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Thailand placed 4th in ASEAN on the Democracy Index 2020


snoop1130

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Thailand placed 4th in ASEAN on the Democracy Index 2020

 

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Thailand has been placed fourth in ASEAN, and 73rd in the world, while categorized as one of the world’s “Flawed Democracies,” on the Democracy Index 2020 by The Economist Intelligence Unit.

 

Malaysia ranks at the world’s 39th position, placing it at the top of ASEAN index, followed by the Philippines at number 55, Indonesia at 64, Thailand 73 and Singapore at 74. While Cambodia, categorized as “Authoritarian,” ranked number 130 in the world, followed by Myanmar at 135, Vietnam at 137, and Lao at 161. Brunei, however, was left uncategorized and unscored.

 

The index assigns scores for electoral process and pluralism, functioning of government, political participation, political culture and civil liberties. Of these 5 indices, Thailand’s strongest point is its electoral process and pluralism, while the weakest is the functioning of government.

 

Full Story: https://www.thaipbsworld.com/thailand-placed-4th-in-asean-on-the-democracy-index-2020/

 

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-- © Copyright Thai PBS 2021-02-03
 
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EIU has downgraded the value of its Index to ridiculous by calling Thailand a Flawed Democracy - that puts Thailand in the same category as the USA! 

I had listened to EUI's zoom presentation on how it scored Thailand so much lower to put it into Flawed Democracy.

It seemed to me that EUI gave a much lower score than previously that had placed Thailand in the Hybrid Regime simply based on an emotional hope that with Thailand's first election after five years of an unelected junta government, the nation would continue to evolve significantly by strengthening democratic institutions improving human rights and further disassociate the government from a military regime.

That frankly violates the very nature of EUI's Index - it seems based on a prediction of future events rather than on a numerical measure of current events. Otherwise the EUI Democracy Index should be renamed to Democratic Perception Index. 

And obviously the range of scores that defines a category is too broad wherein both the USA and Thailand are in the same category. 

 

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12 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

Thailand has been placed fourth in ASEAN, and 73rd in the world, while categorized as one of the world’s “Flawed Democracies,” on the Democracy Index 2020 by The Economist Intelligence Unit.

Flawed is a nice sugar coating.

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From which end do we count to the 4th?

The ascending way perhaps, starting from the least democratic?

North Korea, Myanmar, Thailand...3rd place...I would argue they should make it to the podium!! The 4th is just wrong!!

# creditwherecreditdue

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Congratulations, Thailand, for being in one of the top spots once again, only trailing behind Timor-Leste, the Philippines, and Indonesia.

 

Too bad that being in the top 4 among the bunch of "flawed democracies" that is ASEAN is not exactly something that should be trumpeted all too loudly.

 

Especially not since you're still lagging waaay behind other illustrious nations such as Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Cabo Verde, and Trinidad and Tobago, just to name a random few.

 

But you can console yourself in the fact that Myanmar has just dropped below you since Monday, and that Brunei, Vietnam, Laos and even - shocker! - Singapore do not live up to your democratic standards, according to the report.

 

By the way, your bosom buddy China is at the bottom of the list, hemmed in by other champions of non-democracy such as Iran, Eritrea, and Libya.

 

Time to once more let the foreign ministry propaganda machine spring into action pronto-pronto and quickly denounce that list as being "based on obsolete data". Wouldn't you say?   

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10 hours ago, smedly said:

so is that 4th out of 5 - one from the bottom yippee 

 

Myanmar (Burma) has pushed Thailand into 4th place - what a relief

 

 

 

1 hour ago, tingtong said:

From which end do we count to the 4th?

The ascending way perhaps, starting from the least democratic?

North Korea, Myanmar, Thailand...3rd place...I would argue they should make it to the podium!! The 4th is just wrong!!

# creditwherecreditdue

 

46 minutes ago, Mike Rodik said:

Singapore behind Thailand, with the best economy, the best salaries, the best education that actually means something, no 15 years in jail for free speech

 

big joke

Last time I counted there were 10 members in ASEAN,, not 5, and N. Korea is not one of them. As for freedom of speech in Singapore - try to say something against the goverments or the ruling party. You might be surprised about the "freedom" you'll get....

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1 hour ago, Pilotman said:

I love and admire Singapore, but it has been basically  a 'one party State' throughout its history, hence its ranking. 

I concur. But also would like to add a few additional factors that help explain Singapore's ranking: heavily censored media, state interference in practically every aspect of private life, persecution of government critics, and sub-standard treatment of immigrant workers (i.e. human rights issues).

 

Yes, the standard of living is high, education is good (if somewhat biased with a strong emphasis on nationalistic rhetoric) and, generally speaking, I think Singaporeans are happy with their lives.

 

But then again, this report is a democracy index... and not a happiness index. And as you already noted so correctly, in the democracy department the autocratic one-party state Singapore is very much found wanting.  

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Just for interest, those that live here full time & excluding Covid restrictions.

please name me 3 things that you wish to do & can't in Thailand due to a lack of "democracy?

Please do not say to own land as this is protecting their own citizens

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1 hour ago, natway09 said:

Is there a country in the world left that has "true Democracy" ?

Let's define the word before having the next "poll"

yes, the US and UK  and look what happened there, they got Trump and Boris the idiot. !  Democracy is not all its cracked up to be, but I can't think of  any better alternative, unless its me in charge as 'Dictator for Life'.   I'd give it a go, if asked. 

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1 hour ago, natway09 said:

Is there a country in the world left that has "true Democracy" ?

Let's define the word before having the next "poll"

Yes there are. I'm presently living in one of them. Thailand has much to work on seeing it's classified down along side with a dollar democracy like the USA. Whether a country's gov is purchased or gained by the barrel end of a gun  the result is the same. Their democracies are flawed. 

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Western style liberal democracy has never been a priority for asian countries since the colonial powers were persuaded to leave.

It gets in the way of cultural values like face, graft, nepotism, caste, and other pillars of asian society.

Apples and Oranges.....

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