with Endowment support, Burma's exile media boasts a shortwave radio station, a satellite TV station, numerous Burmese-language journals and newspapers, an internationally recognized English-language magazine, and media outlets that cover Burma's ethnic states.

In Malaysia and Indonesia, NED-funded projects looked to increase access to independent information, address worker rights and other human rights issues, tackle endemic corruption, and strengthen political parties.

In South Asia, the Endowment's priority remained Pakistan. The second largest Muslim-majority country in the world with a population of over 160 million people, Pakistan faces numerous daunting challenges. High-profile issues such as terrorism, religious extremism, and conflict with India over Kashmir and Afghanistan over the Tribal Areas, often overshadow other serious and pervasive problems plaguing the country, including weak political institutions, pervasive corruption, poverty and unemployment, and center-regional tensions. In 2006, the Endowment funded projects in all four provinces, including innovative women's empowerment projects in rural Punjab and Balochistan, and national-level projects that worked to strengthen civil society engagement in electoral politics and democratic reform. IRI, NDI, and the Islamabad-based Center for Civic Education all worked to encourage greater public participation in the electoral process, and to inform and educate citizens about democratic rights, political parties, and political institutions.

Elsewhere in South Asia, the Endowment expanded its efforts to promote democracy in Nepal following the re-establishment of civilian rule, and broadened its efforts in Sri Lanka to strengthen civil society, improve worker rights, and address endemic corruption.