When I first read Lynette Chua's book on the politics of rights and Southeast Asia, I was inspired. Not only did she successfully encapsulate the Southeast Asian position on “rights” in the post-colonial neoliberal age, she managed to strategically reflect on the sheer diversity and heterogeneity of Southeast Asia—in terms of its' cultures, laws, politics, development policies, and governance structures. The book is certainly not just an account of the “black-letter” law or legal rights, partisan or elite politics—it goes further by accurately depicting the mobilization of rights and politics from below. It is a story about the utility of rights by social movements and civil society organizations that represent the disenfranchised and marginalized in Southeast Asian countries in the Global South region.
The book is divided into four main sections: Section 1 is titled Concepts and features of politics of rights; followed by Sections 2, 3, and 4, respectively, titled Power and control, Power and resistance, and Power of rights. The structure and design of the various sections make it easy for the reader to understand the complexities of power that exist in Southeast Asian states and societies. In the introduction section, Chua reveals the challenges faced in mapping the politics of rights in such a diverse and disparate region (which comprises mainland Indochina and the Malay Archipelago). As Reference EmmersonEmmerson (1984) described it, Southeast Asia is “heterogeneous, disunited, and hard to delimit.”
Section 1 on the concepts and features of politics of rights begins on the premise that the study of politics of rights originates from the American scholarship on law and society (or sociolegal studies). The study of rights mobilization is particularly relevant here—as it has an empirical advantage and takes a bottom-up approach. This ensures the inclusivity of subaltern voices in Southeast Asia. Chua developed three key features of rights mobilization: decentring law on the books; interplay between structural and subjective conditions; and plural practices of rights. These features widen the scope of the study to include the official/legal and the unofficial normative orders, actors and practices; as well as the overarching structural conditions and subjective ways in which individuals exercise agency. The plurality of rights practice in Southeast Asia certainly mirrors the obvious and not so obvious diversities including ethnicity, gender, social class and privilege.
Section 2 on power and control, maps out the various studies that accurately show the use of rights mobilization in the face of structural conditions. Chua locates the plural sites of authoritarianism—in both state and non-state. While the sites of authoritarian power in states are mostly visible, the sites of such power in non-state entities are less apparent. Interestingly, this includes, “religious communities, tribes, political parties, corporations, gangs, social clubs, clans and families” (Reference ChuaChua, 2022). These sites not only exhibit power through legitimacy but also moral superiority. The section goes on to elaborate on the ways or modes in which social control is exercised. Overt modes include violent and sometimes extra-legal ways in which the powerless are intimidated. Elusive modes on the other end of the spectrum are about the subtle and less noticeable controls. Between the two extremes, is the somewhat overt and elusive mode—which includes the discreet and discernible. An example of this is the agenda-setting done by members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations or ASEAN—which overtly displays commitment to human rights principles but conveniently removes all contentious issues from discussion.
Section 3 on power and resistance addresses the question of how people mobilize rights and what forms rights mobilization take. The discussion traces the exercise of agency in various sites of authoritarian power. Chua maps the studies which try to make sense of the diverse circumstances (particularly in terms of type of grievances and collective identities) through which people decide to mobilize. Her analysis shows two types of needs that require fulfillment—quotidian and material needs—where the disenfranchised and dispossessed of Southeast Asia seek moral and human dignity. She goes on to organize the repertoire of rights practices into four categories: (a) the uncoordinated, hidden and (mostly) informal, for example, Malay peasant “everyday resistance” (Reference ScottScott, 1984); (b) the coordinated, hidden and (mostly) non-formal e.g. the Pink Dot gay rights movement in Singapore; (c) the uncoordinated, open and formal-to-non-formal, for example, the labor rights movement in Vietnam; (d) the coordinated, open and formal-to-non-formal, for example, the Hindu Rights Action Force or HINDRAF movement in Malaysia.
Section 4 on power of rights brings the discussion to a central question—what are the consequences of rights mobilization and how do we assess them. In measuring the power of rights, Chua takes stock of both the instrumental and cultural powers of rights. The instrumental powers have quantifiable results that include legal recognition of rights claims, law reforms and penalties on rights violations. The cultural powers which are less visible have qualitative results such as increase in motivation, empowerment of the powerless, and cultural transformation. Chua addresses critiques of rights mobilization which opens the questions of hegemony of rights, that is displayed in both progressive and regressive type of social movements.
Essentially, rights mobilization in Southeast Asia can be contradictory and problematic. However, that should not dissuade or discourage the use of rights which have been proven to be effective. The final and crucial take away from Chua's book is that: “we give rights a chance.”
