Spotlight: Asian Values

▪ 1995

      Is there such a thing as "Asian values"? If so, are they superior to Western values? For some time, Southeast Asian leaders, notably Lee Kuan Yew of Singapore and Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Mahathir bin Mohamad, had been highly critical of what they saw as a general moral and economic decline in the West. But as these and other Asian societies became more and more successful, more people in both Asia and the West seemed prepared to listen to what they had to say.

      The case of American teenager Michael Fay, who was given four strokes of a rattan cane and imprisoned for nearly four months for spray painting cars in Singapore, was not the ideal focal point for an issue of such depth. Nonetheless, it served to spotlight many of the issues that were already being debated in Asia and the West. A Singaporean government spokesman remarked that tough laws had kept his nation relatively crime-free: "We don't have a situation where acts of vandalism are commonplace as in cities like New York." The Singaporean embassy in Washington, D.C., reported receiving strong support from Americans for its government's position in the Fay case.

      To Singaporeans the issue hinged largely on their belief that their approach was creating a society that was better than those in the West, particularly in the U.S. In Foreign Affairs Samuel P. Huntington of Harvard University had published his essay "The Clash of Civilizations?" which suggested that in the post-Cold War world other cultures—notably those influenced by Islam and Confucianism—would challenge the West. Kishore Mahbubani, who later became permanent secretary of Singapore's Foreign Ministry, referred to "a fatal flaw that has recently developed in the Western mind: an inability to conceive that the West may have developed structural weaknesses in its core value systems and institutions."

      To Mahbubani this explained "the recent rush to embrace the assumption that history has ended with the triumph of the Western ideal: individual freedom and democracy would always guarantee that Western civilization would stay ahead of the pack. Only hubris can explain why so many Western societies are trying to defy the economic laws of gravity." He pointed to a lack of budgetary discipline, low savings rates, an eroding work ethic, and uncompetitively high wages. He listed the soaring incidence of violent crime in the U.S., single-mother births, divorce rates, and children living in single-parent homes. He further remarked that "instead of traveling overseas with humility, Americans confidently preach the virtues of unfettered individual freedom, blithely ignoring the visible social consequences."

      What then are Asian values? Commonly, they are considered to include strong family values, respect for authority, consensus in decision making, and supremacy of the community over the individual. In an article in the Paris-based International Herald Tribune, Singapore ambassador-at-large Tommy Koh listed 10 values he felt East Asia represented. Topping the list was the point that East Asians do not believe in the extreme form of individualism practiced in the West. Whatever they do or say, they must keep in mind the interests of others. He also mentioned a belief in strong families, education, saving and frugality, hard work, and national teamwork through labour-management cooperation. He pointed to a "social contract" between citizens and the state in which the government guarantees basic needs and law and order in exchange for respect for authority and self-reliance without welfarism. He also listed the promotion of private ownership, a morally wholesome environment, and a responsible press.

      Although Koh's list reflected his Singaporean background, others in Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, and the Philippines have also articulated Asian alternatives to Western values. The Commission for a New Asia, a group of 18 respected thinkers from across the region, produced its first report in 1994, a vision of Asia in 2020. It called for a broad range of human and political rights but also noted that personal rights in most instances were relative, not absolute. It upheld democracy as by far the best form of government for all societies, but it also endorsed a strong and stable government that did not "sacrifice the public interest on the altar of reelection" and was not preoccupied with short-term considerations or vested interests. The group also saw virtue in consensual democracy. In all Asian societies, on many key issues, majoritarian democracy—decision making on the basis of the will of a simple majority—was viewed as clearly inadequate. On seriously divisive issues, the Asian emphasis on consensus building was, they believed, "clearly a superior form of democracy." As for the mass media, the group said that "the first duty of a free press in a productive democracy was to be responsible—and to be responsible to society."

      Some analysts have defined Asian values as essentially Confucian. Singapore, for one, makes constant reference to the teachings of Confucius. But support for the concept of Asian values comes from cultures as disparate as those in predominately Hindu India and Islamic Malaysia and Indonesia. Anwar Ibrahim, Malaysia's deputy prime minister, pointed to harmony in society through good governance, the sanctity of the family, tolerance toward diversity, and compassion for the weak and unfortunate. Asians, he said, are "convinced of the efficacy of our ways because our cultures have survived largely intact for millennia." He also cautioned that Asia should not preach about its economic success without tackling such outstanding social problems as poverty.

      One Western reaction to the concept of Asian values was expressed by Chris Patten, the British governor of Hong Kong: "Some Asian leaders and journalists define Asian values as a serene quartet—hard work, strong families, home ownership and morality. I happen to believe in all that myself." Others suggested that the values merely represented the Protestant work ethic in a new guise. The central point of departure, however, was the role of the individual in society. Whether or not the West suffered from excessive individual freedom and insufficient respect for authority, the Asian view puts the priority on the good of the group over that of a given individual. In this sense Asian values differ from the Western tradition and especially from America's Jeffersonian view.

      Asian leaders continued to worry, however, that the pressures of affluence could lead to a more self-centred way of life. "Popular culture, TV, rock music, the buy-now-pay-later advertisements, conspicuous consumption, the desire for more material goods, all combine to erode the traditional virtues of hard work, thrift, personal responsibility and family togetherness," said Singapore's Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong in a National Day Rally speech. If these were lost, he said, "we will lose our vibrancy, and decline. This is the intangible factor in the success of East Asian economies." Indeed, maintaining what they see as a special cultural edge will be the challenge for these countries as they become ever wealthier.

      Berton Woodward is assistant managing editor of Asiaweek magazine and is based in Hong Kong.

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