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00Author: Murray Hiebert, Bower Group Asia

COVID-19 has been tough on the health and economies of Southeast Asia, but the regions fledgling quasi-democracies are also under threat. Efforts to control the virus are giving authoritarian rulers the perfect cover to adopt draconian levers to rein in their opponents and critics.

In Thailand, Prayut Chan-o-cha a general who seized power in a 2014 coup and then became prime minister through carefully orchestrated elections in 2019 took advantage of an existing emergency decree to impose sweeping control measures in March. As COVID-19 continues to spread, the control measures grant him the authority to censor or shut down media if deemed necessary.

For example, a 42-year-old Thai artist was arrested after posting online that he had arrived from Spain and exited Bangkoks main international airport without any screening. He was charged under the Computer Crimes Act and could be punished for up to five years in prison because his post created panic for the public and eroded their confidence in Suvarnabhumi airport in the words of the Ministry of Digital Economy and Society.

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, best known for his brutal war on drugs, signed a law in late March granting himself special temporary power for three months. On 1 April, he ordered the police and the military to shoot violators of his enhanced community quarantine if they were unruly or threatened law enforcement officers. Three days later, a man in his early 60s, apparently drunk, was shot dead after allegedly threatening police at a checkpoint with a scythe.

In April, the Philippine police arrested seven activists distributing food assistance north of Manila and charged them with violating emergency laws. They were indicted with inciting sedition after anti-government newspapers were found in their vehicle. In early May, ABS-CBN the countrys largest television broadcaster was forced off the air in a move many observers interpreted as Dutertes attempt to further muzzle the media at a time when unbiased reporting on COVID-19 outbreak was needed.

In Myanmar, the military appears to be taking advantage of COVID-19 by leveraging the power it retained during reforms that gave rise to a quasi-civilian government. In late March, the military set up a powerful 10-member COVID-19 taskforce to investigate cases of the virus and suppress disinformation by punishing those who create panic among the people. This taskforce, made up of senior military officers and cabinet ministers appointed by the military, was created two weeks after the government had established a COVID-19 committee led by State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi.

The military taskforce runs parallel to the civilian government and ensures that the military retains a high profile as the country prepares for elections before the end of the year. The military also arranged facilities in key cities to quarantine people infected by COVID-19 and sent military helicopters to deliver medical supplies to remote regions of the country.

In Cambodia, where Prime Minister Hun Sen cracked down on opposition political parties and shrunk the countrys political space ahead of 2018 elections, the National Assembly passed a state of emergency law granting Hun Sen greater power in handling the pandemic. Between January and April, Human Rights Watch documented the arrest of at least 30 people on charges of spreading fake news, including commentaries on the governments handling of the pandemic.

No opinion polls in Southeast Asia have measured public perceptions about the more authoritarian measures governments introduced to tackle the pandemic. A Gallup poll of Thai attitudes toward the governments overall handling of the virus in late April found 81 per cent disapproval the highest among 18 countries. In contrast, 80 per cent of people in the Philippines approved of their governments handling of the virus, in line with Dutertes approval ratings during his war on drugs.

Interestingly, the poor rating of the Thai government seems to be due to perceptions of officials not going far enough rather than being too draconian. Veteran politicians criticised Prayuts administration for not using hard measures earlier to control the virus.

There is no evidence that the use of tough policies in Cambodia, the Philippines, Thailand or Myanmar are producing a more effective pandemic response. Any public health practitioner would immediately tell you that responding to a public health crisis requires eliciting the willing cooperation and support of the people, says Robertson. Using power to arrest, quarantine and curfew violators is an exercise that resembles emptying the ocean with a bucket. Advances toward democracy in Southeast Asia that came at immense cost are at risk of being steadily eroded away.

Murray Hiebert is Head of Research at Bower Group Asia and Senior Associate of the Southeast Asia Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), Washington DC. He is author of Under Beijings Shadow: Southeast Asias China Challenge (Forthcoming: August 2020).

