ABSTRACT
The greatest proponent of Asian values, and indeed the architect of a debate that influenced political discourse in the 1980s and 1990s was Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew. His main arguments will be drawn from his autobiography and from a series of interviews undertaken with Western scholars in order to explore the tentative connections he attempted to establish between his idea of Asian values and Confucianism. Because the concept of Asian values allowed some Asian politicians to defend themselves from Western accusations of human rights violations, it is necessary to assess the merits of Lee’s Asian values rhetoric and explore how this rhetoric, along with the Bangkok Declaration of Human Rights, attempted to interpret, and circumvent, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The rhetoric of Asian values was supported by, and was a development of, an interpretation of history that conformed with the PAP’s rhetoric of survival. The creation of the idea of shared Asian values in the 1980s and 1990s represented an invention of the endoxa, or common opinions, for political expedience. Throughout their tenure, it may also be possible to illustrate how the PAP have selectively interpreted and manipulated the endoxa on Singaporean history for rhetorical effectiveness.
