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The End of One Party Democracy in Asia- RIP LDP

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japaneseelections1 by 2-Belo at http://www.flickr.com/photos/the2belo/3867973426/ The stunning electoral defeat of the Liberal Democrats in Japan is a political tsunami that saw its roots in the people power overturning of Marcos in Philippines in 1986, the political awakening by Chinese students in the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, the election of Aung San Suu Kyi as Prime Minister in 1990 despite the maneuverings of the military, the democratization of Indonesia in recent years, the near defeat of the Barisan Nasional in Malaysia's recent elections.

All these shows the awakening of the people in Asia to the idea that a government of the people, by the people and for the people is something that is not limited to America or just a Western ideal or concept.

The choice to choose one's government is key to the idea of democracy.

Despite being entrenched within their countries, all those authoritarian or despotic rulers lost the respect of their population and eventually their veneer of being all powerful and all conquering.

The LDP rule Japan since its found in 1955. Its party members thought they were invulnerable, as despite previous scandals, unpopular policies like a consumer tax etc, they were voted back to office by an electorate which knew no better alternative.

Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

Over 50 years of unhindered path to the rule of Japan brought much early economic success. In a way, people in Japan are similar to Singapore, conservative, deferring to authority,

But the challenges of a declining birthrate, stagnating economy, and a multitude of problems which the LDP did not handle properly or totally ignored, opened the door to the Democratic Party of Japan.

The Democratic Party promised to strengthen social safety net, and raise the birthrate by giving families a straight cash handouts of $270 per month per child. It will curb the power of the all powerful ministries in Japan.

The world's second largest economy has just become a truly functional democracy, one that will make politicians nervous, sober instead of being drunk.

Its reverberations are being felt, all the way to Singapore to beyond our shores. All the dominant one party quasi democracy or dictatorship must be sweating now.

Time to look at buying into the Japanese economy? ETFs for the Nikkei index anyone?

Sources:

1.http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/31/world/asia/31japan.html?pagewanted=1&_r=2&src=twt&twt=nytimes

2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberal_Democratic_Party_%28Japan%29

3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_Party_of_Japan

4. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8229744.stm

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