Singapore State Research Articles

Singapore Biopolis: Bare Life in the City-State

In late 2003, the Singaporean government launched Biopolis, a life sciences technopole that brings key Singaporean biomedical research institutes together with global and local biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies and governance bodies. The government has allocated generous funding to a range of biomedical research at Biopolis and adjacent academic and clinical institutes. Its stated aim is to make Singapore the Biopolis of Asia, the premier life sciences hub in a region where several much more populous states, notably China, India, and South Korea, are rapidly scaling up public investment in regenerative medicine and genomics. This paper will tease out what is at stake in the creation of Biopolis for the Singaporean state and population and what it can tell us about South East Asian governmentality and its bioeconomic and biopolitical aspirations and anxieties. In particular the paper engages with the implicit utopian vision of a regenerative bioeconomy evident in the Biopolis project. Biopolis is a site which brings together local and imported scientific expertise with the biological productivity of the multi-ethnic Singaporean population, who are understood as surrogates for the SE Asian population more generally. The ultimate aim of Biopolis, I argue, is to recalibrate the relationships between the biological and political life of the Singaporean population, and secure the economic future of the city-state, through the advanced research and development of Asia-specific medical biotechnology.

“Community in Bloom”: local participation of community gardens in urban Singapore

Community gardens offer a space that allows facilitation of leisure activities, encourages interaction within different factions in a community and helps forge a sense of belonging towards the overall community. Using the case study of “Community in Bloom” (CIB) programme initiated by the National Parks Board of Singapore, this article highlights how such community gardens are also viewed by some as exclusionary spaces due to their close links with government apparatus. More broadly, it argues that a constrained civic activism not only affects the extent to which these gardens can forge communal bonds, but they also challenge their integral spirit. Despite promising signs of politically opening up in the early 2000s, the soft authoritarianism of the Singaporean state continues to be wary of non-governmental sanctioned community projects and civic activism. This attitude may prove to be resilient in the foreseeable future, thereby preventing the “CIB” programme from truly blossoming.

Teleradiology and emergency neurosurgery-presence in a small asian city state and need in a large canadian province.

Teleradiology involving the transfer of vital patient information such as scan images is an important technology to facilitate effective and efficient provision of neurosurgical care in the setting of scarce resources and geographic isolation. We review the implementation of teleradiology initiatives in the small city state of Singapore and its potential and need in the large province of Ontario and draw parallels in their strategic implementation. Although it may seem intuitive that teleradiology has greater applications in regions of vast geographical size, the technology has universal usefulness if applied appropriately in any neurosurgical or health care system.

Producing Singaporeans: Family Policies and their 'Latent' Effects

Like many other late industrializing countries, Singapore faces a downward trend in marriage and fertility rates that have come to be seen as urgent national problems. The Singapore state has made numerous attempts to shape Singaporeans' behaviour-using housing policies, tax incentives, and various campaigns to entice them to marry and have children. Combining data on state institutions and policies with in-depth interview data, the paper shows that these efforts have largely been failures if evaluated on the basis of their overt aims. However, they have had very important and interesting latent effects. The policies have produced norms and values about the ideal Singapore family form and the average Singaporean's life path. In the process of negotiating state policies in their everyday lives, develop a specific sense of what Singaporeans do and how they do it; their own actions are then interpreted through this lens.

Globalisation, the Singapore state and educational reforms: towards performativity

In response to the challenges of globalisation, the Singapore government has introduced an array of neo-liberal educational strategies to promote two goals: (a) greater diversity and choice in the educational landscape; and (b) greater autonomy and innovation at the school level. This article argues that the Singapore government uses the tactic of performativity as a means of state control even as it implements an education policy of decentralisation. Accompanying the strategies to deregulate the education system are processes of reregulation introduced by the government to monitor and influence the thinking and behaviour of key educational stakeholders. What makes the case of Singapore interesting in the international literature is that it illustrates the tactical changes made by a small and ‘vulnerable’ state in Asia in an era of globalisation and convergence of educational reforms.

ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND THE LEGACIES OF A DEVELOPMENTAL STATE: SINGAPORE ENTERPRISES VENTURING ACROSS NATIONAL BORDERS

This article aims at contributing to a more profound understanding of the relationship between the developmental state and private entrepreneurial activity, in particular the internationalization of business ventures. Based on ethnographic fieldwork in Singapore, this article attempts to identify the role of the Singapore developmental state in orchestrating the strategies of domestic firms establishing themselves in foreign markets. From the 1960s, the Singapore government has neglected small domestic firms — its legacy of the colonial past — for diverse economic and political reasons. Initially offsetting the influence of Western culture through the establishment of foreign companies, the government changed its tune, harnessing 'Asian' values and institutional norms to facilitate ventures into China. Altering between different legacies created ambivalence and shifting coalitions with foreign economies. Striking divergence from government directives has been found in the ways in which Singaporean firms go about when venturing across borders and, in particular, when drawing on the city state's legacies to give their ventures legitimacy and meaning. This divergence raises questions about the role of the Singapore state as the paragon of institutional legacy for its domestic businesses.

A comparative study of child abuse and protective measures in Goa and Singapore

The present article makes a comparison between Goa and Singapore with reference to the situation of child abuse and the protection measures undertaken against it in terms of strengths and gaps, and similarities and differences, and draws recommendations for child protection measures for both. The article is based on a larger exploratory comparative study of child protection situations and measures that was carried out between a progressive state of India, namely Goa, and Singapore. The two were found to be comparable as they are similar with reference to the Asian cultural context and comparable historical, economic and demographic profiles. The sources of information for the project were a literature review and visits to institutions and meetings with the key personnel.

New Media for Social Change

This article explores the role of state in administering an effective cultural policy to cultivate the gaming industry in Asia and in shaping popular media in a global context. Theories of globalisation have focused on the dominance of transnational companies in fostering today's global politics as well as new world information order. This article explains the historical context of cultural policy in South Korea and Singapore. Online game industries in the two countries show different levels of state involvement. While state and local companies in South Korea serves as significant actors in shaping the dynamics of the local industry, in Singapore state and multinational companies play pivotal roles in the development. By focusing on these two divergent locations, this article aims to demonstrate the significance of localisation in determining online gaming industries globally.

“Flexible Citizenship” or Familial Ties that Bind? Singaporean Transmigrants in London

AbstractEasier travel and communication technologies, together with the global demand and supply labour market exchanges occurring under post‐Fordist capitalism, create the conditions that make transnational family formations more common than before. Geographically dispersed family members are governed by different citizenship regimes that affect familial interactions and the possibility of family reunification. Such family formations have significant implications for the nation‐state framework and the way that citizenship is practised in a transnational world. Singapore, a young city‐state in Southeast Asia, provides an insightful case‐study to examine migrant motivations and citizenship behaviour. The political leaders in Singapore represent the nation‐state’s internationalising drive – which includes encouraging Singaporeans to live and work overseas for a period of time – and its domestic nation‐building goals as strategies that are both necessary and yet in tension with one another.This paper draws on discourse analysis to examine the ways in which the Singaporean state plays upon familial logics and citizenship regulations as one of its strategies to bind overseas citizens to the country. I also employ findings from in‐depth interviews with Singaporean transmigrants in London to discuss the manner in which the above considerations frame their decisions on migration and citizenship. In doing so, I argue that research on migration and the transnational family should consider how they both articulate and are in turn articulated by the nation‐state. I then show how my research results have important implications for citizenship policymaking in a transnational world, particularly with respect to gendered familial discourses and nation‐building processes. I also suggest that my research findings indicate areas for further academic enquiry into the morphology, strategies and temporality of transnational family formations.

A comparative study of policy approach for child protection in Goa and Singapore

This article makes a comparison between a progressive state of India, Goa, and Singapore with reference to their policy approach for child protection with reference to the Convention on the Rights of the Child and Recommendations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child. Comparisons are made for the overall measures for promoting child rights, legislation for child protection, role of the nodal ministry/department and alternative childcare. Efforts are made to identify the similarities and differences between the two. In conclusion, recommendations are drawn for child protection measures in both the places and for the methodology of comparative reviews. The article is based on a larger exploratory comparative study of child protection situation and measures that was carried out between Goa and Singapore. The two were found to be comparable as they are similar with reference to the Asian cultural context and comparable historical, economic and demographic profiles. The sources of information for the project were literature review and visits to institutions and meetings with the key personnel.

