Clinton's list

Clinton's list

U.S. President Bill Clinton has kicked off the new year with a
little surprise. He released what is now known as Clinton's List.
Like a teacher, Clinton has issued report cards evaluating the
democratic behavior of Asian countries, whom he possibly regards
as his pupils. On this list, Indonesia is mentioned as a country
in which democracy has yet to be established. The same is also
said about Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam, Myanmar, Brunei
Darussalam and Laos. The list also ranks countries such as
Thailand, Japan, Hong Kong, South Korea, the Philippines and
Taiwan among those in which democracy is beginning to take hold.

It seems that Clinton, who is scheduled to be sworn in for a
second term on Jan. 20, can be expected in the coming days to be
more active putting together report cards such as this one.
Democracy and human rights are likely to feature higher in his
foreign policy campaigns. All that, however, will be meant merely
for domestic policy ends, to be consumed by those who voted for
him and to stifle the disparaging statements from adversaries in
the Republican Party. The list will not prevent Clinton from
establishing agreeable relations with countries that are
mentioned.

In any case, Clinton will be unable to ignore the reality that
his country has an interest in maintaining relations with those
countries. As long as those countries are economically and
politically beneficial to his administration and country, Clinton
appears to have no other choice, a situation that is well-
reflected in his firm and persistent efforts to improve relations
with China.

In Bill Clinton's view, democracy embraces a double standard:
it is advantageous to his domestic political ends, yet it can be
ignored as long as relations with the country in question benefit
the U.S.

-- Republika, Jakarta