The Management of Globalization in Singapore: Twentieth Century ...

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Marystella Amaldas., Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University (Japan)What will Singapore be like 40 yearsfrom now? I can’t tell you. Nobody can.But I can tell you it must be totallydifferent Singapore because if it is thesame Singapore as it is today, we’redead. We will be irrelevant,marginalized, the world will bedifferent. You may want to be thesame, but you can’t be the same.Therefore, we have to remakeSingapore – our economy, oureducation system, our mindsets, ourcity (Lee Hsien Loong, 21 August2005).His words were no different from those echoed by hispredecessors, Goh Chok Tong and Lee Kuan Yew. Thechallenges facing Singapore whatever its guise maybe,whether it is economic, ideological, cultural, SARS, bird-fluvirus or terrorism remain the same, always threatening. Therelevance of Singapore rests upon its ability to adapt to itsever changing geographical, economic and culturalenvironment. In this, we can argue that the only certaintyabout Singapore’s future is that it is uncertain. But weshould be careful to distinguish between the Singaporeeconomy and the nation, and it is the former which faces thedanger of becoming irrelevant and marginalized. Of course,this separation is never made in Singapore. Thus the fragilityand the uncertainty of the state of the nation both ineconomic and cultural/symbolic terms are closely interlinkedin political discourse.The Singapore nation/global city is a powerfulsymbolic and material force. It offers the social hope ofbelonging, identity, sense of place, prosperity, opportunitiesand excitement for its citizens. The fostering of hope isnecessary in the context of Singapore where uncertaintiesprevail. Beyond the types of strategies found in Singapore 21and Remaking Singapore (improving the material quality oflife and building of heartware) as way of dealing with thechallenges of globalization, it is critical that the Singaporestate endeavors to cultivate both an active sense of belongingand ownership over the nation’s destiny and a sense of hopeamong its citizens. Most Singaporeans have internalized the999
The Management of Globalization in Singapore: Twentieth Century Lessons for theEarly Decades of the New Centuryanxieties of living in Singapore (also reproduced by the state)negating the social conditions that can activate hope as anenduring characteristic and approach to life (Hage, 2003). Itis vital that hope replaces the deep uncertainties thatcharacterize the socio-economic life of the Singapore citystate.For that to emerge the Singapore state must invest inproviding opportunities for its citizens not just to benefit fromthe nation’s economic success but to exercise theircitizenship and affective commitment to the nation.ReferencesAppadurai, Arjun. 1996. Modernity at Large: Cultural Dimensions ofglobalization. Minneapolis: University Minnesota Press.Anderson, Benedict, 1983. Imagined Communities: Reflection on the Originsand Spread of Nationalism. London: Verso, 1983.Bhanoji Rao, V.V., 1996. “Income Inequality in Singapore: Facts and Policies”in Lim Chong Yah (Editor), Economic Policy. Singapore: Addison – WesleyPublishing Company.Bilveer Singh. 2008, “SINGAPORE: Success at Home, Challenges fromAbroad”, Southeast Asian Affairs. Singapore: Institute of Southeast AsianStudies.Brown, David. 1998. “Globalization, Ethnicity and the Nation-State: The Case ofSingapore”, Australian Journal International Affairs 52, no. 1: 35-46.Fields, G. S., “Income Distribution in Developing Economies: Conceptual, Dataand Policy Issues in Broad – Based growth”, Second ADB Conference onDevelopment Economies, Manila, 26-28 November 1993.Gupta, Akhil, 1997. “The Song of the Nonaligned World: TransnationalIdentities and the Reinscription of Space in Late Capitalism” in Gupta, Akhil andFerguson James (eds.), Culture, Power, Place: Explorations in CriticalAnthropology. Durham: Duke University Press.Hage, Ghassan, 2003. Against Paranoid Nationalism: Searching for Hope in aShrinking Society. Annandale, NSW: Pluto Press.Hall, Stuart, 1991. “The Local and the global: Globalization and Ethnicity”, inAnthony D. King (ed.). Culture, globalization and the World-System. London:MacMillan Press Ltd.1000
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