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Re-engaging Chineseness: Political, Economic and Cultural Imperatives of Nation-building in Singapore

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 October 2003

Eugene K. B. Tan
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Abstract

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This article examines the management of Chinese identity and culture since Singapore attained independence in 1965. Due to the delicate regional environment, ethnic Chinese identity has been closely managed by the ruling elites, which have been dominated by the English-educated Chinese. There is the evolution from a deliberate policy of maintaining a low-key ethnic Chinese profile to the recent effort to re-sinicize – in form – the majority ethnic group. The article examines the policy impulses and implications for such a landmark change in reconceptualizing the Chinese-Singapore identity, which can be attributed to the needs of regime maintenance buttressed by Confucian ethos as well as the security and economic demands of nation-building.

Type
Research Article
Information
The China Quarterly , Volume 175 , September 2003 , pp. 751 - 774
Copyright
© The China Quarterly, 2003

Footnotes

Portions of this article were presented at the international conference on “Ethnic Chinese in Singapore and Malaysia: A Dialogue between Tradition and Modernity,” 30 June 2001, Singapore. I am aware of the inherent limitation of the article's sources of information which are predominantly in the English language but have endeavoured to reflect the nuances not captured by the English-language materials.