Inequality for the Greater Good: Gendered State Rule in Singapore

The Singapore state, in response to demographic trends of later marriage and lower fertility, has put in place numerous institutions aimed at “protecting” the family as a unit. In their effects, many of the policies place disproportionate burdens on women, particularly insofar as the policies reproduce “traditional” gendered divisions of labor within the household at the same time that they encourage women to participate in the formal workforce. We might expect the contradictory demands placed on women and the gender inequalities embedded within the state's policies to lead to resistance and/or expressions of displeasure — in ways that could undermine the state's legitimacy — but the policies seem instead to be integral to and enhancing of the state's capacity for rule. This article shows that gendered family policies reproduce state power through three interconnected mechanisms: they establish regular relationships between state and society; articulate particular identities and interests of Singaporeans as members of families, thereby undercutting gender and ethnic identities; and give content to notions of “tradition” and “modernity” that solidify the state's claim to being the only agent able to balance the twin tensions that are at the core of the nation's survival.

Port cities and hinterlands: A comparative study of Singapore and Calcutta

This paper analyses the evolution of Singapore and Calcutta from colonial port cities to a post-colonial city-state and a city within a state, respectively. It will examine how the historical trajectories of these cities were determined and complicated by their maritime character and evolving relations with their respective hinterlands. Singapore had a fluid (literally and metaphorically) hinterland and its economic, social and cultural orientations were defined by the maritime trade that it conducted and the networks that were developed as a result of its commercial activities. The modern state of Singapore, which embraces the world as its ‘hinterland’, remains in essence a port city – subjected to global flows, multi-cultural influences and fully integrated with and dependent on regional and global commercial networks. Calcutta's position as port city, too, grew out of empire and imperial trade, but unlike Singapore, it had a clearly defined and dominant hinterland – Bengal. Its identity as a Bengali city is therefore unmistakable and it clearly shares in the strengths and weaknesses of its immediate social, economic and political hinterland, especially in its post-colonial incarnation, when it shifted from being an imperial city to a regional city.

Global Assemblage: Singapore, Foreign Universities, and the Construction of a “Global Education Hub”

Summary In the late 1990s and early 2000s, select cities in Pacific Asia formed or significantly deepened formal institutional linkages with a variety of foreign (mainly Western) universities. The objective of this paper is to examine: the policy objectives of Singapore, a Pacific Asian city-state, in opening up its territory to new forms of foreign educational knowledge, institutional structures, practices, and technologies; the specific programs and practices that have enabled the Singaporean state to implement these policy objectives; and the preliminary implications of various “modes of entry” that the foreign universities have adopted for the formation of university–industry linkages in Singapore.

Cat's Entertainment: Feline Performance in the Lion City

Singha the Courtesy Lion and the Merlion, a touristic icon, are among several leonine symbols deployed by the Singaporean state in its persistent effort to manage national identity and police subjectivity. Artists have responded with playful and affective inscriptions of a “feline imaginary” that expands and contests the narrow terms of the official symbology.

Attitudes towards Literary Tamil and Standard Spoken Tamil in Singapore

This is the first empirical study that focused on attitudes towards two varieties of Tamil, Literary Tamil (LT) and Standard Spoken Tamil (SST), with the multilingual state of Singapore as the backdrop. The attitudes of 46 Singapore Tamil teachers towards speakers of LTand SST were investigated using the matched-guise approach along with four-point semantic differential attitude scales. The scales formed three dimensions – status, solidarity and social attractiveness; and three additional distinct traits – love for language, suitability for Tamil teaching and suitability for media presentation. The teachers' perceptions of LT and SST guises of two out of three speakers were found predominantly comparable for all attitude dimensions (status, solidarity, and social attractiveness) and two discrete attitude items (love for language and suitability for Tamil teaching). Two speakers were rated lower when using SST than when using LT in terms of perceived suitability for media presentation. Tamil teachers' attitudes were influenced by the pitch and pitch variation of the speakers' voice. Differences in teachers' perceptions of SST and LT guises were detected primarily only for the speaker whose voice has the highest pitch and highest pitch variation. The same speaker was rated highest in all measures given above.

Attitudes towards Entrepreneurship in Singapore: The Role of the State in Cultural Transition

AbstractIn 2001, due to Singapore's low level of entrepreneurship, the state introduced an economic policy known as the Technopreneurship 21 programme. Along with many economic incentives and structural changes, the state has also embarked upon an ideological campaign to create a more pro-entrepreneurial society. This study focuses on examining the attitudes of undergraduates towards entrepreneurship as a means of understanding the Singapore state's ability to 'change' mindsets. It finds that although the respondents still feel that Singapore is currently still un-entrepreneurial, they are very positive for the future. Indeed, the undergraduates even felt that the best way for Singapore to become pro-entrepreneurial was for more state intervention. This paper concludes that because of the capacity and capability of the highly interventionist Singapore government, it is a key agent in the process of cultural transition in Singapore.

