Singapore: A Home in the Globalized World
Essay by Leng Leng Thang

"Tell me about Singapore"
I was born and raised in Singapore. But describing your own country is never easy. What characterizes my home? What is unique about the country?

Let's begin with what bothers us most.

The heat.

In travel literature, travelers are often forewarned of the hot and humid tropical climate, and the sudden afternoon showers and thunderstorms. We are therefore most grateful for inventions like air-conditioning and lightning rods. Singapore is situated only two degrees north of the equator, thus the abundant rainfall and high temperature--and the lush greenery all year round.

Singapore is also unique in being a tiny nation. The former Indonesian President Dr. Habibi in an unfriendly mood once called Singapore 'the little red dot.' Singapore is precisely a mere dot on the map, located at the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula. It consists of the main island (the "dot") and 63 offshore islets, totaling 647 square kilometers. The main island is about the size of Chicago. The topography is relatively flat with the highest point, the Bukit Timah peak in the center of the island, reaching only 163 meters in height.

Fortunately, the monotony in the climate and topography is compensated with the colorful landscape of people. From a calm Malay fishing village of about 150 inhabitants in the early 19th century, Singapore has evolved into a vibrant city-state that celebrates multiculturalism. The multicultural character of Singapore has emerged since its early years as a British colony. Singapore, which had always been a part of Malaya, became a separate economic and political entity under the British in 1819 with the arrival of Sir Stamford Raffles, a lieutenant governor of Java and then of Bencoolen (British territories at that time). The British soon established Singapore as a thriving free trading port. The immense new economic opportunities attracted large groups of immigrants from China, India, and the Malay Peninsula to settle in the colony. By the end of the 19th century, Singapore has become a sizable metropolitan city in Asia, with Chinese, mainly from southern China, making up three-quarters of its population, which also included Peninsular Malays, Sumatrans, Javanese, Bugis, Boyanese, Indians, Ceylonese, Arabs, Jews, Eurasians, Europeans and Japanese. My great-grandfather, a hakka from Guangdong, was among those who migrated during the turn of the century from southern China and settled in the territory as an editor of a local Chinese daily.

Today, foreigners make up one-quarter of Singapore's 4.1 million people. Among the 3.26 million residents (of which 3 million are citizens and the rest permanent residents), 76.8% are Chinese, 13.9% Malays, 7.9% Indians, and the remaining 1.4% from other ethnic groups. Along with its multicultural character, Singapore society boasts a variety of religions and languages. It is common to see churches, mosques, and Chinese temples alongside each other. All major festivals of different races and religions are declared public holidays. The official languages are Malay, Mandarin Chinese, Tamil, and English. Malay remains a national language for historical and geographical reasons. Mandarin is the Chinese lingua franca and has been promoted in place of the various Chinese dialects spoken by the Chinese groups. As the younger generations of Chinese Singaporeans speak only Mandarin today, they sometimes experience difficulty communicating with older people who only speak their own dialects. Because of Singapore's colonial legacy, English is now the country's lingua franca, although some suggest that "Singlish" (a Singapore version of English) might be more accurately termed the major language.

Singapore is a relatively new country. As a British colony, it experienced unprecedented prosperity, particularly after the mid-19th century. With the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869, Singapore, by then the center of government and trade of the British Straits Settlement (which also included Malacca and Penang), became an important crossroads of the world's major trade routes. However, the prosperity ended abruptly with the fall of the territory into the hands of the Japanese army in 1942 during the Second World War. The three years and eight months under the relentless Syonan (light of the South) administration was characterized by poverty, hunger, disease, and fear. The 1942 Sook Ching massacre of the Chinese and other atrocities by the Japanese caused a widespread hatred of Japanese at that time. Some older Singaporeans who endured the traumatic era still find it hard to completely forgive the Japanese today.

The British returned after the end of the war, and made Singapore a crown colony in 1946. The postwar years leading to Independence in 1965 were an era of political instability characterized by frequent riots, communist insurgence, and anti-colonial struggles. In 1959, Singapore attained self-governing status from the British. The Chinese-dominated People's Action Party (PAP) formed in 1954 won the elections and Lee Kuan Yew became the first Prime Minister of Singapore. The PAP had gained support in a united front with the communists. It was an uneasy alliance between the moderates and the pro-communists as each came with their own agenda; the moderates were committed to the ideal of a pan-Malayan nation, while the pro-communists, who strongly identified with China, wanted to become a communist state. This led to an open split in 1961 and the pro-communist faction left to form the Barisan Sosialis party.

Lee Kuan Yew and his government continued to seek independence via the proposed Federation of Malaysia. To the first generation of leaders at that time, the merger was believed to be the only way for the tiny and ethnically-heterogeneous island to survive. Their enthusiasm was met with much initial hostility from Malayan leaders who opposed to the idea because of the dominant Chinese majority in Singapore. Finally, in September 1963, the nation of Malaysia was born consisting of the Federation of Malaya, Singapore, Sarawak, and North Borneo (now Sabah). However, disagreement between the Singapore leaders and the Malay-controlled government in Kuala Lumpur, compounded by the heightened ethnic tensions and the 1964 racial riots in Singapore, eventually led to the expulsion of Singapore from Malaysia on August 9, 1965.

