ALEX’S MODEL PART 1

My model makes one inherent assumption: that our aspiring Asia literate lawyer is an

Australian (he/she does not need to be your stereotypical footy and cricket watching

mate, or shazza for that matter if the stereotype even exists since we’re so diverse

especially in metropolitan areas nowadays!) resident who has limited knowledge or

exposure to the Asian region and cultures.

Firstly, it is crucial for this person to come to the table with an open mind. It is always

easier to subscribe to familiarity, instead of being able to appreciate and understand

something completely and utterly foreign. As elaborated upon further in the model, Asia

is full of surprises owing to its immense diversity, ranging from the fascinating to the

downright macabre. Therefore, remaining objective and critical far from one’s comfort

zone will demand patience as well as an accepting and respectful attitude. Without this

mindset, it may prove difficult to overcome the initial culture shock and barriers to a

steep learning curve necessary to engage with Asia will be remain to break down.

The gist of my model is essentially similar to that of Alexandra Rose. However, I would

like to emphasize the importance of appreciating culture when learning any language, be

it Asian or otherwise. Personally, I feel that it is impossible to divorce language from its

culture. It is only through a deep understanding of culture (and this will take up much

time and effort to ‘immerse’ oneself in another’s culture) would one successfully master

its language. This is because it is culture that provides background context required to

pave the way for more effective communication. This is especially important for the

Asian literate lawyer since legal issues are often complex, intertwined with local

phenomena and couched in traditions. Mere direct word-to-word translation would be

grossly inadequate in these circumstances.

ALEX’S MODEL PART 2

RATIONALE FOR BECOMING ASIA LITERATE

Asia is becoming a force to be reckoned with in economic terms and this is evidenced by

the recent Shanghai stock market hiccup that sent shock waves and panic throughout the

globe – such is China’s (and to a lesser extent, the rest of the Asian Region) influence in

this day and age. As such, it is important to seize the opportunity to, in crude terms, ‘cash

in’ on Asia’s rapid economic growth at present which is still forecasted to rise in the near

future.

Australia has much to offer to developing Asian countries and even more to benefit to

reap from them. For instance, Australia is blessed with natural resources such as coal and

uranium that can be harnessed to feed our power hungry Asian neighbours as they

industrialize, although the ethical and environmental merits of such a scheme must be

questioned. On the flip side, we also have tremendous human resources in various

specialist areas to export to the Asian region as they grapple with, for example,

environmental issues caused by the use of our coal! Although other advanced Western

nations will emerge as Australia’s leading competitors, we have a significant edge due to

our close geographical proximity to Asia, as well as a local population in which large

minority groups have ethnic and cultural ties to Asia. These migrants can help to

facilitate and enhance the quality of our interactions with Asian nation-states.

Since we have identified the economic importance – and there are others, such as mutual

cooperation for increased security and political stability within the region – of Asia, how

do lawyers come into the picture? Asia literate lawyers are important because they act as

the conduit or gateway, in a sense, to understanding Asian law. The primary role of these

lawyers will be to ‘decipher’ Asian legal culture and incorporate or fuse or modify settled

common law principles in an attempt to find some common ground or provide a sense of

legal security to clients on both sides of a transaction. Other functions of Asian literate

lawyers may be to provide insight and commentary into Asian legal practices and legal

systems such that foreign investors are better informed as they engage with the region. In

any case, it can be seen that being Asia literate, as well as being a good black letter

lawyer, is a skill that Australian lawyers should aspire to develop.

ALEX’S MODEL PART 3

LITERACY

Applying Bigg’s taxonomy of knowledge, true mastery of a certain subject matter will

only come with functioning knowledge. Therefore, functioning knowledge of Asian law

can be acquired by ‘walking around in the shoes of Asians’ as explained by Leon Wolff.

Alternatively, one could follow Vervoon’s methodology for generating knowledge, i.e.

‘bridge-building’ and ‘constructing rafts’. The articles by Wolff and Vervoon

demonstrate that there is no stead fast rule to developing Asian cultural literacy and that it

can be developed using various methods. However, I feel that Australian lawyers in

particular should guard against complacency and imperialist attitudes because from my

experience in Malaysia, many expatriates have a tendency to cluster together in ‘elite’

communities without seizing the opportunity to make the most of their time in the region

by at least attempting to integrate with the locals. To this end, I also recall reading about

an American in Jakarta shortly after the bombing of JW Marriot Jakarta who felt very

safe, and rightly so, despite the high alert for terrorist activity because he spoke the

language and mingled freely with its people which led to him assimilating over time.