Rejection as Freedom? HIV/AIDS Organizations and Identity

IDS first manifested itself in the early 1980s as an apparent “gay disease.” Cases soon appeared outside the industrialized west and among other communities. Given HIV’s modes of transmission, sex workers, drug injectors, and those who engaged in unprotected nonmonogamous sex were at higher risk, and the political economyoftheviruswassuchthatcommunitiesondomestic as well as international margins had the highest prevalence. Governments were slow to respond seriously. In their place, segments of the gay and lesbian community united by the late 1980s to educate, protect, and care for themselves, even in countries in which cases of homosexual transmission comprise a relatively small proportion of infections. 1 At times, governments’ abdication of responsibility left those nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) less closely-scrutinized than others—most notable where associational life is generally subject to illiberal controls— leaving them relatively free to advance explicit or implicit community-building among their marginalized constituencies. 2 Though governments and media gained interest as heterosexual transmission rates rose, both still neglected the highest-risk groups. Importantly, the perspectives, perceived constituencies, and approaches of HIV/AIDSrelated NGOs may diverge sharply from those of public health authorities, with unambiguous consequences in terms of the relative empowerment, receptivity to messages, and, ultimately, behaviors of target communities. I focus here on Singapore and Malaysia as clear, yet very different, examples of the state’s abnegating substantial responsibility for prevention and treatment among the most affected communities, but granting unusual latitude to NGOs that take up the slack. In both these semidemocratic countries, same gender sex is illegal. The Singapore state is generally highly intrusive and socially controlling, and yet until recently, it has taken a hands-off stance vis-a-vis the country’s preeminent HIV/AIDS organization, Action for AIDS (AfA), despite the latter’s rather “pink” image and targeted outreach to men who have sex with men (MSM). 3 Similarly, the government of Muslimmajority Malaysia has been loath to work with injecting drugusers,sexworker(femaleandtransgender/transsexual),

National Education as a ‘Civics’ Literacy in a Globalized World: The challenges facing education in Singapore

In this paper we discuss the idea of national education in Singapore. National education, broadly speaking, is a civics programme which seeks to instil a sense of place, identity and history in young Singaporeans with a view to developing national pride and commitment. We set this discussion against the backdrop of globalization and the idea of wired communities and argue that any civics programme needs to be more than simply a nationalistic agenda. To do this we have framed national education in Singapore as a civics literacy informed by the idea of multiliteracies. In doing so, we suggest that the pedagogical work of such an approach can help to sustain the nation state of Singapore yet place the civics agenda on a global stage where national education might be seen more appropriately as global education.

Embodying society's best: Hegel and the Singapore state

The Singapore state has been described as a “patriarchal state” and a “hegemonic state,” among others. The sheer variety of theoretical models applied by different scholars reflect two contradictory truths about the Singapore state — firstly, it is a sophisticated and complex entity that continues to evade fixed characterisation, and yet, secondly, its concentration of power looms steadily across all state-society relations, confirming the basic premise of these models, that is, the sheer efficacy of state institutions and apparatuses in legitimising and fulfilling ruling class interests. This article problematises specific models by excavating contrary examples of civil society activism and relations with the state in order to demonstrate the descriptive limits of these models. This article goes on to argue that the Hegelian concept of the state continues to be of particular relevance to the Singapore condition in the way the People's Action Party understands and legitimises itself, and its discursive positioning and prescribed role of civil society in Singapore.

Family Matters? Recruitment Methods and Cultural Boundaries in Singapore Chinese Small and Medium Enterprises

Singapore official discourse speaks of (Chinese) families as both cultural and economic assets and as vestiges of national identity. Chinese families are often described in traditional terms, namely as patrilinial, patrilocal, patriarchal and clearly hierarchical. In Singapore official discourse, the historical success of traditional family businesses is presented as a unique ethnic and national characteristic. Simultaneously, the Singapore state claims to be ‘modern’, ‘Western’, and ‘cosmopolitan’, allowing little space for ‘parochial practices’ and ‘archaic traditions’. Either praised or looked down on, family businesses occupy an ambiguous position within the ‘traditional’ and ‘modern’ discourses of the Singapore state. This article supplies the evidence of changing family and business relations in Chinese–Singapore firms. Three major factors are isolated that influence Singapore attitudes towards family businesses: Chinese culture, globalization and the logic of developing capitalism, and the role of the Singapore state.