CALD Leaders Meet to Chart Network’s Future

Has the Council of Asian Liberals and Democrats (CALD) outlived its usefulness? 

This was the key question raised during the CALD Leaders’ Meeting held in Bangkok, Thailand on 23 August 2023.  With the theme “CALD@30: Towards the Next Phase”, the Meeting aimed to take stock of CALD achievements in the past, assess its current standing, and set its future directions in order for the organization to remain true to its commitment of advancing a society based on personal liberty and responsibility, social justice, the rule of law and social market economy.

More specifically, the Meeting hoped to: examine the opportunities and constraints which characterize the political, economic, social and technological environments where CALD operates; assess CALD’s organizational performance in the past and its standing at present in order to reveal its strengths and weaknesses; discuss structural, procedural and programmatic reforms or changes which the organization should undertake in order to maintain and expand its relevance at present and in the future; identify key areas which the organization should concentrate on to continuously advance the cause of liberal democracy and social market economy in the region and in the world; and come up with a set of concrete recommendations that will be presented to the next CALD Executive Committee Meeting in Taipei, Taiwan.

“Democracy and market capitalism were the unquestionable operating system of global politics and economy in the past”, said CALD Founder Florencio “Butch” Abad. “However, there were serious questions about this system now — what are the alternatives to it, or what are the possible reforms that could be done to address the ills of the system?”

Past and present CALD leaders provided responses to this question all throughout the Meeting.  There was an agreement, for example, that the models represented by China, Russia, Vietnam and Singapore present themselves as alternatives to the once dominant democratic capitalist system.  The emergence of alternative models was also a product of the decline of the United States and Europe, and the resultant changed attitude towards them.  Moreover, the leaders were also of the opinion that democracy and market capitalism marginalized a significant segment of the population, which, in turn, made them a target of authoritarian and populist leaders.

After analyzing how the international and regional contexts changed in the past 30 years, the CALD leaders came up with the following concrete recommendations on what the network could do as it enters its fourth decade:

• Continue to emphasize the importance of liberal and democratic values and principles;
• Translate these principles and values to actual policies that are proven to work for the general public, particularly the marginalized;
• Adopt a pilot project that showcases these principles and values, with the support of other actors, including the business community;
• Work across the board and pursue the unification or constructive engagement of democratic forces from various sectors and persuasions;
• Identify issues where democratic forces across ideologies can work together such as technology, artificial intelligence, social media, disinformation, youth empowerment, among others; 
• Engage more with various actors in Japan and Korea, as well as IGOs, INGOs and the business community;
• Consider the election of CALD Chairperson, expansion of CALD membership, and rebranding of CALD; 
• Hold more issue-based workshops, targeted activities and mentorship programs to project CALD as a training ground for future leaders; and
• Ensure that those who participated in CALD programs share what they learned through replication activities.

“Dictators lost, they learned, they come up with new tricks”, observed former Thai Prime Minister and CALD Chairperson Abhisit Vejjajiva. “The game has changed, and we, liberals and democrats, have become complacent…” He noted, however, that “liberal and democratic values match the innate human nature… and for this reason, liberal democracy may become vibrant again.”  

The Meeting was structured to ensure full participant ownership and management, and the organizers played primarily consultative and facilitative roles. Emil Kirjas, former secretary general of Liberal International and founder of Kirjas Global, facilitated the event.