Explainer | What are ‘Asian values’ and is the concept still relevant today?

A minister earlier this year sparked a debate after warning Singaporeans against importing Western ‘culture wars’, including gender identity issues

Critics say the concept is becoming increasingly outdated, while others call it a ‘convenient tool’ for Asian governments to brush off sensitive issues

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A woman dances with a rainbow flag at the Speaker’s Corner in Hong Lim Park, Singapore. Photo: EPA

Published: 10:30am, 24 Apr 2021Updated: 4:42pm, 24 Apr 2021

Earlier this year, Singapore’s Education Minister Lawrence Wong sparked a debate among younger citizens and LGBT activists after he said that gender identity issues had become part of Western “culture wars” and that Singaporeans should be careful not to import those discourses.

Wong had been responding to a parliamentary question raised after three people were arrested for holding a public protest to support a transgender schoolgirl who claimed that the education authorities had intervened with her hormone treatment.

The authorities maintained that all medical treatment decisions lay with professionals, the person with gender dysphoria and their family, and were beyond their purview.

But critics said that Wong, by describing gender identity issues as divisive and were Western concepts, had dismissed the LGBT community’s concerns and did not protect their rights.

Others added that the argument of “Asian values”, which has been used by leaders across the region for decades, was becoming increasingly irrelevant, with political observers describing it as a “convenient tool” for governments to brush off issues they were reluctant to discuss.

Asian societies view endemic social issues in the US, such as homelessness, in negative light. Photo: TNS

HOW DID ‘ASIAN VALUES’ COME ABOUT?