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AFTER
a decade which has seen economic boom and bust followed by a slow turnaround
in Asia, one might wonder if the concept of "Asian values" is
still relevant. Many
who gathered at Ayudhya in a seminar held to commemorate the centenary
of the late Pridi Banomyong, senior statesman and pioneer of Thai democracyentitled,
"Social Justice, Democracy and Alternative Politics: An Asian-European
Dialogue" last week gave the subject a pretty thorough going-over.
The seminar was organised
by the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung Foundation (FES), the Spirit in Education
Movement (SEM) and Thammasat University to commemorate the centenary of
the late Pridi Banomyong, senior statesman and pioneer of Thai democracy.
Some Asian intellectuals like Chandra Muzaffar, deputy president of Malaysia's
National Justice Party (Keadilan) said talking about Asian values was "a
waste of time". Others dismissed the subject as nothing more than
a rhetorical trick used by strongmen like Mahathir Mohamad and Lee Kuan
Yew to justify their autocratic rule.One pundit even expressed disappointment
at academics who took talk of Asian values too seriously.
"It's an excuse to
go on perpetuating power," said one Indian participant.
Not everyone shared this
view. Thomas Heberer, professor of East Asian politics at Gerhard-Mercator
University in Duisburg, Germany, listed several traits which he described
as being specifically attributable to Asian values. These characteristics
included patterns of political behaviour that were paternalistic, family-oriented,
consensual, authoritarian and "clientelistic" (i.e. involving
a client/service relationship), learning by imitation and high esteem for
personal connections.
Heberer said this alternative
paradigm to Western society preserved stability through insufficient integration
stemming from social disparity. The Asian paradigm, he said, also helped
maintain authoritarian structures and excluded parallel power structures.
Asian values are difficult
to define because of the diversity of Asia. Within the region there exist
growing trends such as the rise of individualism, expanding market structures,
successive waves of democratisation that have not lead to instability,
increased awareness of human rights, the adoption of peaceful methods to
resolve conflicts and the increasing role of NGOs in shaping democracy.
Ashis Nandy, a leading
pundit from India and senior fellow at the Centre for the Study of Developing
Societies in Delhi, believes there is more than one version of Asian values.
"It's a real tragedy
of our times that when Americans talk about American values they don't
have to justify themselves. That when Europeans talk about European values
they don't have to defend themselves," said Nandy. "Asian values
are not just about Mahathir or Lee Kuan Yew but the Dalai Lama, Aung San
Suu Kyi and Gandhi as well."
"Nothing in Asian
values says that individual freedoms may be suppressed to preserve social
harmony. That is what Asian dictators have done; but it is not what Asian
values dictate," said Randolf David, professor of sociology at the
University of the Philippines. "But perhaps more important than this
has been the propagation of the myth that Asian values are inflexible,"
he added.
"I think Asian nations
have their 'Asian values' rooted in the tradition and culture of ordinary
people which are different from those advocated by certain leaders' regimes,"
said Hiroshi Nagai, professor of Southeast Asian studies at Kanda University
of International Studies in Japan. "And by making the best use of
them, Asian people might be successful in realising a social justice which
takes a different form from Western ones."
Nagai said many Japanese
were beginning to realise that there was something more valuable than material
wealth missing from their apparently prosperous country. The younger generation
especially are showing a growing interest in Asia, he said, where they
hope their cultural and spiritual roots will offer a basis for a more just
Japanese society.
"Let us try to identify
values and ideas that are positive," said Mussafar. "I would
regard the family as a positive and important institution."
Mussafar also singled
out what he called "neo-liberal ideology", and its cut-throat
competition which "reduced human beings to mere digits". He also
condemned the control of Western media and culture and their promotion
of a certain way of life which had become pervasive. He pointed to the
advertising industry as one of the most powerful forces behind consumer
capitalism.
"We're surrendering
what is precious in our cultures, collective wisdom gathered over centuries,"
Mussafar added. He urged Asians to search for collective wisdom rooted
in different cultures.
"We have to learn
from the West. But we don't have to adopt everything," added Jeffery
Sng, a keen observer of politics and culture in both East and West.
"Exposure to another
culture usually creates what Ben Anderson [an eminent Cornell University
scholar on Southeast Asian history] has called "the watching self",
a perspective from which to view the strengths and weaknesses of one's
own culture," said David. "Properly harnessed, this collective
experience is, in my view, potentially the most powerful force for social
renewal that any society can possibly tap."
David predicted that better
Asian societies would be realised through people like Pridi Banomyong and
Philippine nationalist hero Jose Rizal capable of stepping out of their
own cultures and assessing them in relation to the exigencies of a vastly
changed world.It would be down to such visionaries to help guide their
countries through the complexities of the modern world.
Not all were convinced
about the picking and mixing of East and West, however.
"Cultures are not
grocery shops. You cannot simply go and say: 'I want this and that.' You
have to learn the language," said Nandy. "No cultures have ever
actually learned from each other. Cultures confront each other and reconsider,"
he added. |
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