Responding to Globalization: Nation, Culture and Identity in Singapore

Conclusion

202 RESPONDING TO GLOBALIZATION CONCLUSION But Singapore is always work-in-progress, always improving, and always striving for new achievements. (Deputy Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, Straits Times Interactive, 3 June 2003.) FROM A BARREN PIECE OF LAND TO A THRIVING GLOBAL CITY Just as I was writing this conclusion, Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong delivered his 2003 National Day Rally speech on 17 August. In this annual address, which has become a platform for re-assessing the year’s significant events (in this case: the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) outbreak, the global economic downturn and the worldwide heightened threat of terrorism) and the challenges ahead, Goh pointed out that: In a mere 38 years, we have transformed a small, unpromising island into a vibrant city-state with a first-world standard of living. Those of us who struggled to build up Singapore from our poor beginning will never give up on Singapore. Out of nothing, we have created a miracle. Out of a barren piece of land, we have created a thriving global city. We will never let Singapore return to nothing. We have not come this far to falter now. The only thing that can stop us from achieving our vision is a weak state of mind. Do you believe we can do it? If you say “no”, we will not make it. But if you say “yes”, we will overcome. We have done it before, and we will do it again. […] My destination for Singapore is a country full of activity…it will be a safe and warm home… a place where Singaporeans can always find comfort…it will be a fascinating city, competitive yet compassionate, busy and yet with time to enjoy friendships and recreation. It will be a nation overflowing with laughter, confidence, life (Singapore Government Press Releases: www.gov.sg/ sprinter/17 August 2003). The gist of this statement is quite simple: what Singapore has achieved since independence is proof that it can do just about anything. It is also 06 Nation_Culture Conclusion 7/4/07, 12:58 PM 202 Conclusion 203 an expression of determination. Singapore has overcome many challenges in the past and may face many ahead. His government is not going to let all the hard work of the past 38 years be for nothing. Whether it is maintaining a competitive economy, envisioning a vibrant and fascinating global city or creating a comfortable, safe and fun homely nation, its achievements and aspirations reflect both its strength and its vulnerability. The policy initiatives and strategies for achieving this are as much about dealing with the forces of globalization as they are about sustaining a viable nation. They both remain key tasks for the government. GLOBAL CITY/NATION I opened my book with a quote from Ulf Hannerz (1996, p. 143). In his view, global cities are “beginning to lead lives rather distinct from their territorial states”. He goes on to say that city-states such as Singapore are social forms in their own right and exemplify global city status. In proposing this argument, Hannerz sees global city-states such as Singapore as simply more advanced on the continuum of “global city-ness”, thus conflating to some extent, global cities which are part of a nation, and those which are nations themselves. However, I have argued in this book that Singapore, as a city-state, must be differentiated from those global cities belonging to wider territorial states such as London and New York which belong to wider territorial states. That is, the fact that Singapore is at once a city-state and a nation presents unique global/local problems and paradoxes. In the first phase of nation-building, these problems and paradoxes centred on how to imagine the nation out of heterogeneous diasporic communities. During the second phase — the Asian values phase — Singapore’s shift to becoming a Newly Industrialized Economy and its engagement with the “global” and the West was seen as a threat to its social cohesion. In this phase we witnessed an evolution from a “return to Asian roots” through the promotion of Asian values to “safeguard” Singapore’s cultural traditions to the state-mobilized figure of the “New Asian” in a quest to engage with the global economy while still maintaining a sense of distinct identity against the West. In Chapters 3 and 4, I argued that the state had to undertake a complex balancing act around how to go global while ensuring a rooted and committed citizenry...