Inside Singapore

Singapore’s vision to continue to be forward thinking, independent state focused on economic growth, diplomacy, and security will require the Singaporean people to overcome considerable challenges, including social, economic, defence and environmental challenges over the rest of the twenty-first century. Today we visited the perfect representation of the Singaporean society, a futuristic and carefully manicured…

Dr Cao, our course coordinator, said to the group on the first day that “Singapore is a carefully manicured garden society” which beautifully sums up Singapore’s environmental appearance, as well as the society more generally. It is visible from before you even leave the Changi International Airport that Gardens and greenery play a large role…

While I was unable to attend the guest speaker lectures on this day, nor the official activity for the day due to the Influenza Crisis, however, Dr Benito Cao organised a visit to Little India with us where we toured the Indian Heritage Centre and the streets of Little India. There was a stark contrast…

Today’s guest speaker, Kirsten Han, gave us an alternative perspective to Singapore’s official state narrative , on the nation’s media, it is apparent that Singapore’s mainstream media is largely politically censored. Kirsten, a freelance journalist and the Editor-in-Chief of the New Naratif, whose work mainly focusses on political affairs, human rights violations and justice issues….

In the morning seminar for this topic, Dr Cao posed the question to the study tour class of whether Singapore was actually a democracy. My immediate response was that yes, it was a democracy, or to be more specific, it was as a democracy lite as suggested by the topic readings. However, the class discussions…

The Singapore and Australia’s relations seminar pointed out the two key factors that have strengthened Singapore-Australia relations, these are defence and security cooperation, and free trade cooperation. The Imperial Japanese Invasion of Singapore in 1941 set the foundation for a strong and enduring relationship between the two countries, with Australia coming to Singapore’s aid to…

Singapore places a great deal of importance and focus on its economy, which is not only depicted in their historically rooted trade stemming back to the 14th century, but also in their present day branding of Singapore in the International Landscape. Singapore attempts to promote itself as a peaceful city that is ideal for business…

Singapore’s story has been one of exploitation of vulnerabilities, aggression and conflict, however, it’s history has inspired the small city-state to be a friend to all through public diplomacy. This soft power tool helps Singapore to build positive and constructive diplomatic relations with other nation-states while maintaining their sovereign independence. The visit to the National…

Through the lens of social constructivism, Singapore’s primary foreign policy objectives are shaped to securer the country through mitigating security risks and increasing independent defence capacity, while developing bilaterally beneficial relationships with other Indo-Pacific nations who share similar ideologies. Despite Singapore’s self-reliance doctrine, she participates in and conforms to the international political order and normative international rules. As…

Singapore, also known as the ‘Little Red Dot’ due to its small landmass of only 250km², has shaped it’s identity as a ‘city’ that functions as a state. Despite having overcome significant challenges in her relatively short history, Singapore has formed a nationalistic and patriotic society that has been heavily shaped by its historical memories. As I discovered during our tour of Singapore’s…