The Author said:

For example, my parents instilling the importance of a good education is not about my individual achievement, but about representing my family and focusing on what my achievements bring to others.

COMMENT while this sounds ok on the surface, and is very true of Asian families, wooooe betide the child who stuffs up at school and fails to meet the families expectations for him or her ! The emphasis on 'representing my family' is a 2 edged sword. If you do well, all is fine, but if you don't do well.. you SHAME the family and they feel like losers 'Where did we go wrong'.. even though you might have struggled to the best of your ability. Then, this sometimes translates into suicidal tendencies.

HUMAN RIGHTS on the other hand, are still not the answer, nor are they universal, and in any case, they exist only in a 'power context'.
i.e. Without power to enforce them, they are meaningless sentimentality.

I agree with the author that the Western concept of human rights is at cross purposes with many value systems of Asia and in particular with Christianity. (and Islam for that matter) This is because 'Human Rights' were constructed without regard for faith based societies. Surprise surprise if you get Atheists to make a set of principles they don't quite fit with people of faith.

Some things are an abomination to Christians, such as homosexual behaviour, adultery etc. But 'human rights' says little about a wifes right to have a faithful husband and vice versa. Human rights, just like a Bill of rights, are far more socially destructive than many realize. What about the right to have ones child educated in a faith environment ? Some people call this Brain washing and child abuse, I call it an inalienable fundamental right.

So, if the authors intent was the challenge the 'universalism' of the UN concept of 'Human Rights' then I'm there with him waving the flag as hard as I can go and blowing on my whistle and banging my drum.

Universalism is challenged everywhere today. Human rights and cultural values are exactly the issues pressing on the modern world, as we know it today.

Nice essay Jieh-Yung Lo, but narrow if you intend to be "inclusive" of a whole world or a whole of our Australian society. I come from Austria myself and feel much of what you say can be applied to myself or in most cultures.

I believe you could consider underlying cultural issues through a topic in "sustainable development".

Ask us as well as yourself, why the need to address "inter-generational change".

This is because it is too easy to melt important issues of culture through our individual attempts to defend any sense of collectiveness through 'universalism' for human rights by alienating other cultures though our defense of these authentic human values.

If it is diversity and or a collectiveness we defend.... try including organisational cultures such as those we find in government, media, health, in schools or the business workplace for example. (Places we 'participate' in through everyday life.)

Be specific about cultural indices and sniff out why we are universally stuck as one humanity.

This is because culture is the new loaded "ism" and complex if we set one up against another. It is important to be critical of those cultures that hinder development of multi-cultural diversity, as well as our individual human rights.

Thank You Jieh-Yung Lo.

http://www.miacat.com/

"Universalism is challenged everywhere today. Human rights and cultural values are exactly the issues pressing on the modern world, as we know it today." - Miacat

Globalisataion is pushing societies together as never before. Not all societies are equally flexible. Some are authoritian tradititions (Popper).

Also, while there is some commonality across Asian countries, the are differences. Korea and Japan are not clones of China. There is occational friction [riots] against the Chinese business community by Malays and Indonesians.

A thought-provoking piece. Trust Boaz to jump in with some of his inimitable spin:

>>I agree with the author that the Western concept of human rights is at cross purposes with many value systems of Asia and in particular with Christianity. (and Islam for that matter)<<

Go back and take a look, Boaz. The author does not mention Christianity anywhere in the piece, so you can't possibly "agree" with him on this point. And what, apart from your own paranoia, possessed you to introduce Islam?

Jieh-Yung Lo describes well the pain that many individuals experience while adapting to a different cultural environment. But I am less sure that he can generalise from the particular in the way that he does.

>>human rights, which we assume in the West are universal<<

I would take serious issue with this statement, unless the "we" he refers to are in fact Asians making the assumption that all Western values are identical. This would make sense within the sentence, but would reflect badly on the somewhat naive "we".

But I think he is saying that "we-in-the-West" assume that human rights are universal, when no more than a cursory glance at the offerings on this Forum would prove the opposite. Whenever the topic is raised there are multiple views, none of which is at all convincing and none that is consistent with any other.

The fact that a bunch of bureaucrats once put together a charter that no-one actually voted for does not prove anything except how naive they are that their words actually mean anything.

Adore "Popper" Oliver. Yes I like your point but add again, it is not easy to compare justice systems. The structural indices of crime and voilence appear in all cultures, some more series - depending, then other.

Cultural awareness be it global or local is impacting our values of daily life, everywhere.

The degree is all that is in question.

I would argue this aspect as development verses under-development. It take resources as well as equity to achieve "civilised".

ie: Good Goverance and Transparency is an issue everywhere and no more real today at a local and individual domain.

Ah.

Is there really a single asian culture. It seems doubtful. More likely there's as much commonality to asian culture as there is to asian cooking. In practice - the Japanese, Chinese, Indians, Malays, Thai and other groups seem very different.