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COVID-19 threatens democracy in Southeast Asia - East Asia Forum

Washington, May 24 (Xinhua) David Litt, a former speechwriter for Barack Obama, when the latter was President of the United States, has said the spread of COVID-19 which has so far claimed nearly 100,000 lives in the US, is a failure of democracy at the root.

Its become commonplace to refer to COVID-19 as the worst public health crisis of our lifetimes. But what has cost the United States so many lives and jobs during the pandemic is not, at root, a failure of public health. Its a failure of democracy, Litt wrote in an article published by Time magazine this week.

Poll after poll has shown that a clear majority of Americans trust, want our leaders to heed the experts advice. Yet that hasnt happened. We were far too slow to implement social-distancing guidelines a delay epidemiologists found is responsible for 90 percent of U.S. coronavirus deaths, he said.

Now were acting far too quickly to reopen the economy, he added.

Dozens of U.S. states have rolled out reopening plans in late April, with Georgia, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas among the first to allow certain nonessential businesses to resume operations.

The writer pointed out that lower-income and non-white Americans are those most likely to suffer from the U.S. governments flailing response to the coronavirus.

Citing a report analyzing the changes in the U.S. political map in recent years from the University of Chicagos Law Review, Litt said Americans political power has been further diminished.

As we battle the coronavirus, American lives depend on a successful government response. But with rare exceptions, House Members jobs do not, he said.

In early March, for example, as the virus was spreading, the first 15 U.S. states to report cases of the coronavirus accounted for 56 percent of Americas population but only 30 percent of Americas senators. No wonder the Senate was initially slow to act, he said.

So as of Friday night, the United States has reported over 1.6 million cases of COVID-19, according to Johns Hopkins University.

Furthermore, Litt said the corporations increasing clout with policymakers has pushed the U.S. government into acting more slowly and reopening more quickly than the American people believe is safe.

That capitalistic influence has more influence on policymaking than the peoples welfare, in Litts view, is no surprise.

From the way we manage elections to the way we fund campaigns, from the congressional districts we draw to the lobbyists we include in the policymaking process, the story is the same, he said.

The American republic is a government of fewer people, by fewer people, for fewer people than at any time in the past half-century. And We, the People, are suffering because of it, Litt concluded.

(David Litt is the author of Democracy in One Book or Less: How It Works, Why It Doesnt, and Why Fixing It Is Easier Than You Think as well as Thanks, Obama: My Hopey, Changey White House Years. )

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Rapid spread of COVID 19 in the US reflects failure of democracy, says Obamas speech writer - NewsIn.Asia

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The United Kingdom is a parliamentary democracy based on universal adult suffrage. It is also a constitutional monarchy. Ministers govern in the name of the sovereign, who is the head of state and government, commander-in-chief of all the armed forces of the Crown and the supreme governor of the established Church of England. The constitution is unwritten, and relies on a combination of statutes, common law and convention.

The UK is a union of four countries: England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The Crown dependencies (the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man) are largely self-governing with the UK responsible for their defence and international relations.

Parliament is bicameral, with an upper chamber, the House of Lords (89 hereditary peers, 678 life peers and 25 bishops in March 2011), and a lower chamber, the House of Commons (650 elected members). Elections to the lower chamber are held every five years.

The prime minister and cabinet lead the executive. The prime minister is appointed by the sovereign, and is usually the leader of the party who commands a majority in the House of Commons. The prime minister chooses and appoints the cabinet.

The UK Parliament enacts primary legislation, except where these matters have been devolved to the Scottish Parliament and Northern Ireland Assembly. The executive consists of the members of the cabinet, other ministers, government departments, local authorities, public corporations, regulatory bodies and other organisations subject to ministerial control.

Devolution changed the responsibilities of the Secretaries of State for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, although they still retain UK Cabinet seats.

