CALD Internship Report

Name of Intern: Charles Tan

Country: Singapore Democratic Party - Young Democrats

Internship period: 29 March 2005 – 22 April 2005

Observations and Impressions

European Parliament – A Democratic Institution with global influence

Of most interest to me are the various committee, delegation meetings and hearings in which debates focusing on human rights issues and external relations with third countries takes centre stage.

The Southeast Asia Delegation for relations with the countries of Southeast Asia and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) meeting is of most interest to me as Singapore is part of ASEAN. From the meeting, I am updated of the political and human rights situation in Burma/Myanmar as well as EU – ASEAN relationship, which is hampered by the dictatorship regime assuming chair in 2006.

I also attended the Delegation for relations with the countries of South Asia and the South Asia Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) in which H.E. Syed Maudud Ali, Ambassador of Bangladesh to the EU expressed his views on the urgencies resolutions that European Parliament passed on his country.

In attending these meetings, I am aware that the European Parliament, sensitive to diplomatic relations with third countries, are able, some of the time, apply some form of international pressure on various nation states that are questionable in their human rights records. The European Union is aware that solely focusing on economic exchange with states that seriously violates human rights, is a direct confrontation to the values of which it is based on.

Currently, human rights outside the European Union are spelt out in the European Initiative for Democracy and Human Rights. EU also spells out its roles on combating death penalty, torture, racism, war crime, genocide, electoral observation and assistance, indigenious’ peoples rights, and children’s rights with these third countries.

I believe that as the European Union gets stronger and more unified, hopefully with the Constitution entering into force, more can be done to alleviate or reduce the human rights abuses that still abounds in many parts of the world ravaged by dictatorial and authoritarian regimes, torture, poverty, corruption, war, terrorism and natural calamities.

Is there a Liberal Approach to Solving Global Problems?

Liberals, unlike other political beliefs in the spectrum, do not hold on to a certain fixed ideology though they are governed by a few main principles which are: freedom of the individual and responsibility, human rights and the rule of law, equality of opportunities and belief in the effectiveness of the market economy to advance development and alleviate poverty.

Because of liberalism being a non-conformist political ideology; when liberals get together to discuss a single problem, they may turn out to possess different opinions or solutions.

This is what I witness in the intra-liberal group meetings when MEPs debate on certain issues.

A good example is the group meeting debating on the ascension of Romania and Bulgaria to EU during the Strasbourg sessions. Different members of parliament voiced out their concerns with regards to the state of affairs in both countries despite a majority consensus.

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