A Silver Lining for Asian Liberals amidst Crisis

I only learned about the Council of Asian Liberals and Democrats (CALD), a network of liberal political parties in Asia, when I started working for the Friedrich Naumann Foundation (FNF) more than 2 years ago. CALD is one of the partners of FNF not just in the Philippines but in Asia. I have to admit that I have a shallow understanding of what CALD does.

I sat down with Celito Arlegue, Executive Director of CALD Secretariat, to talk about the CALD’s 25^th Anniversary theme, and CALD’s response to the challenge brought about by the rise of populism and authoritarianism.

“Without a doubt, our work is much more difficult now. But, at the same time, in every crisis, there is an opportunity – so we look at this particular situation as an opportunity to reflect. In a way, the rise of the populism and authoritarianism made us realize the limitations of liberals when they’re [liberals] in power,” explained Arlegue.

CALD’s call to action

Its website announces: “This 2018, CALD is marking its silver anniversary with a year-long celebration carrying the theme, “Reclaiming Democracy, Rebuilding Society”.

The theme for the 25^th anniversary of CALD shows the organization’s answer to the adverse reactions to the principles which CALD adheres to.

“Reclaiming Democracy, Rebuilding Society” is in recognition of the realities that we are confronting today, that democracy has been somehow exploited by the populists claiming to be more democratic than the liberals,” Arlegue said. “They claim that they’re closer to the people. So we take that it’s necessary for liberals and democrats to reclaim democracy before we can rebuild society… there’s a recognition that institutions are not yet established. For this reason, populists and strong men can easily do away with them, and in the process, threaten the entire democratic project.”

Arlegue continued: “We realized that when liberals are in power, the tendency is to look at long-term solutions to issues. This translates to a perception that we’re not concerned about the immediate bread-and-butter issues that our people wanted to see addressed,” he explained.

“People are easily impressed when they see an action man who can immediately deliver results. Liberals, on the other hand, have to go through processes. When there’s a process, checks-and-balances are stronger, and there’s less possibility for abuse and mistakes. We have to recognize, however, that people want immediate results,” Arlegue pointed out.

Tapping potentials

CALD, though an international organization, admits that it is small. Still, it is comprised of various political parties in Asia, and that is an advantage when it comes to grooming and supporting leaders.

“On our own we cannot resolve issues confronting liberalism and democracy in our part of the world. At the very least, we just train our members in order for them to become more effective leaders. We recognize that political parties are important actors in a democratic system,” Arlegue said. “Democracy is not possible without political parties so it’s good that we have political parties which can really deliver.”

To be able to deliver, CALD will make use of its 25^th anniversary to “up the game of the liberals”, an avenue for the CALD member parties to look back at the achievements and challenges of CALD in its twenty-five years of existence and strategically forge a new road for the organization.

“Before we can plot CALD’s future direction, we have to have see what we have accomplished and what we did not accomplish in the past,” said Arlegue.

He added that CALD had a “no-holds-barred discussion” on the direction they should take. “We acknowledged that CALD can do more and still has huge untapped potentials. We have to institutionalize CALD in order to make it a better player in regional and global politics.”

CALD recognized the need to reach out to the people outside their network as part of their plan to “reclaim democracy”.

“We are known in the liberal network, but outside, do they know us? For this reason, we created the Silver Lining series which aims to get prominent liberal leaders to write opinion pieces on the most important issues and have these published on reputable news agencies.

Lightning talks

In November, a public conference has been lined up to enable CALD members to interact with the media, academe, NGO community and the general public.

To give space for non-party members to give speeches, CALD is planning to have a session called “Lightning Talks.” The idea is to invite outside resource persons and “let them talk to our members on creative ways to address the challenges that we have identified.”

In Pakistan, Arlegue said there was a movement of musicians which brought about change in politics through their music. “Maybe this is the time to introduce our members to creative ways like that and not be confined to rallying or civil disobedience; there are more creative ways to address the issues of democracy.”

CALD members, in separate sessions, are also expected to share best practices to combat authoritarianism.

In twenty-five years, CALD has evolved into a support system and enabler of liberal leaders in Asia, and it seems like it will continue in that direction and do more in the years to come.

– Danika Sarion, Project Assistant, FNF Philippines