INTRODUCTION

In Chapter 1, I examined the particular ways in which the construction of national identity began to take shape in post-independent Singapore. This early phase of nation-building was as much about creating a unique national-societal identity as it was about reworking the nation-state norm to suit the local context. From the outset, the Western-educated PAP elite rejected the possibility of reviving the past traditions of Singapore's immigrant population and chose instead to deliberately construct a pragmatic identity based on development and economic success as the symbols of national identification. At the same time, these nation-building efforts were designed to create a bounded sense of national identity, but they disregarded the diasporic connections of Singapore's people and its transnational history. Instead, a progress-oriented transitional narrative became a central feature of the PAP's nation-building strategy. The government's pragmatic approach to identity construction based on development and economic success reinforced the idea that Singapore as a nation is always in transition — on a path towards progress. While this transitional narrative generated a perception that Singapore is always evolving, it has also been accompanied by a state-generated discourse of anxiety over its long-term economic prospects and survival as a nation.