ASIAN VALUES IN SINGAPORE: A GENUINE ALTERNATIVE MODERNITY TO WESTERN LIBERALISM?

Abstract

Since independence in 1965, Singapore has defied odds by achieving exceptional economic success whilst maintaining a stable one-party dominant system under the People's Action Party (PAP). Under PAP rule, aspects of liberal democracy are disregarded, yet the party continues to enjoy repeated success in formal elections, demonstrating popular support for the regime on the ground. Singapore is also notable for its leaders' significant role in the Asian Values debate, a discourse which posits that Asian states have unique socio-cultural features that qualitatively distinguishes them from the West. These differences justify different 'Asian' approaches to governance that do not necessarily coincide with the standards of Western liberal democracy, a model which today has been taken to be the universal ideal for all. Though the rhetoric of Asian Values has largely disappeared from the forefront of politics, its function and value continues to be revisited and reassessed by scholars and serves as a testament to the enduring quality of the debate. This paper explores whether Asian Values in Singapore accounts for and constitutes a genuine alternative modernity to Western liberalism. It argues that whilst Asian Values was largely a state-invented ideology driven by the PAP's instrumental goals, ideas embodied by the discourse have become internalised and embedded within Singaporean society. The internalisation of distinct 'Asian' social and political values was not the product of a unilateral, state-dominated dissemination of culture, but the result of an ongoing negotiation between the state and its citizens. Regardless of the origin of Asian values in Singapore, state and society are bound in a consensus that embodies a different understanding of politics than what is prescribed by Western convention. The result is a distinct political system suited to the political aspirations of Singaporeans; one which ultimately challenges the universalism of Western liberalism while representing a genuine alternative modernity in itself.