On the face of it, these are lean times for champions of Asian democracy. Two of the most attractive democratic pin-ups of yore, Thailand and the Philippines, are looking decidedly haggard. Thais no longer trust parliament to sort out their differences and have taken their grievances to the streets. In the Philippines, which goes to the polls next month, political violence scaled new heights with the massacre last November of 57 people. Their offence had been to try to register an opposition candidate. Afghanistan went through the pain of elections last year, though a lot of people wonder why it bothered. And Sri Lanka's brief flirtation with post-civil war democratic inclusion lasted roughly five minutes: Sarath Fonseka has discovered to his cost that the price of running against the incumbent president is jail.
表面上看，倡导亚洲民主的人正处在艰难时期。泰国和菲律宾这两个昔日最令人瞩目的民主样板，看上去明显疲惫不堪。泰国人不再指望议会来解决他们之间的分歧，而是走上街头发泄自己的不满。在下月将举行选举的菲律宾，政治暴力已上升到一个新的高度：在去年11月的一起屠杀中，有57人遇害——他们的“过错”只是试图为一位反对党候选人登记参选。阿富汗去年也经历了选举之痛，尽管很多人不明白它何苦这么费事。斯里兰卡在内战结束之后曾浅尝民主，但这一努力只持续了大约五分钟：萨拉特•丰塞卡(Sarath Fonseka)吃了一番苦头后才发现，在竞选中与现任总统作对的代价是进监狱。