Singaporean Youth and No Sense of Belonging

Singaporean Youth and No Sense of Belonging

With the entrance of foreigners, Singaporean youth claims to have lost their sense of belonging and ownership in Singapore, this was reported by a 23-year-old student at one convention when the guest speaker was saying something quite the opposite. The Singaporean youth doesn't know "what it is defending anymore" since the influx of foreigners in the country has caused fragmentation of nationalistic spirit. There is no single identity attached to being a Singaporean and hence the youth doesn't have the same sense of ownership that it once enjoyed because it no longer believes that Singapore belongs to any single national identity. What the youth is now experiencing is something that has long been felt in the political circles and argued in political discourse i.e. lack of sense of belonging and increased alienation.

It must be understood that the problem goes back to the time of Singapore's inception. When Singaporean was carved out of Malaysia out of fear of dominance by its massive Chinese population, it was a young almost hapless nation. In 1965, Singapore came into existence amid a strong fear that it might not be able to survive since it lacked natural resources and anything else to depend on. The only thing that it had was a vast pool of talented people and Singapore decided to use this resource to its advantage by becoming more global in its approach. It adopted English as the official language, sent many Singaporean abroad to study and imported many foreigners to complement the existing talent pool. These strategies worked for giving Singapore a much-needed sense of existence. It became an epitome of success and progress. However what the leaders like Lee had never imagined or envisioned as a possible by-product of success happened as well. This was the emerging sense of disconnect that occurred in the people of Singapore to their own country and their identity. Singapore had chosen to become intensely and extensively global even before the word globalization was in vogue. But this globalization took away its sense of nationalism and put its national identity at risk of going into oblivion.

This loss of national identity also took away the sense of belonging and ownership that Singaporean should have felt in their country. They were aliens in their own land and hence those who moved abroad never really wanted to come back. They did not feel any sentimental attachment to their nation, which was already too young to truly establish a national identity. The country has lost its ability to carve out a nation from a seemingly disparate group of people like Malays, Chinese, Indians and others. Who is a real Singaporean is a question worth pondering and it is sad that there is no real answer hitherto available to this very critical question. Globalization has not worked as well for Singapore in terms of nation building as it has for other countries especially United States. If there is any country that has managed to import people from all over the world and given them a sense of belonging, it is America. This country has a very strong sense of who an American is and the people who choose to live here are proud to call themselves Americans. Even immigrants and aliens are working hard to achieve the dream of becoming an American because there is a strong sense of ownership and belonging that comes with being a citizen of this country.

However the same is not true for Singapore where youth is becoming more and more alienated from its own country and looking elsewhere for sense of belonging. The reason for this difference is grounded in length of history and national building initiatives. While America came into being in 1776, Singapore only appeared on the map in 1965. America is an old nation now that has stories and narratives of heroism through which to build its national fabric. Singapore has no such narratives available. There are no stories, no symbols, and no traditions per se that can underscore the need for a land called Singapore. But America and all other strong nations have those stories to connect with and to reflect upon.

"The national myth of Singapore is the story of struggle against economic and political odds to achieve a first world standard of living. It is not surprising, then, that a national identity, forged on economic progress, would have little emotional or motivational hold on the populace. Indeed, as will be demonstrated later, this very economic progress, and the values of pragmatism, entrepreneurship, and opportunism that it demands, has also contributed to the undermining of national identity." (Kluver & Weber, p.378)