"Fierce secret" is actually one of the words used in Swahili to mean government. I am fascinated by this bit of information from the London-based group called Article XIX (after Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights). It reminds me of my childhood when elders spoke of " gamen " (government) in hushed and reverent whispers conjuring images of secrecy and power.

Many governments prefer to conduct their business in secret. Too often governments treat official information as their property, rather than something which they hold and maintain on behalf of the people.

An extension of this idea of secrecy is the prevention of the public from accessing and disclosing information for public consumption.

Malaysiakini was refused a press card by the Information Ministry on the pretext that malaysiakini has no KDN, a creature of the Printing Presses and Publications Act. This law limits speech, a fundamental right under Article 10 of the Federal Constitution.

Detik , Eksklusif and Harakah suffered periodic setbacks with the KDN issue. Detik and Eksklusif subsequently ceased publication. Ahmad Lutfi Othman's Haraki may suffer the same fate. In recent days, malaysiakini was denied media passes to the Umno general assembly deliberations and were harassed when covering the news ([#1] Killing us softly? [/#], May 9).

Speech and access to information are cardinal values in a democracy. While Article 10 of the Federal Constitution does not expressly mention the right to information, it is arguable that speech and the right to information are indivisible. Thus, KDN operates as a form of censorship by the government.

It is a fundamental principle that all just governments derive their powers only from the consent of the governed. This consent is not just the ballot-box consent (the electoral dimension) but is an ongoing process whereby the citizen is entitled to an ongoing participatory role in the process of self-governance (the expressive dimension).

Thus citizens have a right to express themselves without the danger of punishment and they have a right to seek out alternative sources of information. We should be able to access information from independent publishers, radio, television and other means of communication which is free from censorship.

Speech and right to information are derivatives of the notion of "openness". A society that adopts openness allows the citizen a range of expressive freedom, including freedom of the press, freedom of assembly and freedom of association.

The justification for openness begins with the rationale that the search for truth is best advanced by a free trade in ideas. Openness is also an essential part of good governance. A society that adopts openness as an over-arching value actually opens up government actions and deliberations to public scrutiny.

Members of the press and the citizen today understand that our freedoms are not absolute and regulation of free speech and access to information may be justified in clearly defined cases. But if openness is not an absolute value, it should be nearly absolute as there is an inherent impulse on the part of governments to engage in control, censorship and secrecy.

Most people would agree that politics is about the exercise of power. In order to be legitimate, political power must be institutionalised. Politics consist of both power and institutions. Political theory insists that state power and authority must be formulated in a fundamental law, the rule of law. In modern day political theory, the rule of law focus upon institutions which decentralise political power in various ways (through separation of powers and a system of checks and balances) as well as protect and guarantee rights of citizens.

Many Asian governments are known to take the view that a democratic regime which institutionalise human rights is not useful in the region as human rights will not necessarily bring about economic development.

For a time, constitutional and political theories have classified the East Asian variety of democracy with an average of 8 percent growth rates, in a class of its own; democracy (as in the protection of human rights) is not a condition for economic growth. In the 1990s, right up to the economic crisis, the prototype of democracy in the region (except for the Philippines) is one in which the ruling party has never been voted out of power.

Consensus and stability, not competition and change, were catch phrases of the "tiger economies". Consensus and stability are in part supported by suppression of dissent and the imposition of authoritarian controls.

The dominant party systems involve competition for power but not alternation in power. The dominant party systems survive upon economic growth delivered by the state.

No one doubts that economic factors contributed to the economic crisis. In the search for answers to the crisis, a work in progress for the tiger economies, politically authoritarian regimes share the blame. Authoritarianism had contributed to the escalation of the crisis and impedes the shaping of the appropriate response.

The East Asian variety of democracy with dominant party systems are dependent upon performance legitimacy. When the state fails to deliver the economic goods, the blame falls on the incumbents and not the system. Government loses popular support. A change in government seemed revolutionary as there is no precedent to alternation in power.

Suppression of dissent and imposition of authoritarian controls are no solutions when governments lose popular support or credibility.

Such authoritarian regimes instinctively fear openness. Openness is equated by authoritarian regimes with a decline in order, efficiency and stability. But authoritarian regimes can learn that the opposite is true: Openness improves stability, it increases efficiency of governments by uncovering official iniquity, corruption and incompetence. Openness fosters resiliency; peaceful protests displaces more violence than it triggers; free debate dissipates more hate than it stirs.

Freedom of speech, press, association and assembly are the vehicles which shape the citizens' consent to the government's exercise of power. These are the vehicles which individuals debate issues, cast their votes and participate in the processes of decision-making that shape the polity. As such, each of us should be entitled to be political. We have a right to invest in freedom.

An investment in freedom is necessary for democracy and for sustained economic development. Future political elites will have to believe that democracy is the least bad form of government for their societies. We who believe in this investment need skills to face the hardliners who will attempt to undermine our efforts.

We have to be fearless in this endeavour.

We may have to learn to overcome fear. For it may well be that it is not power that corrupts but fear. Fear of losing power corrupts those who wield it, and fear of the scourge of power corrupts those who are subject to it (Aung San Suu Kyi).