Chee Soon Juan Quotes

Openness and participation are antidotes to surveillance and control.

Democracy requires that those who bear the consequences of decisions have enough knowledge to hold the decision-makers accountable.

In all of our efforts, we continue to emphasize the importance of inclusivity and transparency on the part of the Afghan government and leadership, especially in linking nascent local governing institutions to the decision-making and financial resources in Kabul.

Democracy is not simply a question of structures. It is a state of mind. It is an activity. And part of that activity is honesty.

Democracy needs support, and the best support for democracy comes from other democracies.

We Finns represent a very transparent and open-minded way of reaching political decisions.

Democracy is not about making speeches. It is about making committees work.

Democracy must live as it thinks and think as it lives

Dialoging is the first principle of good government.

The voices of a billion Indians … are telling us that the course of their lives cannot be decided by a handful of people behind closed doors who are not fully accountable to them. They are telling us that India’s governmental system … robs people of their voice, a system that disempowers rather than empowering.

The American people deserve their government to be open and accountable.

I think governance is about giving people an opportunity to engage with you on subjects that you are responsible for, believing in people's capacity to deliver, and allowing them that platform plus project their work.

What should be targeted is a concept of organic, and not just mechanic, democracy that preserves the rule of law, separation of powers, and that is participatory and pluralistic.

Democracy is not theater - it determines life and death!

For too long, decisions have been taken behind closed doors - tablets of stone have simply been past down to people without bothering to involve people, listen to their views or give them information about what we are doing and why.

Secrecy is the enemy of efficiency, but don't let anyone know it.

The better the information it has, the better democracy works. Silence and secrecy are never good for it.

We always hear about the rights of democracy, but the major responsibility of it is participation.

In the 21st century, the countries that thrive will be the ones where citizens know their voices will be heard because the institutions are transparent.

I find that when you open the door toward openness and transparency, a lot of people will follow you through.

India is at the vanguard of figuring out how to exploit technology and innovation on behalf of democratic accountability.

I will run an open government that speaks with honesty, seeks opinion, listens to its citizens.

Just because a group does not take its decisions by voting does not mean they have no understanding of the essence of democracy.

The best weapon of a dictatorship is secrecy, but the best weapon of a democracy should be the weapon of openness.

Trust is the lubrication that makes it possible for organizations to work.