Year End Message from the Regional Director
Bangkok, 20.12.2012
Dear friends and partners of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom, 2012 has been another challenging, exciting and successful year for us. I would like to take this opportunity to extend to you my sincere thanks for your fruitful co-operation with FNF. We are proud of our accomplishments and successes and are excited about our future. With this year-end message I would like to draw your attention to significant events, highlights and developments of our work in the region over the past year. •
During 2012 the German Foreign Minister, Dr. Guido Westerwelle, visited projects of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation in our region twice. In March he gave a keynote speech about financial crisis in Europe to 350 participants at Hanyang University, our partner organization in Korea. In April the foundation organized for Dr. Westerwelle a political dialog with high ranking representatives from the Thai legal profession, academia and civil society in Bangkok.
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Our work now extends to Vietnam. The Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom proudly opened its representative office in Hanoi on September 18. The inauguration ceremony was attended by many important public figures from Germany, among them Dr. Philipp Rösler, Vice-Chancellor and Federal Minister of Economics and Technology and Ms. Cornelia Pieper, Minister of State at the Federal Foreign Office, Ambassador Jutta Frasch and Mr. Manfred Richter, board member and treasurer of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation. Together with our partners the foundation will work hard to promote market economic reforms and strengthen the rule of law.
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In the Philippines, FNF’s “It’s all about freedom” campaign against corruption has continued. Highlight of the campaign this year was the “Freedom Run by the Lake” which attracted more than 3,000 participants from government agencies and local government units who support the anti-corruption drive of the Aquino 1
Administration. We are proud of this high turn-out and the support it shows for our campaign against corruption. •
In Korea, the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom celebrated its 25th anniversary with our long-term partner, the Hanyang University in Seoul. The Foundation’s board was represented by Dr. Irmgard Schwätzer, former Federal Minister for Housing, who gave the keynote address at an international seminar on local autonomy and grassroots democracy. We continue to further promote individual freedom, human rights, the rule of law, free trade and the market economy.
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In Thailand, a board game called “SIM Democracy” was developed and distributed to more than 50 organizations, among them the Electoral Commission, for teaching and training purposes. The board game serves as a tool to understand the basic values, structures and institutional mechanisms of liberal democracy and good citizenship.
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Another successful activity here in Thailand was the “Dream Thailand” campaign. It served as a platform for the younger generation to discuss the direction Thailand’s development should take over the next ten years. The young are the future of any society but their voices and ideas are hardly heard in public. The results of “Dream Thailand” were presented on TV, radio, in newspapers and on the internet. An exhibition in Bangkok attracted many visitors, and we are planning to continue our campaign over the coming months.
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The annual conference of the Economic Freedom Network Asia was held in Hong Kong, the freest economy in the world. The theme of the event was “How Welfare Populism Destroys Prosperity: the Populist Challenge to Economic Freedom”. The Hon. John Tsang, Financial Secretary of Hong Kong, warned of welfare populism, referring to the Argentina example, which had been the sixth biggest national economy one hundred years ago. Its economic decline was mostly caused by welfare populism. Mr. Tsang also mentioned the example of Greece, in which welfare populism almost destroyed the country. The former prime minister of Thailand, Abhisit Vejjajiva, shrared his experience with populist adversaries in electoral competition. The board of directors of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation was represented by Dr. WolfDieter Zumpfort.
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For the fourth time, we published our Freedom Barometer Asia 2012. In this we attempt to measure freedom in its various dimensions: social, economic and political. This edition is much improved and enlarged. Please visit also our website: www.freedombarometer.org, which provides all data, interesting additional information, and allows various comparisons and further analyses. 2
Beside these highlights there are other positive developments in Southeast and East Asia, two of which I would like to mention. Myanmar has undergone remarkable developments during the past few years. Although national politics are still dominated by retired generals, many positive changes have happened in the country. These changes allow the foundation and its civil society partners to move further in supporting political, economic and social reform processes. A Memorandum of Understanding between FNF and the Ministry of Industry is in the making and will allow us to extend the scope of our work in this remarkable country. We hope to play a part in Myanmar’s successful transition to democracy. In Phnom Penh, Cambodia, the members of ASEAN have adopted a Human Rights Declaration. Critics say that in some aspects this declaration falls short of accepted human rights standards and has been adopted prematurely. I think differently. As a Chinese proverb says, “A diamond with a flaw is worth more than a pebble without imperfections”, and in this context I couldn’t agree more. I welcome ASEAN’s move to adopt its own Human Rights Declaration. It may fall short on many grounds but will generate urgently needed public debate. One of the questions will be “why Asian people should not enjoy the same rights as people elsewhere in the world”? Last but not least, I would like to thank you for your trust and your friendship. The Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom is looking forward to a successful cooperation with you in the coming year. I wish you and your families a very happy and prosperous New Year.
Yours sincerely
Dr. Rainer Adam Regional Director for Southeast and East Asia The Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom
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