FREEDOM IN SOUTHEAST ASIA
Freedom House, an independent non-profit organization advocating human rights around the world since 1941 recently released the 2007 Freedom of the World Scores. They release their findings annually since 1973 and rank countries in to 3 categories – Free, Partially Free and Not Free. Since our blog mainly focus on SE Asian Countries, here’s an excerpt;
Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and East Timor
are Partially Free.
Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Burma, Thailand and Vietnam
are all considered Not Free.
The scores were based on Political Rights and Civil Liberties and ranked accordingly. Ratings reflect global events from 1 Dec 2005 through 31 Dec 2006.
According to their findings; only 47% of the countries in the world are considered free, 30% are partly free and 23% are not free. The full list is here. More in depth explanation on the findings is here. And more information about Freedom House is here. Click it later, dammit! Finish my blog first!
Notice how they listed Myanmar as Burma. Does it mean that they do not recognize the current military junta government of Myanmar, who changed the country’s name as it is now?
I have mixed feelings with this. But since I advocate the freedom of Aung Suu Kyi – I’ll call their country as BURMA, from now on. “The Lady” refers to her country as Burma, so Burma it is.
I cannot comment more on Freedom House’s 2007 findings. I am extremely updated in current events and I can say that their findings are undeniably accurate.
On any given day, we can go wherever we want – go shopping, eat out, drink booze, shake our booty in the club; We can exchange ideas -- surf the net, update our blogs, leave a comment sometimes, say what we want, molest the blog authors, suck up to other bloggers, spread rumors; We can see whoever we want – eyeball somebody, gawk at people, cruise the malls and public parks (and toilets!), say “YO” to the dudes and babes down the block…it all pretty much cover the freedom we want, doesn’t it?
Come to think of it – if full freedom can guarantee a better future for our countries, then I am all for it. But the truth is -- it doesn't. We need discipline and control from time to time to keep functioning. But can we validly criticize how an elected leader governs his country? Nope. I don’t think so. They won't be sitting there if we didn't let them.
Come to think of it – if full freedom can guarantee a better future for our countries, then I am all for it. But the truth is -- it doesn't. We need discipline and control from time to time to keep functioning. But can we validly criticize how an elected leader governs his country? Nope. I don’t think so. They won't be sitting there if we didn't let them.
We need discipline, control and a little spanking from time to time.
Take that!
--Pisanu
