Progressives Always Right
the 30th CALD Anniversary Public Conference on 9 September in Taipei, Taiwan
Progressives are always right. Or more accurately, progressives are always on the right side of history.
A progressive, for purposes of this presentation, is one who seeks to improve the human condition, both physical and psychological, through continual reform with the help of social organization and evidence-based policy-making.
To this end, the UN Declaration of Human Rights, with all its imperfections, is still the best embodiment of progressivism.
In this context, it is not inaccurate to say that progressives are always on the right side of history. Such a statement is not born out of hubris but by hundreds of thousands of years of human evolution. I don’t want to get nerdy and bore you with a discussion of evolutionary biology and psychology. But human progress took us from animal-like features and behavior to becoming bipedal creatures, standing on two legs and walking upright to making tools and becoming hunter-gatherers, to Iron and Bronze Ages, to early civilization in China and Mesopotamia, to the Age of Enlightenment, to the Industrial Revolution, and now arriving in the digital age where we are looking to AI and colonizing Mars.
Which also means, happily for progressives, that because human nature makes us look forward to and plan for our future, we’re constantly looking for change. Unlike for autocrats whose aim is to maintain status quo to perpetuate their hold on power.
So, who always wins out? Human nature and, by default, progressives.
I raise this matter to drive home the point that change—including political change—is driven by the need for the human race to continually make progress. This is akin to Maslow’s pyramid of human development.
Nothing I said in the preceeding paragraphs, however, should be taken as a declaration that our work is done. Indeed, much more needs to be carried out in the struggle for political rights and civil liberties.
But I would also like to caution against unnecessary hand-wringing and self-doubt, especially in view of the backsliding of democracy in certain parts of the region.
We need to see democracy for what it is: an interminable work in progress, a dedication to eternal vigilance against autocracy. To this end, liberals, progressives, and democrats in Asia and beyond must continue to strive and work with and for each other in the push for political advancement.
How do we, as CALD, become more effective in getting this done? I have three suggestions:
1. Engage civil society, rather than just political parties, it in our meetings.
2. Involve Japan and South Korea more.
3. Link trade to human rights and democracy.
On this third suggestion, I had warned in a piece I wrote for international human rights lawyer Robert Amsterdam’s website in 2007:
“By itself, jailing dissidents and crackdown on the media would be insufcient for Putin to stay on as the strongman of Russia. He also needs to sell Russia as a ‘stable,’ albeit undemocratic, place for foreign investment. Russians, and much of the capitalist world, are willing to accept such authoritarian methods in exchange for immediate and rapid economic gain – a situation not unlike that in Singapore… For a period, the trade-off may seem worthwhile, desirable even. But in the longer term, without the political checks and balance that democracy provides, problems in society become entrenched and ultimately unmanageable.”
Fast forward again to today where, without a system to check Vladimir Putin, Russia is at his mercy and Russians are feeling the brunt of his undemocratic rule.
“Indeed, much more needs to be carried out in the struggle for political rights and civil liberties.”
There is a common thread that runs through such progress, which is the seeking out of physical and psychological comfort, including security, pleasure and, ultimately, happiness.
Which brings me closer to the topic at hand. Years ago, before CALD was born, the political landscape was much different than today’s.
As recent as the 1990s, East Asia was still very much in the thrall of dictators and strongman regimes. From Korea to Taiwan in the north to Indonesia in the south, autocratic regimes prevailed in the region.
Fast forward to the present era, and the political map has radically changed. Sure, there have been reversals and setbacks in modern-day Asian democracies. But this is no different in the fts and starts of political development in other regions of the world.
However one looks at the scenario, signs of democratic progress in Asia are unmistakable.
Let me disabuse everyone of the notion that democratic change is the inevitable outcome of human progress. On the contrary— change never comes without struggle and sacrifice. If it is not already abundantly clear, democracy cannot be wished for. It must be fought for.
CHEE SOON JUAN
secretary general, singapore democratic party