By: Jowati Juhary
[presented at the Malaysian Inter-University Symposium organised by Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, July 2000]
For East Asians, East Asian success is particularly the results of the East Asian cultural stress on the collectivity rather than the individual. ‘[T]he more communitarian values and practices of the East Asians – the Japanese, Korean, Taiwanese, Hong Kongers and the Singaporeans – have proved to be clear assets in the catching up process’ argued Lee Kuan Yew. The values that the East Asian cultures uphold, such as the primacy of group interests over individual interests, support the total group effort necessary to develop rapidly….(Huntington 1996: 108)