The judiciary determines common law and interprets statutes. The United Kingdom Supreme Court is the final court of appeal in civil matters for the whole of the UK, and in criminal matters everywhere except Scotland. In England and Wales, the High Court of Justice has three divisions, Chancery, Queens Bench and Family, which deal with certain more complex civil cases, while the county courts try the majority of civil cases. The Crown Court has jurisdiction in the most serious criminal cases providing trial by jury.

England has had a single crown since the 10th century and a parliament since the 13th century. The constitution evolved as a struggle for power between them. In 1169 Henry II of England authorised an invasion of Ireland, following which a large part of the country came under the control of Anglo-Norman magnates. Wales came under English rule in the 13th-century during the reign of Edward I. In 1603 King James VI of Scotland succeeded to the English throne, thus uniting the two crowns; in 1707 both countries agreed on a single parliament for Great Britain.

The modern Conservative party evolved out of the 18th century Tory Party and the Liberal Democrats out of the Whig party. The Labour party, representing working people, emerged at the end of the 19th century.

The deep divisions in Northern Irish society, dating from the time of the Irish independence struggle at the beginning of the 20th century, were exposed in an upsurge of violent conflict in the 1970s, which lasted into the 1990s. Many members of the Protestant majority were Unionists who wanted to remain British, while many Roman Catholics were Nationalists or Republicans who favoured unity with the Irish republic.

In 1997 the Labour party won their first general election since 1974, and Tony Blair became prime minister. In 2007 he was succeeded as Labour party leader and prime minister by Gordon Brown. In the May 2010 election no party won an overall majority. The party with the largest number of seats, David Camerons Conservative party, formed a coalition government with Nick Cleggs Liberal Democrat party; Cameron became prime minister and Clegg became deputy prime minister. It was the countrys first full coalition government for 65 years.

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Government in the United Kingdom |UK Democracy

Its become commonplace to refer to COVID-19 as the worst public health crisis of our lifetimes. But what has cost the United States so many lives and jobs during the pandemic is not, at root, a failure of public health. Its a failure of democracy.

Despite our political polarization, and in the face of an unprecedented threat, the American people have been in remarkable agreement about what they expect from their government. From the time the virus was discovered, our scientists and public health officials urged aggressive action and put forward plans to save lives. Poll after poll has shown that a clear majority of Americans trust want our leaders to heed the experts advice. Yet that hasnt happened. We were far too slow to implement social-distancing guidelines a delay epidemiologists found is responsible for 90% of U.S. coronavirus deaths and now were acting far too quickly to reopen the economy.

In other words, with lives on the line, our elected leaders are ignoring the peoples will, and Americans are dying as a result. In our shining city on a hill the global model for representative government how could this possibly happen?

The answer, while dispiriting, is simple: Our representative government isnt nearly as representative as it used to be. Over the last four decades, our republic has been completely transformed, with nearly every change making our leaders far less responsive to the public interest. More than any political or cultural trend, more even than President Trump, our redesigned system of government is responsible for the crisis we find ourselves in today.

When I worked in the Obama White House, I often heard the phrase, Good policy is good politics. The implication was clear: in a democracy, there exists a clear link between politicians choices and electoral outcomes, between power and accountability. In recent decades, however, that link has been almost entirely severed. The number of Americans legally barred from voting has risen dramatically, and many Americans who retain their right to vote are finding it harder to exercise that right than ever before. Between 2008 and 2016, the number of polling places in America was cut by more than 10%. Voter purges have kicked millions of eligible Americans off the voting rolls, a number that is only growing. Restrictive laws passed within the last decade have made it harder to register, harder to vote and harder to ensure that a vote will count. Thanks to Citizens United, and other recent Supreme Court decisions like it, a handful of donors have more power than ever. But most American citizens have much less.

Its no surprise that the people most likely to suffer because of our governments flailing response to the coronavirus lower-income and nonwhite Americans are the most likely to be disenfranchised. In our redesigned democracy, voting restrictions can turn bad policy into good politics more efficiently than at any time since the end of Jim Crow.

