Renaissance Singapore? Economy, Culture and Politics - Softcover

9789971693770: Renaissance Singapore? Economy, Culture and Politics

Softcover

ISBN 10: 9971693771 ISBN 13: 9789971693770

Publisher: NUS Press, 2007

In this collection, public intellectuals and civil society activists discuss Singapore's public rhetoric about liberalization and its association with the development of a creative economy, focusing on questions surrounding conservatism, national identity and values, civil society activism, and the societal role of the younger generation. Moved by Singapore's Renaissance City Report, released in 2000 amidst an uneasy mix of millennial celebration and pessimism arising from a prolonged economic downturn, the authors engage with the public rhetoric of Singapore's transformation into a forward-looking, critical, unconventional, open, diverse, participatory, and inclusive society.

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About the Author:

Kenneth Paul TAN is Assistant Professor at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore. Contributors are Chng Nai Rui, Janadas Devan, Colin Goh, Suzaina Kadir, Terence Lee, Sylvia Lim, Edwin Pang, Kirpal Singh, Alvin Tan, Tan Chong Kee, and Joyceln Woo Yen Yen.

At a public forum held on 13 December 2003 at the National University of Singapore, a young lady in the 300-strong audience revealed that she had considered starting up a socio-political discussion website, but stopped herself from doing so for fear of the consequences of her actions. When asked by sociologist Kwok Kian-Woon what she thought would have happened to her had she gone ahead with her plans, she hesitated to give an answer, and eventually suggested in a tentative way that she feared the possibility of being arrested in the middle of the night.

The forum was organized for interested people and public intellectuals to explore critically the various meanings of widely perceived changes in Singapore's political system, practice, and culture. Words like `change', `renewal', and `remaking' appear to have found a comfortable place in Singapore's public discourse, in which the most dazzling metaphor has been the `renaissance city', a reference to a `rebirth' of culture and the arts, the economy, and the physical city itself. And clearly, anyone who returns to Singapore today after being away for just 10 years or more will immediately perceive the extent to which the country has transformed physically and culturally. The big question, though, has been whether these sorts of cultural, economic, and lifestyle developments and aspirations would also include more fundamental political changes. Or put another way, can there be a `new society' without `new politics'?

The `old politics' is a politics of apprehension - a ghostly kind of fear that, in a menacing way, haunts the minds of Singaporeans like the young lady at the forum who censored herself after dreaming up a plan to contribute meaningfully to society. But she was not alone in thinking this way. Even seasoned feminist and social activist Constance Singam, who was present at the forum, sympathized with the young lady and related passionately how she, too, had been warned by well-meaning people that her own actions were being closely monitored by the government. Several panellists at the forum, including Kwok, Cherian George (the author of Singapore: The Air-Conditioned Nation, a collection of critically reflective essays on Singapore politics), and Sylvia Lim (chairman of the opposition Workers' Party and author of Chapter 14 in this book) argued that this sort of apprehension in Singapore had taken on a life of its own - it was irrational, merely perceptual, and quite detached from reality. Nevertheless, it continued to cripple any attempts to mature as a political society. In fact, as some of the authors in this book argue, the crippling effect of apprehension extends well into any attempts - political or non-political - to revitalize society, culture, and economy, a development that needs to happen if Singapore is, at least according to official rhetoric, to meet the complex and highly global challenges of the twenty-first century.

The chapters in this book were written by public intellectuals from a wide range of backgrounds who had been invited to respond to the vision articulated so eloquently in the Renaissance City Report released amidst an uneasy mix of millennial celebration and pessimism from a prolonged economic downturn.

'Renaissance Singapore will be creative, vibrant and imbued with a keen sense of aesthetics. Our industries are supported with a creative culture that keeps them competitive in the global economy. The Renaissance Singaporean has an adventurous spirit, an inquiring and creative mind and a strong passion for life. Culture and the arts animate our city and our society consists of active citizens who build on our Asian heritage to strengthen the Singapore Heartbeat through expressing their Singapore stories in culture and the arts.'

In practice, what lies within, beneath, and beyond this renaissance city vision is anything but clear. And this is particularly so where politics is concerned. Today, notwithstanding the visitor's casual observation of how much Singapore seems to have changed, is there anything really new about Singapore's society, its culture, and especially its politics? To realize the vision of Singapore as a renaissance city, would a radically `new' kind of politics be necessary? What should `new politics' look like? Is the government ready for it? Are the majority of Singaporeans ready for it? What are its prospects?... (pp. 1-3)

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