Singapore Society

As mentioned in the article, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said, "Singapore must restructure its economy, upgrade its workforce, attract higher value-added activities and push for free trade and investment with other countries", but what is Singapore?

In my opinion, I believe that regardless whether Singapore came about before 1819 or after, Singapore can only exist as it is if it is being recognised by its constituent members and its people. A nation cannot be based only on factors like its boundary lines and natural resources but rather on the domain of imagination. "It is imagined because the members of even the smallest nation will never know most of their fellow-members, meet them, or even hear of them, yet in the minds of each lives the image of their communion." (2)

Since, "a nation ... is an imagined political community" (3), it is therefore feasible that Singapore became a state first then as a nation. Just as W.E Wilmott mentioned, "Singapore was forced to become an independent state in 1965 without nationalism or national identity ... in Singapore the state preceded the development of nationalism rather than emerging as its political consequence ..." (4)

As agreed by Lee Kuan Yew that although Singapore has no natural resources and very diverse people, we made it. He mentioned, "We survived. Later, we prospered. How did it happen? The basic attributes of nationhood were missing. We were groups of diverse and different peoples. We had no common past. We had no common language, culture, or religion. We did not have 'the social glue' to hold together as a nation." (5)

Therefore nation-building in Singapore is being self-conscious and purposeful. It is monitored through its wealth, for example economic development, and how it suggests the idea of a sense of belonging and loyalty through an 'imaginative' aspect to define itself as a nation. As mentioned in the article, "The thing that 'holds everything together is the trust' built up over many years between tripartite partners," said Mr Lee.

However in my opinion, I question the word 'trust'. 'Trust' in the government to act in our best interest or the 'trust' in us that we would accept wholeheartedly all their suggestion? No doubt I agree with Mr Lee's statement that, "With this tough environment, we've got to do our best to create jobs to raise incomes, not just this year or next year, but on a sustained basis for the next five, 10, 15 years", but is it necessary? Would it backfire? In the following paragraphs I would be discussing about one of the economic development measures that Singapore has taken and the notion about having tripartite partners is impractical if the government is not transparent and restricts its people.

In September 2006, the Singapore government invested $85 million to host the International Monetary Fund and World Bank meetings hoping that it might gain significant returns by capturing the audience attention to Singapore's finance and tourism