The death of SE Asia's democracy icons
In early 2013, Cambodia’s long-serving opposition figurehead Sam Rainsy made a whirlwind tour of Southeast Asia.
He first visited fellow pro-democracy icon Anwar Ibrahim, the leader of Malaysia’s opposition, then darted off to Yangon for a meeting with Aung San Suu Kyi, the Nobel Peace Prize laureate who had only been released from house arrest a few years earlier.
“The three of us, as opposition leaders of three ASEAN countries, should work together to promote democracy in our region,” Rainsy said after their meetings. For a few years, it appeared they were on the cusp of real change.
Today, however, the fortunes of Southeast Asia’s three pro-democracy icons have imploded. Rainsy has been in self-exile since late 2015, Suu Kyi is now once again under house arrest and Anwar faces calls to retire as the leader of Malaysia’s opposition coalition.
“Southeast Asia’s pro-democracy icons have reminded us time and again that those pro-democracy beliefs may prove ephemeral,” said Thomas Pepinsky, director of the Southeast Asia Program at Cornell University.
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A problem with icon-worship is it allows people to express their political desires vicariously through the life of one person, providing a tempting belief that it is people and their passions that change society, not slow and complex structural change.
https://asiatimes.com/2021/10/the-death-of-se-asias-democracy-icons/