In short, Singapore became independent only reluctantly. But what followed in the short span of less than three decades is legendary. Despite the problems facing the tiny island, it made a startling transformation from kampong (village) to large, sophisticated 'globapolis.' Its economic growth was impressive. In the decade between 1990-2000, the gross domestic product (GDP) grew at an average of 7.7 percent per annum. The per capita income increased from S$19,900 in 1990 to S$32,900 in 2000. In the same period, the nation's foreign reserves increased from $49 billion to $139 billion. Singapore is ranked near the top in global competitiveness; it is also famous as a safe business environment and as the world's most globalized nation. Its national carrier, Singapore Airlines, is consistently ranked as one of the top world airlines, and its port is the busiest in the world.

The Republic's economic accomplishments have been hailed as a miracle and studied as a model. In Ezra Vogel's study (1) of the four "little dragons" in East Asia (Taiwan, Korea, Hong Kong, and Singapore), he claimed Singapore was the most distinctive because of its diverse population base and unique political development. Sir Peter Hall, in Cities in Civilization (1998)(2), described Singapore as "perhaps the most extraordinary case of economic development in the history of the world, which has launched itself by deliberate strategy out of abject post-colonial poverty within one's generation."

Few would deny Lee Kuan Yew's able leadership as a significant factor to the economic success of Singapore. As Vogel asserts, "...fortunately for Singapore, (Lee) had both the political skill to forge alliances that enabled him to remain in office over a quarter of a century and the overall vision necessary to set Singapore on a solid path of progress."(3) A host of other conditions made the dramatic transformation of Singapore possible; they include stable and non-corrupt political and social conditions, market-oriented reforms, adoption of export-oriented industrialization strategies, foreign capital and technology, sound communications and financial infrastructure, a skilled and disciplined labor force, selective interventions by governments, favorable world trends in investment, and Singapore's strategic location. The economic success story of Singapore continued even after the 1997 Asian currency crisis when the nation's overall GDP made an impressive rebound to 9.9 per cent in 2000.

Whether an entreport in the 1800s or a heavily industrialized state two centuries later, one thing remains constant in Singapore, the efforts to maintain a global outlook. This has since intensified as globalization becomes the buzzword in the Internet era. Despite the encouraging signs of economic growth at the beginning of the new century, the leaders remain cautious and continue full force towards economic globalization.


Riding the globalization wave
Liking Singapore to a small boat crossing the vast ocean, the Prime Minister, Goh Chok Tong, in the 2000 National Day Rally Speech, urged the people to unite in strength in face of the bad weather.

One way to keep ourselves from sinking, as the Deputy Prime Minister, Dr Tony Tan Keng Yam mentioned in his speech titled "Change: The Only Constant in the 21st Century" at the millennium celebration of Nanyang Technological University, is to ride on the globalization wave, for "... the country that can best ride the globalization wave will be the country with the fastest growth rate."

Globalization has already been in place in the industrial policies since early 1960s. The multi-national corporations that were courted to establish their companies in Singapore since the first industrialization drive have been valuable to the economic growth and international competitiveness of the country. The top foreign investors have been the United States, Japan and Europe, which dominated as much as 97% of the total Foreign Direct Investment in the manufacturing sector in the first quarter of 1989. Japan overtook the United States to become the largest investor in the period of 1986-1988 following the 1985 yen appreciation(4). This led to an expansion in the Japanese community in Singapore as well.

The Singapore economy has undergone major restructurings since the 1960s; each time, its dependence on the region and the world for its wealth becomes more apparent. The recent new blue print Industry 21 (I21) continues its focus on attracting MNCs to help Singapore develop into a robust global hub of knowledge-driven industries. At the same time, local enterprises are also encouraged to embark on knowledge-intensive activities emphasizing on technology and innovation as well as to go global and make a brand-name for themselves in the region and beyond. Incidentally, one of the emerging brand names representing Singapore is Raffles (as in the Raffles class of Singapore Airlines, and the Raffles Hotel) after Sir Stamford Raffles, who has been officially designated as the founder of Singapore. Here lies another unique characteristic of Singapore which often surprises outside observers: while most post-colonial states made conscientious efforts to erase any traces of their colonial past, the fame and reputation of Raffles, an Englishman and an imperialist, has continued to grow over the years, so much so that "Raffles" is felt to metonymically stand for Singapore itself(5).

The new vision entails major revamping in the educational system to cultivate creative minds and technoprenuership. Under the banner of the new economy, the population is urged to upgrade, change their mindsets, and "think global." This includes efforts to halt the proliferation of Singlish, which is feared to inhibit communication with the world. In April 2000, the first "Speak Good English" movement was launched to encourage Singaporeans to speak good English.

To maintain economic growth and global competitiveness, Singapore also adopts an open-door policy towards foreigners. Foreign workers have long been part of the working profile in Singapore. Today, there are some half million foreign workers with work permits on the island, mainly in construction and manufacturing. Among the half million, there are about 140,000 women who came as domestic maids, mainly from Indonesia and the Philippines. Despite occasional expressions of discomfort with the nation's heavy reliance on foreigners in blue-collar work, the presence of Bangladeshi construction workers, Chinese factory workers, and Filipino maids are nevertheless signs of Singapore's success as a wealthy, industrialized society and they are recognized as filling essential gaps in labor no longer desired by (or affordable for) the locals.

