Well past time to cease this Hypocrisy

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Lean and Nosey like a Chao Phraya River Rat
Well past time to cease this hypocrisy
5th November 1997
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Amidst all the empty bluster on the conceptually flawed "Asian Values" and the development of conspiracy theories that the West is attempting to slow Asia's growth via currency manipulation, one fundamental underlying point is missed... And that is in the quest for the holy grail of "economic development", most of Asia's developing economies have adopted Western models fully and uncritically with little regard for cultural sustainability. The latest round of "West-bashing" by several Asian politicians is just a symptom of the frustration caused by adopting foreign models of economic, and social development. What works in the West may not work in the East, and even if the upside does work short term, the downside is starting to rear its' ugly head.
Viewing the "riches" of the West from afar, we saw this as a way to develop fast, and like a baby grabbing everything in sight that glitters, we welcomed Western expertise, technology, experts, and management techniques. ..And yes we did get rich quick... ..But all that glitters is not gold, or at least it loses its lustre. ..We ignored the "gold" in our own backyard, and now the Pied Piper is asking to be paid for his tune.
Despite on one hand governments bashing the moral poverty of the West, TV braodcasts the worst kind (in any culture) of Hollywood values into our homes every night. We consume cheap dated US sitcoms, buy imported goods because they "must be better than our own", displace family hawker stores with yet another Kentucky Fried Chicken franchise at double the price for local and fresher "Nasi Ayam", give local produced goods foreign names to make them sell better, and erect giant shopping mall and close down our community markets. We urbanise, displacing long term urban communities, fragment families, and reproduce all the problems, at double the social cost, of other large urban cities worldwide.
Let's review a collage of recent published comment, plus informal events from friends of the Rat...

Bangkok (September)
A Thai friend is invited into a farang's (Westerner's) apartment. On reviewing the contents of 23 cable and local TV offerings, HBO is selected despite the friend having little understanding of English and the farang knowing Thai well... because "Falang movies good!,... Thai movies no good!"

Time Magazine (November 1997)
A Viewpoint article by Anil Agarwal, director of the Centre for Science and Environment in New Dehli, in a Special Issue on the Environment

A deadly combination of poverty, rapid population growth and unmanaged industrialisation.. ..is rapidly turning Asia's industrial development into an industrial nightmare...
Many Asians are slowly starting to realise that the Western industrial strategy, with its heavy use of raw materials and energy is a highly toxic model. The West has been able to reduce its pollution and make its cities liveable only becuase of its enormous investments it has made in pollution control and prevention since the 1960's. Moreover the West has had a relatively stable population base. But with hundreds of millions of poor people aspiring to live like Westerners, most Asian countries want to adopt the Western model on the cheap, and in the process they may cook their own goose..
Asian leaders. many of whom still have to confront the politics of mass poverty, are single-minded in their pursuit of wealth. Indian Prime Minister Indira Ghandi declared in 1972 that poverty is the biggest polluter, and Asian leaders generally believe that the West is pushing environmental concerns only to stifle the economic aspirations of the poor.."

Jakarta (October, Jakarta Post)
An article reported that 90% of buildings in Jakarta were designed by foreign architects, the great majority having never visited Jakarta itself. Is this behind the fact that most buildings in central Jakarta seem out of place, with inadequate utilities like aircon, out of place Surau (Muslim prayer rooms), and traffic areas like corridoors and foyers designed for Westerners rather than Indonesians?

Kuala Lumpur (November)
On an obligatory visit to Star Hill, KL's most upmarket shopping complex, with lady friend in tow, pointing out some Malay dresses resulted in a turning up of the nose, screwing up of the face, and the statement "I'm not a "Kampung" girl, I'm a modern girl!", as she headed for the similarly priced Western designer clothes outlets.
Enough of this blind acceptance that West is best, aided by leaders who are willing, perhaps unknowingly, to foresake cultural integrity in the name of what can only be called Western led economic development. How much really has the last 10 years benefitted the average citizen? Have the benefits mainly gone to Western investors and a few new-money local millionaires, who plow their gains back into imported goods and conspicuous consumption? What really has been achieved in reducing poverty and income-disparity?
One may take cause to consider that Chinese civilization, in its heyday, would put Western civilization today well in the shade. It is well over time for the leaders of Asia, both political and business, to go back to the fundamentals that Asia can now progress using its own culture, techniques and people... Continuing to adopt Western-developed practices while sniping at the consequent problems could almost be labelled hypocritical. Better to concentrate on the "real" Asian values and identifying the global values that work in any culture.
Perhaps the present economic crisis in developing Asian nations may force us to realise what we wouldn't before.. .. that to move forward, sometimes you have to take one step back...

© Asian Business Strategy & Street Intelligence Ezine 1997
The views expressed here may not necessarily reflect those of Orient Pacific Century or partners of the Asia Pacific Management Forum