Religion and Culture in Singapore

The study of ideological systems - political ideologies, symbolic systems, systems of belief and knowledge and religion - is absolutely essential to the understanding of culture. In Singaporean culture the religious factor, for example, is of major importance as an ethnic and social marker, as a determinant of diet, dress, custom and even language, and as a potentially important political problem. The purpose of this study is to explore the unique characteristics of Singapore society in the light of its colorful religion and culture. To achieve this goal, firstly, this paper analyzed the dominant ideologies and social values in Singaporean context. And secondly, this paper examined carefully the contemporary religious situation under the influence of the secular state and the rapid social change caused by modernization. The major findings of this study, that is, the noticeable sociocultural aspects of Singapore are as follows: (1) Singapore society is to a certain degree communitarian. Singapore is the only nation in the region where there is a substantial Chinese majority and where Chinese exercise political control. Unlike southern China, the Singaporean Chinese lineage organization is and was weak because of the absence of normal families, individual based migration and the sojourner ideology of the early migrants. Furthermore, the majority (about 56%) of Singaporeans and most of these Chinese belong to religions such as Taoism/Buddhism showing tolerant view of other religions. This has been a stabilizing factor in Singapore society. (2) Regarding social values in Singapore, there exists a strong consensus on the so called social pollution. Polluting things are those designated as undesirable offences against order. In this respect, Singapore does not have organized crime, organized gambling and organized prostitution. Thus this society is basically conservative. (3) Religion is very important to a large number of Singaporeans although they live in a modern and officially secular society. For some it is a definition of their identity, for others a major part of their cultural life and for others a major source of spiritual, social and even cultural nourishment. (4) In the strong PAP(the Peoples Action Party) government the operant element is and was pragmatism derived from one central concern - survival. With the continuing success of economy under the leadership of the PAP government, the pragmatism of the PAP has spread out among the grass roots. However, this leads quite naturally the problem of order(the paradoxes of pragmatism): how to have both order and rapid change; authority and pragmatism; rationality and tradition

Problems of Race and Ethnicity in Singapore

This paper deals with the ethnic situation in Singapore. In all the countries of Southeast Asia, the Republic of Singapore is the only country where the ethnic Chinese are a cultural and racial majority. This study is closely linked with my other study ("Religion and Culture in Singapore")which I have already finished in 1995. Unlike many countries which have seen "race relations" as something to be played down or hopefully dissolved altogether, Singapore has chosen the path of quite deliberately and consciously stressing ethnicity as the main means of social classification, a policy that has profound implications for cultural life, educational planning and the entire organization of society. In this respect, one of the most pervasive features of post-independence Singaporean multiculturalism has been the tendency to de-emphasize the heterogeneous character of each race in favour of a more simplified, multiracial CMIO (Chinese, Malay, Indian, and Others) quadratomy. At present many data show that in Singapore there is a strong evidence of ethnic stratification in terms of employment status, educational attainment and occupational statuses. Regarding the relationship between ethnicity and religion, Malay ethnicity is a hold factor binding Malays to Islam. Of all the different ethnicities in Singapore, Chinese ethnicity is the one which holds its members most loosely in terms of religious affiliation. Of all the races in Singapore, the Malays with a minority syndrome are the most disaffected. But the sources of Malay dissatisfaction seem to be largely economic, rather than political. There are some evidence suggesting a high degree of political assimilation among the Malays mainly as a result of the PAP"s far reaching programme of social engineering. In brief, national ideology of multiracialism and the booming economy under the guidance of the authoritarian and sincere ruling elites have so far acted together to minimize the negative effects of economic inequalities on race relations in Singapore