However, during the uncertain times of 1997, when the leaders floated the idea of deliberate efforts to attract foreign professionals, commonly termed foreign talents, to Singapore, the voices of opposition from the ground were more audible. Responding to the fear that foreigners may compete with the locals for jobs and the result in unemployment among the local talents, Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong argued that it is a survival strategy to attract global talent to help the nation gain a competitive edge in the global climate. Hence, Singaporeans must work towards building the best home for themselves, as well as for others that come ashore so that they may contribute and help sustain Singapore as the best home for everyone.

The Japanese working women featured in Under Another Sun and our parallel program, The Second Wave, are examples of "foreign talents" who have chosen to make Singapore their home away from home, at least in transition. They are attracted to Singapore for various reasons, such as its cosmopolitan climate, a sense of safety and security (absent in other big cities), Singapore's comparative nearness to Japan, and a perceived lack of gender discrimination. Obviously, their choice of Singapore is facilitated by the state's open policy toward foreign workers, which makes it easy to obtain work visa relative to other popular destinations such as Hong Kong, London, and New York. In addition, the growth of Japanese companies and the needs for services to facilitate the daily living of the Japanese expatriates and their families in Singapore constitute to the demand for Japanese-speaking personnel, a niche comfortably filled by these women.

The Japanese women working in Singapore are usually characterized as singles in their mid twenties to mid thirties. Because of their typical status as local hires without the housing and travel allowances perks enjoyed by their fellow Japanese male expatriates, they are perceived as being in the marginal status compared to the Japanese male expatriates. This marginal position affords them flexibility to shift between cultures, jobs, and their status as tourists, students, and/or employees outside Japan. The Japanese working women are also better connected with the locals and their culture. Despite their small number among foreign workers in Singapore, and their newcomer status in the Japanese community, they are more likely to be featured in local popular cultural medium such as local magazines and local drama series, signifying their representation as a part of Singapore's multiculturialism. These Japanese working women have great mobility. Although they typically work for three to five years in one country before moving on to other countries, or move back to Japan, we have come across quite a few Japanese women who eventually married to locals and made Singapore their permanent home.

While Singapore draws in foreign talents like the Japanese women and English men who made Singapore their homes--or one of their homes--in this globalized world, at the same time, Singaporeans are also responding to globalization by leaving their small boat to join the larger vessels, perhaps for a short or medium term as a student or worker/expatriate, perhaps with intentions to emigrate. Whatever or wherever they are, we Singaporeans cannot deny that our own country is indeed unique (certainly every citizen would say the same of their own country). I hope you agree with me.



Footnotes
1 Ezra Vogel, (1991). The Four Little Dragons: The Spread of Industrialization in East Asia. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. Peter Hall (1998). Cities in Civilization. Pantheon Books.

2 Ezra Vogel, (1991). The Four Little Dragons: The Spread of Industrialization in East Asia. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, p 76.

3 Ezra Vogel, (1991). The Four Little Dragons: The Spread of Industrialization in East Asia. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, p 76.

4 Lim Hua Sing. (1999). Japan's Role in Asia (third edition). Singapore: Times Academic Press.

5 Holden, Philip (1999). "The Free Market's Second Coming: Monumentalising Raffles." In Phyllis Chew and Anneliese Kramer-Dahl, eds. Reading Culture: Textual Practices in Singapore, Singapore: Times Academic Press, 83-98.


Recommended Readings
Chew, Ernest C.T. and Edwin Lee, ed. (1991). A History of Singapore. Singapore: Oxford University Press.

Hill, Michael and Kwen Fee Lian. (1995). The Politics of Nation Building and Citizenship in Singapore. London: Routledge.

Savage, Victor. (1999). "Singapore as a Global City: change and challenge for the 21st century." In Linda Low, ed.: Singapore: Towards a Developed Status. Singapore: Center for Advanced Studies and Oxford University Press, 140-169.

Tan, Gerald. (1999) The End of the Asian Miracle?: Tracing Asia's Economic Transformation. Singapore: Times Academic Press.

Thang, Leng Leng, Elizabeth MacLachlan and Miho Goda. (forthcoming) Expatriates on the Margins: A Study of Japanese Women Working in Singapore. Geoforum.

Information on Singapore can also be obtained from http://www.sg


Self-Introduction
I am, as you know by now, a Chinese female Singaporean. I currently work at the National University of Singapore. I trained as an anthropologist in the United States. I have conducted a few projects in Singapore: on the middle class in Singapore; on retirees and retiree activity centers in Singapore; on intergenerational programming in Singapore. I also have a couple of research projects overlapping Singapore with Japan, such as Japanese popular culture in Singapore and Japanese working women in Singapore. My primary research interest is on aging and intergenerational relations, where I have research projects on intergenerational programming in Japan, and most recently on grandparent-grandchildren relationship in Asia.