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Year End Message from the

Regional Director

Bangkok, 20.12.2012

Dear friends and partners of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom,

2012 has been another challenging, exciting and successful year for us. I would like to take this opportunity to extend to you my sincere thanks for your fruitful co-operation with FNF. We are proud of our accomplishments and successes and are excited about our future.

With this year-end message I would like to draw your attention to significant events,

highlights and developments of our work in the region over the past year.

• During 2012 the German Foreign Minister, Dr. Guido Westerwelle, visited

projects of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation in our region twice. In March he

gave a keynote speech about financial crisis in Europe to 350 participants at

Hanyang University, our partner organization in Korea. In April the foundation

organized for Dr. Westerwelle a political dialog with high ranking representatives

from the Thai legal profession, academia and civil society in Bangkok.

• Our work now extends to Vietnam. The Friedrich Naumann Foundation for

Freedom proudly opened its representative office in Hanoi on September 18.

The inauguration ceremony was attended by many important public figures from

Germany, among them Dr. Philipp Rösler, Vice-Chancellor and Federal Minister

of Economics and Technology and Ms. Cornelia Pieper, Minister of State at the

Federal Foreign Office, Ambassador Jutta Frasch and Mr. Manfred Richter,

board member and treasurer of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation. Together

with our partners the foundation will work hard to promote market economic

reforms and strengthen the rule of law.

• In the Philippines, FNF’s “It’s all about freedom” campaign against corruption

has continued. Highlight of the campaign this year was the “Freedom Run by the

Lake” which attracted more than 3,000 participants from government agencies

and local government units who support the anti-corruption drive of the Aquino

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Administration. We are proud of this high turn-out and the support it shows for

our campaign against corruption.

• In Korea, the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom celebrated its 25th

anniversary with our long-term partner, the Hanyang University in Seoul. The

Foundation’s board was represented by Dr. Irmgard Schwätzer, former Federal

Minister for Housing, who gave the keynote address at an international seminar

on local autonomy and grassroots democracy. We continue to further promote

individual freedom, human rights, the rule of law, free trade and the market

economy.

• In Thailand, a board game called “SIM Democracy” was developed and

distributed to more than 50 organizations, among them the Electoral

Commission, for teaching and training purposes. The board game serves as a tool

to understand the basic values, structures and institutional mechanisms of liberal

democracy and good citizenship.

• Another successful activity here in Thailand was the “Dream Thailand”

campaign. It served as a platform for the younger generation to discuss the

direction Thailand’s development should take over the next ten years. The young

are the future of any society but their voices and ideas are hardly heard in public.

The results of “Dream Thailand” were presented on TV, radio, in newspapers

and on the internet. An exhibition in Bangkok attracted many visitors, and we are

planning to continue our campaign over the coming months.

• The annual conference of the Economic Freedom Network Asia was held in

Hong Kong, the freest economy in the world. The theme of the event was

“How Welfare Populism Destroys Prosperity: the Populist Challenge to

Economic Freedom”. The Hon. John Tsang, Financial Secretary of Hong

Kong, warned of welfare populism, referring to the Argentina example, which

had been the sixth biggest national economy one hundred years ago. Its

economic decline was mostly caused by welfare populism. Mr. Tsang also

mentioned the example of Greece, in which welfare populism almost destroyed

the country. The former prime minister of Thailand, Abhisit Vejjajiva, shrared

his experience with populist adversaries in electoral competition. The board of

directors of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation was represented by Dr. Wolf-

Dieter Zumpfort.

• For the fourth time, we published our Freedom Barometer Asia 2012. In this

we attempt to measure freedom in its various dimensions: social, economic and

political. This edition is much improved and enlarged. Please visit also our

website: www.freedombarometer.org, which provides all data, interesting

additional information, and allows various comparisons and further analyses.

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Beside these highlights there are other positive developments in Southeast and East Asia,

two of which I would like to mention.

Myanmar has undergone remarkable developments during the past few years. Although

national politics are still dominated by retired generals, many positive changes have

happened in the country. These changes allow the foundation and its civil society

partners to move further in supporting political, economic and social reform processes.

A Memorandum of Understanding between FNF and the Ministry of Industry is in the

making and will allow us to extend the scope of our work in this remarkable country. We

hope to play a part in Myanmar’s successful transition to democracy.

In Phnom Penh, Cambodia, the members of ASEAN have adopted a Human Rights

Declaration. Critics say that in some aspects this declaration falls short of accepted

human rights standards and has been adopted prematurely. I think differently. As a

Chinese proverb says, “A diamond with a flaw is worth more than a pebble without

imperfections”, and in this context I couldn’t agree more. I welcome ASEAN’s move to

adopt its own Human Rights Declaration. It may fall short on many grounds but will

generate urgently needed public debate. One of the questions will be “why Asian people

should not enjoy the same rights as people elsewhere in the world”?

Last but not least, I would like to thank you for your trust and your friendship. The

Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom is looking forward to a successful

cooperation with you in the coming year. I wish you and your families a very happy and

prosperous New Year.

Yours sincerely

Dr. Rainer Adam

Regional Director for Southeast and East Asia

The Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom