Introduction

When Singapore was founded by Stamford Raffles in January 1819, the population consisted of 120 Malays and 30 Chinese. As a result of immigration from China, India and Indonesia, the composition of the population was gradually transformed into the multiracial one today, with the Chinese becoming the majority (77 per cent) and the other minority groups being the Malays (14 per cent), the Indians (7.6 per cent), and other ethnic groups (1.4 per cent). The population is also multilingual (there are four official languages and many dialects) and multireligious, consisting of 53.8 per cent Buddhists and Taoists, 14.9 per cent Muslims, 14.5 per cent with no religion, 12.9 per cent Christians, and 3.3 per cent Hindus.

Singapore became independent on 9 August 1965 but it was not a nation4 yet in spite of the nation-building efforts of the People's Action Party (PAP) government since its assumption of office in June 1959. Indeed, Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew's recent answer to the question “Will we become one tribe [that is, nation]?” was:

What is Singapore's approach to nation-building? What is the impact of globalization on Singapore's national identity? Why has the PAP government changed its approach to nation-building from its initial emphasis on the development of a Singaporean national identity in 1965 to the development of ethnic self-help groups since 1982 to improve the socio-economic status of the Chinese, Malays, Indians and Eurasians in Singapore? Has the influx of permanent residents and emphasis on foreign talent resulted in the erosion of the loyalty of Singaporeans? These questions will be discussed in the following sections of this chapter.