Nation and Consecration: Conversions of Death into Sacrifice in Singapore

In an era of increasing scepticism of racism and primordialism, national narratives have urgent reasons to move from arbitrariness to motivation. Memorials to blood sacrificed have long valorized many nations, and sanctified their senses of destiny. In Singapore, prosperity and growth have fuelled the nation, but claims of sacrifice motivate and even justify its independent existence. Lee Kuan Yew was a principal architect of the national narrative, including the creation of a monument (1967) memorializing the civilians killed by Japanese occupiers during World War II—not only the thousands of Chinese caught up in a purge early in the occupation but also the Malays, Indians, and Eurasians who perished, a fourfold sacrifice for the nation. Following his death in March 2015, the Singaporean public viewed Lee’s own life as a sacrifice to them, creating a debt that they must redeem by maintaining the nation he helped to build, a nation established not by race, heritage, accident, or exclusion but by duties embraced within mutual commitment.