South Asia's democratisation

President Gayoom, regardless of the size of his nation, is not unknown in the international arena and he has particularly played an active role in the growth and development of the seven-nation South Asian Association(SAARC) which has earned for him admiration in the region. He is probably the only head of state in the SAARC who has attended all the summits being a founder-leader of the regional forum. The King of another small state Bhutan is the other such leader who is still in the helm but he has not taken part in all the SAARC heads of government conference. But the issue of democracy at home is altogether a different matter and there can be an uproar if it is lacking in the country. President Gayoom is exactly facing the same. The promised political reforms has not come by and hence is the pro-democracy agitation in the Maldives.

South Asia is largely a democratic region as most of the countries here are practicing representative government for a long time. The case of Pakistan and Bhutan is little different since the former is yet to witness return of full democracy after an elected government was overthrown by the military more than four years ago. A semblance of democratic rule is there following parliamentary elections and an elected prime minister but the real power is rested with the president, who remains in active service of the army as its head. Pakistan was stripped of its membership of the Commonwealth following the removal of the elected government but it was restored sometime ago as the process of return of democracy highlighted by the parliamentary

elections was taken into account. This development notwithstanding, the country is yet to revert to full representative authority. The tiny Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan is clearly not a democracy but the King possibly feels the need for giving up certain authority -- albeit slowly and in a limited way to the people and some signs are discernible in that direction.

Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka and Nepal are democracies even though these nations at times experience strain on the system. But there is no alternative to representative government and this needs to be upheld and strengthened at any cost.

Little further away, the southeast Asian countries have also moved forward in the quest for democratic rule and some of them have admirably abandoned undemocratic and dictatorial form of governance. Indonesia, the largest nation in that region and biggest Muslim country in the world in terms of population saw for the first time election to the presidency through direct popular votes which, however, failed to give a decisive verdict and the run-off voting will take place next month. But this is a great leap forward for the country which was under one-man dictatorial rule for long spell of 32 years not long ago. The Philippines is also having representative authority with a similar background of authoritarian rule just a few years ago. All these are commendable since people's wishes must be reflected in the system of governance and this is finding larger acceptance across the world as a logical corollary to the wind of change.

Maldives may be a small country but it has its own charm and importance. The leader of the nation is also respected otherwise in the regional and international context because of his image and intellectual ambience.

However, what is evidently lacking in the Maldives is the democratic rule. The declaration of the state of emergency was followed by arrests of pro-democracy activists and alleged repression on them. The Maldivian democratic party(MDP),which is campaigning for multi-party democracy, alleged that pro-democracy activists are coming under all forms of harassment. It is possible that the agitation may once again be crushed or subdued as was done in the past. But the flame of aspirations for democratic rule cannot be crushed permanently as its noble ideals will continue to inspire its people for a system of governance that will reflect their will. It will be laudable if the persons in the helm in a country which is tiny but well known for sophistication of its citizens and their standard of education move towards representative government. President Gayoom should feel the wind of democracy which will some day definitely blow over his picturesque land and it is better if sooner it takes place. It will be additionally desirable if he has a role in that positive development for which he will be more commendably remembered in the history of the Maldivians.

The South Asian centre for policy studies, the non-government body of eminent persons drawn from the member states (with persons like Ibrahim Zaki Hasan being associated with it) is not oblivious of the pro-democracy agitation in Maldives and it is high time that president Gayoom takes due note of this without further delay although none expects democracy will be introduced in the country overnight. A slow but effective process may begin in conformity with the aspirations of his people.

Zaglul Ahmed Chowdhury is a senior journalist.