Selective history and hegemony-making: The case of Singapore

Abstract

This article attempts to analyze the process of selective history and hegemony-making in Singapore, and makes the following arguments. Firstly, the birth of the nation-state led the political elites to rely on several hegemonic ideologies as founding myths, chief of which is the idea of ‘survival’. Secondly, to create and sustain these ideologies, two things needed to be done concurrently: de-emphasize the Malay-ness of the nation’s past; and accentuate the racial/religious nature of sources to instability. Finally, the article makes the claim that these ideologies have been successfully perpetuated, and outlines the contours of this success. In making these arguments, the article hopes to argue against Singapore ‘exceptionalism’ in studies on democratization, and further contends that the link between ideas, history and authoritarianism needs to be considered more seriously.