The suppression of the autonomous self in Singapore.

The purpose of the essay is to examine the historical constraints resulting in Singapore's current governing style and policies, and examine part of the suppression the individual in Singapore has to undergo. The essay will focus on the importance of literature, and then examine some other issu...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Li, Hansen.
Other Authors: Wee Wan-Ling, Christopher Justin
Format: Final Year Project (FYP)
Language:English
Published: 2013
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/10356/52230
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author Li, Hansen.
author2 Wee Wan-Ling, Christopher Justin
author_facet Wee Wan-Ling, Christopher Justin
Li, Hansen.
author_sort Li, Hansen.
collection NTU
description The purpose of the essay is to examine the historical constraints resulting in Singapore's current governing style and policies, and examine part of the suppression the individual in Singapore has to undergo. The essay will focus on the importance of literature, and then examine some other issues like language and education in Singapore. Rem Koolhaas, in his architectural essay “Singapore Songlines”, asserts that: Singapore is clearly not free, but at the same time it is difficult to identify what precisely is unfree, how and where the exact repression occurs, to what extent its magnetic field … is imposed or, more ambiguously, [is] the result of a “deal,” a perceived common interest: liberties suspended in return for the unlimited benefits of a roller-coaster of development that, in 30 years, has only gone up. (Koolhaas 1015 emphasis in original) As Koolhaas astutely points out, the emphasis on development in terms of national and economic progress has been a prominent consideration influencing Singapore’s policy-making and governing approach since the birth of the nation-state. Suddenly thrust with independence in 1965, “the island [Lee Kuan Yew] and his party inherit[ed] … [was] a mess: clumps of stylish colonial enclave … shabby military bases, a port, embedded in a huge, overcrowded Chinatown with a neglected hinterland of marsh … largely covered by squatter encampments” (1019). In addition, C.M. Turnbull in A History of Modern Singapore reveals that the official memorandum submitted to the United Nations Committee on Colonialism in 1962 “had insisted … [that Singapore was] not viable by itself” (Turnbull 299).
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spelling ntu-10356/522302019-12-10T11:09:44Z The suppression of the autonomous self in Singapore. Li, Hansen. Wee Wan-Ling, Christopher Justin School of Humanities and Social Sciences DRNTU::Humanities::Literature::Singapore The purpose of the essay is to examine the historical constraints resulting in Singapore's current governing style and policies, and examine part of the suppression the individual in Singapore has to undergo. The essay will focus on the importance of literature, and then examine some other issues like language and education in Singapore. Rem Koolhaas, in his architectural essay “Singapore Songlines”, asserts that: Singapore is clearly not free, but at the same time it is difficult to identify what precisely is unfree, how and where the exact repression occurs, to what extent its magnetic field … is imposed or, more ambiguously, [is] the result of a “deal,” a perceived common interest: liberties suspended in return for the unlimited benefits of a roller-coaster of development that, in 30 years, has only gone up. (Koolhaas 1015 emphasis in original) As Koolhaas astutely points out, the emphasis on development in terms of national and economic progress has been a prominent consideration influencing Singapore’s policy-making and governing approach since the birth of the nation-state. Suddenly thrust with independence in 1965, “the island [Lee Kuan Yew] and his party inherit[ed] … [was] a mess: clumps of stylish colonial enclave … shabby military bases, a port, embedded in a huge, overcrowded Chinatown with a neglected hinterland of marsh … largely covered by squatter encampments” (1019). In addition, C.M. Turnbull in A History of Modern Singapore reveals that the official memorandum submitted to the United Nations Committee on Colonialism in 1962 “had insisted … [that Singapore was] not viable by itself” (Turnbull 299). Bachelor of Arts 2013-04-25T07:38:50Z 2013-04-25T07:38:50Z 2012 2012 Final Year Project (FYP) http://hdl.handle.net/10356/52230 en Nanyang Technological University 32 p. application/msword
spellingShingle DRNTU::Humanities::Literature::Singapore
Li, Hansen.
The suppression of the autonomous self in Singapore.
title The suppression of the autonomous self in Singapore.
title_full The suppression of the autonomous self in Singapore.
title_fullStr The suppression of the autonomous self in Singapore.
title_full_unstemmed The suppression of the autonomous self in Singapore.
title_short The suppression of the autonomous self in Singapore.
title_sort suppression of the autonomous self in singapore
topic DRNTU::Humanities::Literature::Singapore
url http://hdl.handle.net/10356/52230
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