Overview: Asia

Southeast Asia

The Burma Project was established by the Open Society Institute in 1994 for the purpose of increasing international awareness of conditions in Burma and helping the country make the transition from a closed to an open society. The Burma Project expanded into the rest of Southeast Asia in the late 1990s. The fall of Indonesia's General Suharto in 1998 and the country's ensuing democratic transition compelled the project to devote more attention to Indonesia. Aside from its focus countries, Burma and Indonesia, the Burma Project/Southeast Asia Initiative now primarily supports organizations with a regional concentration but, where circumstances give rise to special concern, it may support more localized projects.

As a result of its limited ability to effect change directly within Burma, the Burma Project has sought to empower Burmese and minority ethnic groups living along the border with India and Thailand, and to enhance international advocacy efforts on Burma policies. The Burma Project has helped increase pressure on the repressive military government while keeping hopes for democracy alive within the country.

Though it may seem premature, the Burma Project is preparing for an eventual transition to democracy in Burma. In addition to strengthening the capacity of Burmese groups at the border, the project is trying to help people inside Burma anticipate the complex challenges of transition. OSI has funded cross-border projects involving Burmese training Burmese, a strategic move to encourage pressure for political change.

Recognizing the mutual importance of open society to Burma and its neighbors, OSI has become increasingly active throughout Southeast Asia. In 2004, the Southeast Asia Initiative and East East Program: Partnership Beyond Borders cohosted a two-day brainstorming session in Thailand with regional partners and advisers to measure the extent of democratic “slippage” in Southeast Asia—and draw comparisons with transitioning democracies in the former Soviet bloc. The consensus was clearly that existing institutions, particularly the media and the courts, must be strengthened.

OSI initiatives have gradually expanded their activities into the region. The East East, Media, Information, Public Health, Justice Initiative, Scholarship, Revenue Watch, and the Local Government programs all have had some presence in the region. The effort has been quite challenging. For example, though the information technology industry is quite advanced in Southeast Asia, the strategic use of this technology to further civil society goals is still limited.

In Indonesia, OSI’s main partner, the Tifa Foundation, funds a range of programs such as monitoring the presidential elections, coordinating NGO strategy on a parliamentary bill to keep the military out of politics, creating a coalition of migrant worker organizations, developing a variety of anticorruption programs, and helping Muslim women’s groups advocate for gender and pluralism perspectives within Islam. Several OSI initiatives worked collaboratively with Tifa on media law reform, supporting legal aid centers for the press, and securing help for the newsmagazine TEMPO in its defense against multiple defamation lawsuits.

China

Through the office of the president, the OSI network has made available a small amount of funding for initiatives in China. In 2005, just under $2 million was spent to support the growing fields of legal aid and public interest litigation, environmental initiatives, and support to HIV/AIDS practitioners.

The major grants were: $450,000 to International Bridges to Justice to support training for criminal defenders; $375,000 to the Natural Resources Defense Council to empower Chinese environmental NGOs in the areas of public participation and public interest litigation; $235,952 to the Beijing ZHIAIXING Information Counseling Center to support advocacy and organization of HIV/AIDS groups throughout China; and $198,527 to the Beijing Dongfang Public Interest and Legal Aid Law Firm to support a network of public interest lawyers in China.

In addition to these grants, OSI’s public health, information, and debate programs are working with Chinese colleagues to promote reporting on public health issues, harm reduction methodologies to treat drug addicts, open access to scholarly journals, and university debate programs.