Making A Nation In An Immigrant Society: A Study Of The Construction Of The Singapore Nation-state (1959-1991

Singapore,known as the "little fish" among the "schools of fish",is a typical immigrant country,with its citizens mainly composed of three major ethnic groups,namely Malays,Chinese,and Indians.The diverse ethnic groups also bring together a diverse culture,religion,and language in this small country.In 1819,Singapore became a British colony;At the end of 1941,Japan invaded Singapore,and Britain suffered a major defeat due to strategic mistakes and withdrew from its jurisdiction.Singapore entered a dark and brutal era of Japanese rule.It was not until Japan surrendered that Britain resumed its takeover of Singapore.After experiencing the colonial upheavals of Britain and Japan,the Singaporean ethnic group developed a strong sense of nationalism.Driven by this consciousness,Singapore emerged with numerous political party organizations and party politics,and its process of nation-state construction also began.This article is based on the process of Singapore’s national state construction from 1959 to 1991.On the one hand,it elaborates on the historical basis of Singapore’s national state construction around ethnic pattern,colonial history,inter ethnic relations,and ethnic identity.The construction of Singapore’s national state was based on a multi-ethnic immigrant society,and the nationalism that emerged under colonial rule was the ideological direction that promoted the construction of Singapore’s national state.On the other hand,it focuses on the research path from the outside to the inside,exploring the process of Singapore’s nation-state construction returning from the external institutional framework to the spiritual core on the basis of immigrant society.Specifically,the process of building a national state in Singapore can be divided into two stages: firstly,the stage of political power construction guided by survival and development,with institutional construction as the main focus,mainly involving comprehensive institutional frameworks and measures related to political parties,government,diplomacy,elections,grassroots organizations,social security,etc;The second is the construction stage of national identity guided by shaping cultural connotation and national community.That is,under the moral crisis and national identity crisis brought by westernization,Singapore has integrated eastern and western cultures from top to bottom,promoted the revival and transformation of Confucian culture,and formulated common values with its own characteristics.In this process,the People’s Action Party is the core leadership and important support for Singapore’s progress and development.Therefore,Singapore’s nation state construction is also a party led nation state construction.In short,as an immigrant country,Singapore’s process of building a nation state has been arduous and tortuous,but it must be said that its construction practice has been successful and the modernization transformation has been rapid.Its rise not only proves its strong development potential to the world,but also provides experience and reference for the construction of ethnic states in other immigrant or multi-ethnic countries.