Philippines, Indonesia top Asean freedom classification

WASHINGTON – The Philippines and Indonesia for the second consecutive year stood out among their Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) neighbors in the Freedom in the World 2016 classification scoring 65 points each out of a possible 100 points.

The Freedom House annual report on political rights and civil liberties released on Wednesday classified both countries as  “partly free” with the Philippines receiving three points each for political rights and civil liberties and Indonesia scoring two points for political rights and four points for civil liberties (one point represents the most free and seven the least free).

Singapore and Malaysia were the only other ASEAN countries that received a “partly free” rating with Singapore scoring 51 points and Malaysia 43 points. The rest were rated not free.

Of 195 countries assessed in the report, 86 were rated free, 59 partly free, and 50 not free.        

The report said mass migration and new forms of terrorism in 2015 fueled xenophobic sentiment in major democracies while economic downturns and fears of unrest led Russia, China and other authoritarian regimes to crack down harder on dissent.

Twelve countries described as “the worst of the worst” included Syria, Tibet, Somalia, North Korea and Saudi Arabia.