A third, newly emerging reason for an Asian approach to human rights is more benign. It is an increasing sense that the aim should be to be both universal and Asian, not one or the other. For the crisis of 1997-98 brought Asians closer together. Governments cooperate more fully through the ASEAN plus 3 process that links 13 East Asian countries. A greater sense of regional identity exists even if regional cooperation is limited and most people think it should not take the form of a closed bloc or union.
Open regionalism is an edict not only for the trade regime. It can also apply to other areas of cooperation, including human rights. So, the idea of an ASEAN or Asian regional mechanism should be re-evaluated. Asia is, after all, the only continent without such a regime to complement international institutions. The time may now be right because some countries have started their human rights commissions.
Indeed, the new generation in the region is both more Asian and more open to the universal. For them, an understanding of the US and US-influenced international standards is second nature. The influence has come through popular and consumer culture as well as private sector business, non-government organizations and civil society groups. But this does not mean that Asia will be homogenized, like a McDonalds' franchise.
A new Asian culture is being articulated. Much of it is set within a Western framework, but some particulars do differ. In Asia, hybrids are emerging that are both modern and "universal" while still being Asian. Significantly, what is emerging is being negotiated at the level of individuals and communities, not states and national leaders.
Asia cannot go back to what was before. But unless stability, growth and a sense of confidence are renewed, greater tension with the West and narrow forms of pan-Asian nationalism are possible. This need not be antagonistic, as in the past. The hope this time is that Asia's people -- not just their semi-autocratic leaders -- seek their own balance between the universal and a redefined sense of what Asia is.
Simon SC Tay is chairman of the Singapore Institute of International Affairs and Professor of law at the National University of Singapore.
Copyright: Project Syndicate
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