Commentary on Singapore

The following sections are included:

• Contents
• Introduction

In the arts, as with everything else, the struggle for power comes in a variety of forms. Of these, the one over meaning is probably the most dynamic. After all, when it comes to the control of public funds or the flexing of regulatory muscle, local arts groups have to contend with an uneven playing field where the state reigns supreme. It is, however, in the struggle for the meaning of Art and the role of the Artist that the contest becomes more open and because of this, more overt…

Having a population of 5.1 million people, including foreigners, in 2010, Singapore is distinct from other post-colonial societies. In striving to match the achievements of the advanced West, it forsook not only many of the political dimensions of democratic life associated with it but also its cultural dimensions at the level of high-art and in the “way of life” sense. Instead, an industrial and commercial understanding of culture was elevated, and manufacturing and productive institutions became the collective basis of social life. Yet, despite a puritanical modernity, experimental theatre and visual art started to flourish in the 1980s…

The following sections are included:

• The Building of a Nation
• Present Imperfect
• Sustainability

In 1987, Mr S Rajaratnam, then Senior Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office, confidently declared that “until very recently, Singapore’s past was a matter of supreme indifference for most Singaporeans because they believed this island never really had a history worth remembering.” As Rajaratnam pointed out, “our history began in 1819 when Raffles landed in swampy Singapore with some 40 to 50 unremarkable kampong houses and no more than 400 Malays, Orang Laut and a sprinkling of very lost Chinese. This is not the stuff which enthralling history is made out of. Nothing very much appears to have happened in Singapore — if anything happened at all — before Raffles landed in this unpromising island.” The argument Rajaratnam was leading up to, was that “though our history began in 1819, this brief past is what made Singapore and its people what they are today, and it is this Singapore’s past which will shape their future and furnish the ingredients for a national identity…”

The following sections are included:

• Preamble: Vision 2030
• Generational Change and Continuity
• Language, Politics and the Region
• Impact of Changing Demographics
• Going Forward

Everything that happens in the world affects Singapore. When the big powers sneeze, we get a cold. Singapore is a third-world orphan that refused to be put down so its only way was up and so succeeded under the umbrella of its Western stepparents. However, Singapore’s will to succeed was based on its own vision and discipline. But that discipline had a cost. The cost was the decline in authentic identity, lack of self-confidence and low levels of creativity. Initial creativity gave way to reliance on the best of others but not itself. While success brought pride, that pride was brittle. Together, these put the brakes on stepping out of the box…

Of the lessons in political commentary that the late S Chandramohan taught me, one stands out. He was then the Director of the Current Affairs Programmes Division of the Singapore Broadcasting Corporation. In the draft of my script for a special edition of the then popular weekly current affairs programme, Feedback, I described the former Prime Minister (PM) Mr Lee Kuan Yew as a “politician”. Chandra told me that I was wrong; the term “politician” is pejorative and refers to those who use political power to further interests that are less than noble. He said that Singapore has political leaders who have the “intellectual sophistication and emotional integrity” to deliver on promises. Chandra emphasised that even though some of their policies and actions could appear undemocratic and even draconian, closer examination would show that they were based on a “logic of accountability”…

It is always best to begin an article with a strong statement to grab the reader’s attention. So here is my strong statement: when Singapore celebrates its 50^th anniversary on 9 August 2015, it can confidently claim that no other newly independent nation has developed as rapidly and as comprehensively as Singapore has in its first 50 years. Several people have challenged this claim of mine. However, when asked to name any other newly independent nation that has done better than Singapore, they could not. In short, for the first 50 years of its development, Singapore can lay claim to having been number one in the world…

The following sections are included:

• Pondering the Way Forward
• National Identity in Transition?
• The Shifting Ground
• National Identity and Changing Demographics
• Public Reactions
• Role of the Government and the Malay Community

Over the preceding fifty years, Singapore has earned the right and honour of being labelled the number one hub in the world — absolute leader, uncontested and indisputable.

In the prism of today, it seems obvious, almost self-evident, but this was far from the case when Singapore started to look for a way forward after Independence in 1965. Most of the arguments against success — small population, small economy, and a small market — were turned on their head to become assets by plugging into the role of being a hub…

The following sections are included:

• Introduction
• Diversity, Friendships, and Singapore’s Youths
• Benefiting from Social Participation
• Cultivating Social Participation
• Social Participation and a New National Youth Council
• Conclusion

Why should we be in such desperate haste to succeed, and in such desperate enterprises? If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away. Do not think that I have come to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfil.

At the cusp of our next fifty years as an independent city-state, we stand in a Singapore challenged by rising economic pressures, shifting demographic trends and conflicting ideologies that keep both the policy circles and coffee shops buzzing with discussion about that future. However, Singapore has emerged from SG50 — code for Singapore at its 50 years of Independence — stronger, clearer and more united about who we are and what kind of a country we want to build…

In the 1980s when I was a youth worker, young people who did not have the benefit of succeeding in school got on in life by taking up a trade. If they were willing, it would not have been difficult by word of mouth to find plumbers, carpenters, electricians or other craftsmen to take them on as apprentices. Most of the youth who came to my programmes started off as painters and along the way picked up other skills that served them well in blue-collar work. Regardless of their personal or family challenges, they were optimistic that they would find a way to make a living and to build a life. These youth were more than aware of their low-income background, their lack of formal education, and their challenges with the English language, our lingua franca. However, they believed that with the support of family and friends, they would make progress. This was a belief rooted in the power of social capital.

The preschool at the void deck of Block 52, Lengkok Bahru looks like any other in Singapore. Pint-sized furniture fills its classrooms, and song and chatter echo off cheerily adorned walls.

Watch closely however, and things start to look a little out of place.

Some children are tucking into pretend meals while one child lifts two fingers to his lips and starts puffing on a pretend cigarette. Another plays with a doll, but in a strange, sexualised way. In art class, a boy draws a wonderful, soaring eagle, because he wants to fly home “when daddy beats mommy”. Some children are formally enrolled, but attend classes only a handful of times a month or are habitually late, arriving hungry. When probed, the teachers reveal with stoicism and a hint of embarrassment, the verbal abuse they sometimes endure from parents…

The Cassia Resettlement Team (CRT) serves residents of Blk 52 Cassia Crescent, a majority of whom have been relocated from the rental housing estates of Dakota Crescent and Sims Drive.

Through weekly house visits to our residents, and other initiatives such as potluck parties with the community, we learn about and address the needs and challenges they face. We also seek to work collaboratively with various community partners, including formal social service organisations and government stakeholders, as we do so. Ultimately, CRT’s objectives are to walk the journey of life with the residents and facilitate the growth of communities…

The following sections are included:

• Change Through Words and Deeds
• Dealing with History — Dialogue and Trust-Building
• Sustaining TWC2’s Success