Filial piety is widely regarded as a key 'Asian value' that can be observed across diverse religious and cultural groups. This respect for parents implies obligations on offspring to take responsibility for parents' welfare as they age. However, increased migration within and beyond Asia has challenged the ability for people to maintain this tradition. People and governments in Asia are attempting to come to terms with the legacies of their culture and the demands of the global economy. This project will investigate the impact of Asian migration on the value of filial piety and how the notion of 'care at a distance' addresses some of the problems created by migration. It seeks to learn from migrants to and from Indonesia, Malaysia and Australiaon how they have negotiated the demands of filial piety and practised 'care at a distance'. It asks how filial piety has evolved and 'care at a distance' has developed as a value in globalizing Asia, and what social, financial, legal, and other mechanisms migrants employ to meet their obligations.

This project examined the ways in which families that were spread across Malaysia, Indonesia and Australia sought to maintain the value of ‘filial piety’ despite being disrupted across different countries. Filial piety is widely regarded as a key 'Asian value' that can be observed across diverse religious and cultural groups. This respect for parents implies obligations on offspring to take responsibility for parents' welfare as they age. However, increased migration within and beyond Asia has challenged the ability for people to maintain this tradition. People and governments in Asia are attempting to come to terms with the legacies of their culture and the demands of the global economy. Governments face social issues and economic impacts relating to the neglect of elderly citizens by their offspring who choose not to, or are unable to, offer practical care for their parents when they work far away. The neglect of some parents ha led to ‘filial piety laws’ being enacted (as in China) or proposed (as in Malaysia) to compel children to care for parents.
Therefore, this project had as its objective the examination of how people can actively and successfully maintain their bonds of filial piety despite members being so distant from each other. This research thus responded to Professor Toshio Kuwako’s call for research that is “practical and responsive” and which “addresses long-term issues on a global scale and across generations by examining the current structure of society and the way we live”. The three families examined included those of differing religious traditions, including Islam and Buddhism, and this project examined the everyday ways in which filial piety was maintained, but also the special or ritual occasions on which filial piety bonds were especially strengthened. While the usefulness of technology in maintaining bonds was predictable, the profundity of special occasions and rituals – such as celebrating New Year and weddings together – was an important finding. This is because such rituals are sometimes regarded as ‘empty’ and lacking meaning, but in our examples, they were of immense importance and meaningfulness.
To undertake this project and to create a key output – a documentary – the three families, which originated in Malaysia, Indonesia and Australia, were interviewed and filmed in the course of their interactions with each other. Interviews took place during both ‘everyday’ and important moments during their lives. An example of an ‘everday’ moment, included audio-visual conversations using Skype/internet, which were used to maintain contact on a regular basis. An example of important events included the celebration of Chinese New Year during which families were reunited, and also a wedding. Also for this project, publications in the media and by government were collected, and existing scholarly literature on filial piety was reviewed.
Project Outputs: In line with Professor Toshio Kuwako’s call for research that makes a “positive contribution to the shape of society” and “convey[s] those results to the wider world” the outcomes of this project include publications for non-academic audiences.
The primary output of this research is a short documentary. This three-part documentary is titled Caring at a Distance: Three Families Staying Connected across Indonesia, Malaysia and Australia, and has been posted to YouTube to ensure maximal accessibility by non-academic and academic audiences. It is a good teaching tool for those exploring issues of migration and globalization. A second non-academic output is a magazine article which is accepted to appear in September 2017 in Volume 4 of Here Be Dragons.
Two outputs are aimed at contributing to the scholarship around filial piety. The foremost of these is an entry which has been accepted in the forthcoming Global Encyclopedia of Public Administration, Public Policy, and Governance which will be published by Springer in 2018 and is edited by the Professor Ravi Roy. In late 2017, a presentation will be given at RMIT University’s AsiaPacific@RMIT seminar series.