Home Affairs Secretary,

Speech at Asia Cultural Co-operation Forum,

November 12

THIS IS WHAT I call a backhand slap. By implication, my family does not have ties as strong as Asian families do, my native culture does not have social structures as resilient, and its community life is not as closely knit. Is that right, Patrick?

I know it is a common view in Asian societies but I regard it as just as false and distasteful as the implied corollary that Asian societies do not value individual rights, personal achievements, efficiency, equality, freedom and justice as much as western societies do.

In 27 years of living in Hong Kong, which is about half of my life, I have often pondered what precisely it is that makes Asian societies different from western ones and I am still stumped. There are no one-word answers.

Take just one of the values that Dr Ho mentions - charity. I can think of boundless examples of charity in both Asian and western societies but I cannot fathom how he could esteem any one society as more charitable than any other. In fact, I don't think it can be done. It can for individual humans but not for entire societies and I'm sure that what counts for charity counts for every value he mentions.

I accept that western invaders over the last few centuries have attempted to impose certain of their prejudices on Asia and claimed these to be values of great moral worth. It has naturally prompted the Asian societies that suffered from this to define themselves in response.

But Asian societies have also tried to impose their prejudices in their conquests of more distant times or even of more recent ones (e.g. Japan). Whoever does it, or reacts to it in kind, is, in my view, on the road to racism. The morally charged values by which we appraise individual human behaviour are not the way to define societies.

I don't know exactly how it can be done, but if I had to try, I would say that cultural difference has mostly to do with the relative stage of economic development and, to a lesser degree, with climate and with preferences in such things as music and dance.

This may sound superficial, but if I had to describe my grandmother's views of her culture, they would stress those same collective rights, responsibilities and strong sense of community which Dr Ho emphasises, while paying less attention to the traits of individualism he ascribes to the west.

And if I had to characterise the culture of the latest successful young entrepreneur to emerge in Hong Kong, I would say it has more to do with his perception of his personal rights, achievements, efficiency and freedoms than with his community obligations.

My grandmother lived when her society was at about the same stage of economic development as many Asian countries are now. If wealthier societies find their communal values corroded, blame it on money, not on the west.

I am far from sure, however, that such values as individual rights, equality, freedom and justice are even particularly modern. They may only have come more to the fore as growing wealth allows individuals to rely more on themselves and less on community support.

Much as Dr Ho may like to disparage these values, and I am led to suspect that he does, witness that 'not around individualism, but around a deeply engrained moral code', they are in fact values that western and Asian societies have long shared anyway.

As to other differences, the fact is that traditional dress, foodstuffs and dwellings differ between warmer and colder climates. So do music and dancing. Long live the difference.

Unfortunately, the difference is vanishing. Dr Ho chose to deliver his speech in suit and tie at a venue indistinguishable from any in Europe and America. The guests probably ate a western lunch or dinner with wine to wash it down, too. The last time he hosted an Asian culture talk shop of this kind he did it in the purely western setting of the Disney Park.

Now that is a loss of culture to lament.