Democracy Responds Better to the Pandemic, says RELIAL-CALD Conference

Democracy Responds Better to the Pandemic, says RELIAL-CALD Conference

“… A healthy community of people and nations require democracy – a living and life-giving democracy that is relevant to our people every day, a democracy that brings hope, a democracy that empowers people to chart their own destinies and to tell their own stories.”

In these words, Philippine Senator Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan, Chairperson of the Council of Asian Liberals and Democrats (CALD), summarized one of the key learnings from the COVID-19 pandemic. “This relevant, hopeful and empowering democracy is what our people need, and that is what we can all endeavor to provide in this unprecedented crisis”, he added.

Senator Pangilinan shared this key takeaway in an online conference spearheaded by the Red Liberal de America Latina (RELIAL), and supported by CALD and the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom (FNF).  The event brought together key experts from Latin America and Asia to discuss what the two regions could learn from each other in addressing current COVID-19 issues and problems and in charting the way forward.

“The worst outcomes are seen in countries which have populist regimes”, observed Former Mexican Secretary of Health Julio Frenk. He explained that the reasons for this are because populist governments undervalue expertise, undermine science, and politicize behavior to sow division in society.

The other speakers in the online event also supported this claim about the contrast between democratic and populist governments in terms of COVID-19 response. According to Ching-Yi Lin, Taiwan’s Ambassador-at-large, her country’s success in addressing the pandemic can be partly explained by the government’s emphasis on the transparency of information, which in turn resulted in effective communication and public cooperation in the government’s pandemic response.

South Korea is another democratic country that has performed quite well in terms of containing the spread of the coronavirus. However, Gyeongsang National University’s Taewook Huh observed that the country must do more in terms of addressing the economic dislocation caused by the pandemic. South Korea’s self-employed, for one, were hit hardest by the crisis, and they constitute one-fourth of the working population, one of the highest among OECD countries.

In democratic Uruguay, the country’s vice minister of health, José Luis Satdjian, discussed the government’s highly successful vaccination program, and how they would soon vaccinate at least 70% of the population, which is said to be necessary to achieve herd immunity. The “climate of tolerance and respect” accounts for this success, according to Satdjian, coupled with the refusal to use the pandemic for partisan political purposes.

In closing, CALD Secretary General and Member of Philippine Congress Francis “Blue” Abaya emphasized the importance of “top-level political commitment to use science to tackle the pandemic decisively.” Similarly, FNF Latin America’s Regional Director Siggi Herzog noted that a smart (democratic) response to the pandemic requires a trifecta of scientific evidence, expertise, and transparent communication — which are not the strong points of autocrats and populists.

The online conference took place on 28 April (Latin America) / 29 April (Asia), and was moderated by Mexican journalist Sergio Sarmiento.