PERCEPTIONS OF ASIA

From the readings, I am inclined to agree more with authors who have observed that

Westerners have a tendency to homogenize and dominate Asia instead of those

perpetuating relativistic views. Taking Asian women for example, I strongly believe that

the way in which the media (largely controlled by the West) portrays Asian women as

subservient, mystical, petite creatures is tailored to the way in Western men homogenize

and dominate Asian women. I would coin this as the ‘Geisha effect’, following the film

‘Memoirs of Geisha’ where the leading actress had exotic oriental features, piercing blue

eyes and a svelte personality. Other recent Hollywood films – note: ‘Crouching Tiger &

Hidden Dragon, Charlie’s Angels, Kill Bill have also played to this stereotype. In truth,

Asian women are just as diverse as their Western counterparts. As Roches and Edwards

points out, Asia has had its fair share of female head of states or political icons, such as

Megawati Sukarnoputeri, Gloria Arroyo, Aung San Suu Kyi and Imelda Marcos. This

obviously stands in stark contrast with the widely held erroneous perception that Asian

women are domestic, obedient and subservient to male fantasies whatever they may be.

Domination of culture may have been brought upon by the latent superiority Westerners

feel. These are the after effects of colonialism when Westerners were in an advantageous

position of power as imperial masters. Due to the colonial history between East and West,

one cannot solely blame Westerners of today for homogenizing and dominating Asian

culture. It takes two hands to clap and many Asians exacerbate the problem by frowning

upon their own. I have been treated very rudely in some Chinese restaurants around

Kingsford but suddenly given top quality, friendly service when I bring along an Anglo

Australian friend. The same applies in my home country Malaysia where airport staff are

much friendlier to white foreigners than say, tourists of Asian appearance. Perhaps this is

a sweeping generalization (or perhaps white Australians tip more ??), but unless a more

relativistic and objective perspective view of Asia is taken, Asia lawyers will find it

difficult to distinguish themselves from the general populace by being unaware of their

latent superiority and accompanying superior treatment by Asians. This will in turn make

them less effective in interpreting Asia or bridging the divide between East and West.

Representations

Alternative Dispute Resolution

As Asia’s influence grows in the global market, the West is starting to familiarize itself

with certain key characteristics of Asian style legal sytems – i.e. the importance of ‘guan-

xi’ (from China). Guan Xi literally means ‘connections’ but generally is used to describe

the relations between two or parties to a transaction. It is important in many Asian

cultures to develop Guan Xi (or a similar guan xi equivalent for non Chinese nations) as a

prerequisite before conducting business. As such, the West now appreciates that given

this context, it is sensible that alternative dispute resolution methods will be preferred to

litigation and should be used as the primary method for solving legal disputes.

Asian Common Law Nations

While at first glance, Asian common law nations such as Singapore and Malaysia, and to

a lesser extent India, have a judicial system that looks and smells like our own, an

experienced Asian literate lawyer will be astute enough to point out the differences.

Although these nations have constitutions which infer freedom of rights, Jayasuriya has

demonstrated in the readings that economic progress can occur while political reforms are

left behind. Furthermore, the incorporation of Asian values such as communitarian

attitudes mean that individual rights and freedoms may not always be safeguarded, as ex-

Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim found out to his ultimate detriment.

Therefore, Asian literate lawyers should exercise caution even when engaging with Asian

countries with legal systems very similar to Australia. Issues such as an incomplete

separation of powers or a non-independent judiciary should spring to mind.

Context

By appreciating the extracts above, as well as the effects of colonization and

globalization, Asian literate lawyers should be better placed and will stand in good stead

to view both Asian and Western legal systems critically. This in itself is no easy feat and

will take much time and sustained effort to engage with a region as vast and diverse as

Asia. I am a staunch believer that it is much easier to learn something you are interested

in. Perhaps a useful hint would be to immerse yourself in the culture to the point that it

actually grows on you and you find yourself attracted to it. This may well translate into a

steeper learning curve and then you will be well on your way to becoming an Asian

specialist lawyer!