Americans political power has been further diminished by our political map. Between 1997 and 2016, Much of this shift is organic, occurring because Democrats increasingly are found packed together in cities, but gerrymandering plays a newly expanded role as well. Devious district-drawing has always been part of American politics. (Patrick Henry tried to gerrymander James Madison out of the very first Congress in 1789.) But as a group of researchers from the University of Chicagos Law Review found, the scale and skew of todays gerrymandering are unprecedented in modern history. As we battle the coronavirus, American lives depend on a successful government response. But with rare exceptions, House Members jobs do not.

In the upper chamber, the problems created by our political map are the result not of design but of neglect. Thanks to a deal made under duress at the Constitutional Convention 233 years ago, every state gets the same two Senators, regardless of its population size. But the impact of the so-called Great Compromise is very different today than it was back then. With Democrats increasingly found in dense cities, and Republicans in exurbs and rural areas, the Senates structure now gives one party an enormous edge, because a majority of states are Republican-leaning even when a majority of voters are not.

The Senates map has had particularly disastrous consequences over the last three months, because COVID-19 hit Americas urban population centers first and hardest. In early March, for example, as the virus was spreading, the first 15 U.S. states to report cases of the coronavirus accounted for 56% of Americas population but only 30% of the Americas senators. No wonder the Senate was initially slow to act.

Of course, our states boundaries are hardly new. But by refusing to admit Washington, D.C., as a state, even as its population has grown to 120% the size of Wyomings, Senators have gone out of their way to maintain the imbalance of power between urban and rural interests in their chamber.

A similar failure to mend the cracks in our democracys foundation is responsible for the White Houses disastrous handling of the crisis. About 50 and 40 years ago, respectively, Republican Richard Nixon and Democrat Jimmy Carter attempted to abolish the Electoral College, correctly understanding that it was both obsolete and incompatible with our modern conception of democracy. Had they succeeded, Donald Trump would today be a former reality TV star with an unhealthy addiction to social media. Instead, despite being rejected by voters, President Trump is in charge of our pandemic response.

Finally, the expansion of corporate power in our democracy has pushed our government into acting more slowly and reopening more quickly than the American people believe is safe. Within the past two decades alone, the amount of money spent on Washington lobbying has doubled, to the point where the annual budget for influencing Congress now far exceeds the annual budget for the House and Senate itself. When major decisions are being made, the American people still have a seat at the table. But business has far more seats than it did when I was growing up in the 1980s and 1990s.

Given corporations vastly increased clout with policymakers, its hardly shocking that business groups were able to convince the Trump Administration to delay and scale back the use of the Defense Production Act to compel the manufacture of crucial medical supplies, or that Senate Republicans make-or-break priority for the next relief package is waiving liability for employers who put their workers at risk.

That our government has failed to promote the public welfare during this crisis is a tragedy. But its no surprise. From the way we manage elections to the way we fund campaigns, from the congressional districts we draw to the lobbyists we include in the policymaking process, the story is the same. The American republic is a government of fewer people, by fewer people, for fewer people than at any time in the past half-century. And We, the People, are suffering because of it.

Yet even now, nothing about our democracys decline is inevitable. There are plenty of ways we can restore a representative government that dont involve passing a constitutional amendment or hoping Mitch McConnells heart grows three sizes one day. Making voter registration automatic; re-enfranchising millions of Americans; a sliding-scale tax on corporate lobbying; creating public financing for campaigns; admitting Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico as states all these things and more could be done by a single act of Congress.

Fixing our democracy should be a top priority for all Americans, not just when it comes to the pandemic, but when it comes to tackling nearly every great challenge facing America today. From gun safety to climate change to immigration to income inequality, its the same story: Americans want one thing, our government does another, and the American people are worse off as a result.

Tragically, its too late to prevent the worst of the coronavirus crisis. But by restoring our representative government, we can prevent the next great crisis, and save untold numbers of American lives.

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The Coronavirus Crisis in the U.S. Is a Failure of Democracy - TIME