Honor; a word with several meanings but basically an abstract concept entailing a perceived quality of worthiness and respectability that affects both the social standing and the self-evaluation of an individual or corporate body such as a family, school, regiment or nation. Accordingly, individuals (or corporate bodies) are assigned worth and stature based on the harmony of their actions with a specific code of honour, and the moral code of the society at large[1]. It also refers to personal integrity and allegiance to moral principles that hold society together, principles without which society might as well be likened to a jungle of animals as humanity is robbed of its very essence when sense of rights, duty and obligations are lacking.
Different people hold different honour codes but that has
never diminished its meaning and relevance in the society. Honour still remains
a code of behavior that defines the duties/responsibilities of an individual
within a social group.
Please come along with me on a trip to the Asian
continent.
Let’s make a stop
at Beijing the Chinese capital where the concept of “Face” is most important.
Sorry, we’re not about to discuss your physical characteristics here. You ever
heard of the phrases “face-saving”, “name -shaming”, “losing-face”? Yea, that’s
the one.
Losing face means one has lost dignity, honour,
authority, social standing, integrity or trustworthiness. That holds true in
most Asian cultures especially among the Chinese where “losing face” is the
ultimate disgrace and it is not uncommon to hear of someone committing suicide
because he has “lost face”. Did you know that the most common insult in China
is “you have no face”? Here, people hardly talk about their problems or “come
out of the closet” because of the need to protect their “face”. This is in
contradistinction to the West where people “come clean” about the negative
aspects of their lives and in most cases become more popular for it. I wonder
if any Talk-Show host in the manner of Oprah Winfrey could ever succeed in
China or in Asia for that matter #justolohistots.
While suicides over loss
of honour might not be so popular in China anymore, I have heard of more than
one oriental public office holder hurriedly resigning to”save face” following
an allegation of wrong doing or corruption leveled against them. Whether the
allegations are true or not, the dishonor or shame felt by such allegations is
enough to send a Chinese or oriental office holder in search of a hole to crawl
into pending investigations to prove him innocent. This is not to be mistaken
for being held guilty before trial. It is the case rather that, closely
associated with the concept of face in China is the concept of shame. Shame is
the reverse of honour and to have one’s integrity or honour questioned is to become open to
shame. It’s not rocket science, but don’t try too hard to understand it; it’s
just a part of Chinese traditional reasoning and practice. This is how I try to
wrap my head around it; in some cultures especially but not limited to the
West, shame is bad or harmful to your health, but in the Chinese culture shame
is good, it requires personal courage. It means an acknowledgement of wrong
doing but a desire for change. It is more than a mere emotion. If you have no
shame, then you are to be feared by the devil himself for you are beyond moral
reach.[2] When a person succeeds,
the community or society shares the honour, and when a person fails, he does
not lose face alone, he brings shame to all those around him. And that could
mean for generations. I can’t readily give examples of recent events in China
exemplifying this but a few examples from the oriental world will
suffice I think.
Teh Cheang Wan served
as a minister between 1979 and 1986 in the Singaporean cabinet. He was
investigated for corruption in November 1986. Although he maintained his innocence,
he was found dead with a suicidal note in December of the same year.
In his suicide note, Teh
wroteI have been feeling very sad and depressed for the last two weeks. I feel responsible for the occurrence of this unfortunate incident and I feel I should accept full responsibility. As an honourable oriental gentleman I feel it is only right that I should pay the highest penalty for my mistake.[3]
More recently, the Indonesian Sports and Youth Minister Andi Alfan Mallarangeng announced his resignation on December 7, amid corruption charges saying he could not work effectively as a minister while facing the legal proceedings. Maintaining his innocence, the minister said he hopes that justice will prevail.
It is not only in Asia honour still holds true.
Ehud Olmert, the Israeli Prime Minister resigned in 2009 following a criminal investigation.
Earlier this year, Mak Chai-kwong also resigned as development minister in Hong Kong following corruption charges.
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