Asian Values

Berton Woodward Asian Values
Go to: Questions on Asian Values

by Berton Woodward
Hong Kong
Assistant managing editor of Asiaweek magazine .

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.