SINGAPORE -- The notion of multiparty democracy as an ideal one-size-fits-all form of government is, I am sorry to have to report, not exactly bowling people over these days. Take a look at Thailand and the Philippines, which Washington has often enshrined on its ideological placards as a pair of shining democracies amid a political landscape otherwise littered with brutal dictatorships, severe one-party quasi-democracies or whatever.
Goodbye to fantasy island: Manila's fragile democracy is in turmoil over serious allegations that President Gloria Arroyo manipulated the results of her re-election in 2004 (sound anything like Florida 2000?); and in Bangkok, Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, though duly elected, has resigned over a firestorm of charges involving family corruption and political incompetence.
Indeed, Thaksin's forced resignation has only added fuel to the political firestorm of flames licking at the feet of the Arroyo presidency. Many Filipinos want Arroyo to take a hint from Thaksin.