Network of Asian Social Democrats

Please refer to:
Steven Sim, Executive Secretary, scheekeong[at]gmail[dot]com, +6012 5907 507

Thursday, 4 February, 2010 | Penang, Malaysia

THE NETWORK OF SOCIAL DEMOCRACY IN ASIA ESTABLISHES REGIONAL SECRETARIAT IN PENANG, MALAYSIA

The Network of Social Democracy in Asia is pleased to announce the establishment of our regional secretariat in Penang, Malaysia. The decision was made following the Network’s 2nd Regional Conference held in Penang November last year.

The Network’s Steering Committee meeting in Kuala Lumpur this week finalized the decision to select Penang as the location of our secretariat due to the state’s vibrant civil society and democratic culture. The State Government of Penang which was elected into office in the Country’s March 2008 General Election has also been commended both nationally and internationally for its progressive reform agenda.

The Network of Social Democracy in Asia is a group of political parties, pre-party formations, progressive politicians, scholars and activists in the region who share social democratic values and perspectives. Members aim to establish a permanent dialogue to exchange experiences and learning in advocating for reforms along social democratic lines and to encourage democratic and participatory party-building. Member-party from Malaysia is the Democratic Action Party, a partner in the People’s Pact which formed the main Opposition in the Malaysian Parliament.

The Steering Committee is also pleased to announce the appointment of Mr. Steven Sim Chee Keong as the Executive Secretary overseeing the operation of the secretariat. Mr. Sim has many years of experience in local politics and has served as aide to Members of Parliament and more recently to the Penang State Government.

More information about the Network can be found in our website at www.socdem.asia

Steven Sim Chee Keong
Executive Secretary
Network of Asian Social Democrats
www.socdem.asia

Date: 19 – 22 November 2009

Venue: Parkroyal, Penang, Malaysia

Draft Program

The conference continues the process of strengthening political groups in the region committed to the basic values of social democracy that started with the first meeting of the network in Manila in May 2009. At the conference, an exchange and  identification of  local governance practices that both shape the approach to participatory politics and the delivery of services and public goods will describe the sessions.  Sharing on how these local governance practices  contribute to the building of progressive political parties along social-democratic lines will also be facilitated.

Ivan Hadar ( JakartaGlobe, 25 August 2009)

In her visit to Indonesia, US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Indonesia was not only the most populous Muslim country in the world, but also had been able to prove that democracy, Islam and modernity could exist in parallel. At a news conference after a bilateral meeting, Foreign Minister Hassan Wirayudha strengthened Clinton’s statement when he said that, because of the country’s active role in pushing intercivilization, religious and cultural dialogue, Indonesia would be a good partner for the United States in reaching out to the Muslim world.

Despite terrorists bombings, the basic landscape in the country is viewed as moderate and democratic. Truthfully, the view that civilian sovereignty is incompatible with Islam and that democracy is somehow un-Islamic is neither popular nor accepted in Indonesia.

Indeed, the idea that democracy is un-Islamic is unpopular in the Muslim world in general. European expansion to the Middle East, as “the center of the Islamic world,” in the early 19th century was welcomed enthusiastically, mainly because it also carried hope of release from the “grasp” of Osmanian rule. Many laid hope in the principles of freedom, equality and kinship in deciding the formation of the nation state. But hopes quickly faded, because the basic principles of the French Revolution were not carried over to the colonies.

To legitimize discrimination and conquest, Western colonial governments needed ideological justification. Edward Said brilliantly expressed this matter in his book, “Orientalism,” saying the West uses assumptions about the Oriental economy and culture as a tool for discrimination and political control.

To read more, click here.

By Walden Bello  (Speech at the Conference on “Regional Integration: an Opportunity Presented by the Crisis,” Universidad de Deportes, Asuncion , Paraguay , July 21-22, 2009 .)

Globalization has ended in massive failure.

One response to this crisis has been to dump export-oriented industrialization and reemphasize the primacy of the national market in sustaining economic growth.

Another response, complementary to this, has been to build regional associations or regional blocs.

Regional economic blocs are not new.  However, some of the more prominent ones have either not moved beyond a primitive stage, as in the case of SAARC in South Asia, or have been based on neoliberal principles, like ASEAN in Southeast Asia.  ASEAN’s idea of integration is to see it as a step towards full-scale globalization, a process that is termed “open regionalism.”

The most interesting efforts at integration, in the view of many, are those taking place in Latin America, among them Trade Treaty of the Peoples and ALBA or the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas to which eight countries now belong.  These experiences are at an early stage and yet they already contain lessons for other parts of the world.  It is for this reason that the organizers of this conference decided to hold it in Asuncion, bringing in activists and government officials from Asia and Africa to interact with people in this region to discuss the lessons that developments here have for the rest of the world.

For many of us from outside Latin America, the dynamics of ALBA hold particular interest.  One item that fascinates us is the use of barter as a key method of trade, for instance, the exchange of Venezuelan oil for Bolivian soybeans or of Venezuelan oil for medical services rendered by Cuban volunteers.  Another is the subsidization of the oil needs of 14 Caribbean countries by Venezuela , which sells fuel to them at 40 per cent off the world price.  We are intrigued by the comment of President Hugo Chavez during the World Social Forum in Caracas in 2006 that these practices “go beyond the logic of capitalism.”

To read more, click here.