COMMENTARY ON SINGAPORE (V3)

Thought-leaders contributing to this volume include Alvin Tan, Kwa Chong Guan, Yang Razali Kassim, Kishore Mahbubani, Gerard Ee, and more!

This volume comprises essays republished from various issues of the annual journal of the National University of Singapore Society called Commentary.

The third in a series that provides bite-sized reviews of the history of Singapore's development in a range of areas of public policy, it delves into the most challenging of them all — defining the Singapore nation, a quest that began just under six decades ago.

This is an enterprise that the pioneer generation of political leaders recognised would provide collective purpose and the soul to what government and people do to establish the young country — an area that cannot rely on engineered solutions or diktat.

The authors have proffered in these essays, their assessments of these attempts at crafting this identity but also the ground's responses be they through the development of the arts, the government's political narratives, economic strategy, visions of urban development, and civic activism. Included are discussions on Singapore's model of multiracialism, its vision of being a global city, the impact of public policy in the redevelopment of housing estates, and an appeal to adopt a model of empowerment in addressing the needs of the poor — incorporating what citizens are saying about who we are and wish to be as a people.

There is no single definition of what the Singapore nation is; nor should we wish for easy answers as they have to be created and grasped on the ground. There is no final destination. The authors make us all too aware that it will be an enduring journey into 'being' which is enriched by the freedom to explore ideas, ideals, values, the self and the metaphysical condition of being a community of unity, that is paradoxically, necessarily comfortable with plurality, hybridity, and change. Owning this common journey is probably what distinguishes Singaporeans as a people and the volume reminds readers of that.

Contents:

• Arts, Culture and Identity:
  • Struggling over the Arts and the Artist in Singapore (Terence Chong)
  • The Arts, Culture and Singapore as Global City (C J W-L Wee)
  • Still Building (Alvin Tan)
  • The Singapore Story: The Writing and Rewriting of a History (Kwa Chong Guan)
  • Imagining Singapore 2030: Language, Demographics and the Region (Yang Razali Kassim)
  • How Singapore can Transform Itself into a Creative Centre in the Region (Tay Kheng Soon)
  • A Narrative for Winning (Viswa Sadasivan)
  • The New Singapore Dream (Kishore Mahbubani)
  • Singapore in Transition: Staying Together for the Next 50 — Reviving the National Language (Yang Razali Kassim)
  • The Hub Concept — Reflections on the Past, Projections for the Future (Joergen Oerstroem Moeller)
• Society:
  • Social Participation in a New Singapore (Ho Kong Chong, Hasliza Ahmad, Helen Sim and Ho Zhi Wei)
  • Singapore 100: Becoming a City of Good (Melissa Kwee)
  • Returning to a Social Capital-Driven Vision of Fostering Inclusion in SGP 4.0 (Gerard Ee)
  • Foundations: The Mutants of Democracy (Lee Poh Wah)
  • Locating the Heart of Civic Action: A Tale from Cassia Crescent (Lim Jingzhou and Rocky Howe)
  • Transient Workers Count Too's Singaporean Way with Advocacy on Migrant Workers (John Gee)

Readership: Students, academics, policy makers, corporate sector officials and civil society activists, and general public interested in Singapore.

Key Features:

• Written in a non-technical manner that is easily accessible to the general reader
• Delves into the question of Singapore's national identity which is important as the nation is young and has a society that is diverse, well-educated, and more critical
• Describes the tugs and pulls of various definitions or attempts to define what Singapore is, and who a Singaporean is