李光耀實踐“亞洲價值”之評析

The Analysis of Lee Kuan Yew's Implementation on "Asian Value"

歐賢超(Shien-Tsau Oo) ； 顧長永(Samuel C.Y. Ku)

《國家發展研究》 2卷1期 (2002/12) Pp. 43-79

摘要

「亞洲價值」在新加坡流行並受其領導人李光耀的推崇，除了具備政治功能外，星國在經濟成長、社會穩定、種族和諧、及廉潔效率的政府等方面的成就，和因此而激發的自信心，亦是重要的因素。本文檢驗李光耀對「亞洲價值」的詮釋與實踐，並同時論證兩大假設：一為新加坡的政治和社會表現，與「亞洲價值」密切相關；二為李光耀不僅在其執政期間實踐「亞洲價值」，繼任的吳作棟政府仍然蕭規曹隨，使之成為新加坡的國家價值。但是考量亞洲各國的多元性，我們認為李光耀所提倡的「亞洲價值」，其實應稱之為「新加坡價值」。

並列摘要

Singapore's Lee Kuan Yew has promoted Asian value for several years. The success of Asian value has to do with Singapore's economic achievement, social stability, racial harmony, and efficient government, which have further strengthened the confidence of Singaporeans towards the idea of Asian value. This paper examines two main hypotheses. One is Singapore's achievement on political stability, social harmony and economic growth, which are closely related to the promotion of Asian value. The other one is that Mr. Goh Chok Tong, successor of Mr. Lee Kuan Yew, continues to follow the policy of Asian value. However, given the different cultural backgrounds in Asia, this paper argues Asian value is not good enough to represent countries in Asia. Instead, Asian value, originally advocated by Mr. Lee Kuan Yew, should be renamed as Singapore value.
This paper is divided into four major parts. The first part introduces the content of Asian value, which is based on Confucianism. By linking Confucianism and the development of political economy in Singapore, Mr. Lee's Asian value emphasizes the priority of economy over democracy, and the priority of group over individuals. The second part of the paper analyzes the implementation of Asian value in Singapore, which includes three characters, i. e. authoritarian leadership, tight social control, and Asian-style democracy. Each of these three characters is carefully examined in the paper. Regarding Asian-style democracy, for example, it contains five elements, i. e. patron-client communalism, ruled by law, authority, predominant political party, and a strong state. Each of these five elements is clearly analyzed in the paper. A strong state, for instance, means the ruling government has overwhelming power to extend its control into all levels of the society. Civil societies are relatively quite weak in Singapore.
Finally, this paper examines three issues about Asian value. The first one is whether Asian value has the legitimacy to represent all countries in Asia. The answer is negative, mainly because Asia is so diversified by many different cultures and civilizations. Secondly, it is the issue of consistency, examining whether Mr. Lee Kuan Yew was able to apply Asian value to public affairs during his leadership in Singapore from 1959 to 1990. The answer is generally positive. The last one is the issue of continuity on Asian value to see whether Mr. Lee's successor is able to follow this policy. Mr. Goh Chok Tong has become the leader of Singapore since 1990 and he actually continues to implement Mr. Lee Kuan Yew's policy on Asia value.
The conclusion of the paper is that Mr. Lee Kuan Yew did successfully promote and implement Asian value in Singapore, but, to be more pragmatic, Asian value should be renamed as Singapore value.

並列關鍵字

Asian value ； Confucianism ； Lee Kuan Yew ； Asian-style democracy

參考文獻

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