The Rise of Populists in Asia : DEMOCRACIES UNDER SIEGE (original) (raw)

There is little doubt that Duterte, who cruised into a landslide electoral victory on the back of an all-out "anti-establishment" rhetoric, is a populist. As I write in my latest book, The Rise of Duterte: A Populist Revolt Against Elite Democracy, the Filipino leader has often presented himself as the voice of the people, the guardian of the nation, the shield against criminal elements, and, in an often messianic vein, as the country's nal hope and saviour. Eerily similar phenomenon took place in India, the world's largest and-along with the Philippines-among Asia's oldest democracies. As Indu Ratra writes in the Quarterly, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has also adopted a similarly messianic m e s s a g e o f n a t i o n a l s a l v a t i o n a n d g l o r y, "promis[ing] in his election campaign "achhe din" (good days) will come… He came up with slogans like "make in India", "start up India", and "new India" to make Indians feel proud and imbibe a sense of greatness of a big populous country." Both Modi and Duterte have presented themselves as viable alternatives to a discredited, elitist, out-oftouch liberal elite, directly questioning the liberal tenets of their respective national constitutional orders. As US political scientist Jan-Werner Muller notes in "What is Populism?", populism is inherently anathema to liberal democracy and principles of pluralism. Troubling signs have also showed up in places like Indonesia, another rapidly growing economy and edgling democracy, where religious fundamentalism has gained ground at the expense of pluralism. This was most palpable in the controversial conviction of former Jakarta Governor "Ahok", a Christian who is of Chinese descent, on charges of blasphemy. More troublingly, fringe fundamentalist h a v e f o u n d f o u n t a i n o f s u p p o r t a m o n g opportunistic politicians seeking to tap into dark currents of fundamentalism and anti-pluralist sentiments among alienated sections of the society. This was evidently clear during Ahok's re-election bid, where we saw an unholy alliance between centrist politicans and fringe fundamentalist. "The excuse that a [supposedly] smart [and rational] voter will bring a healthier democracy is not entirely false, but there is an important factor that enables the maneuver of free riders," Andi Saiful Haq warns in the Quarterly, referring to anti-democratic forces that are bent on absusing the democratic space for undemocratic ends. In developed Asian democracies such as Japan, meawhile, the political landscape has, so far, been dominated by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, with little challenge from the democratic Left. As Jeff Kingston writes in the Quarterly, "populism in Japan in mainstream politics is limited to the right wing. The potential for fundamental reforms of the status quo is therefore limited. Populists, especially the right-wing varieties, have an exclusivist notion of national interest and Rousseau-esque 'general will', whereby only the leader and his supporters truly represent 'the people.' In contrast, critics and opponents are often portrayed as 'the enemy', bent on preserving the status quo at the expense of the masses.