INSEAD Library

Includes bibliographical references and index

Digitized

Contents The Scripting of A National History: Singapore and It's Pasts The Scripting of A National History: Singapore and It's Pasts Foreword List of Photographs Abbreviations Acknowledgements Introduction: Beginning of History The road to 'in-dependence' Light at the end of the tunnel Singapore's postcolonial history Scripting Singapore's past PART I SCRIPTURE ix xiii xv xvii 1 3 4 7 9 1 1 New Testament: Singapore and Its Tensed Pasts A Martian's view of Singapore history Pre-tense: Revolutionary sons of Raffles A tensed past: Plots uncovered The tensed present: The plot thickens Racing towards the inevitable Quintessentially Singapore: Essentially Chinese Presenting the past Apotheosis: The Lee Kuan Yew Story as Singapore's History Barr code on Lee Kuan Yew: 'Simultaneously brilliant and hopelessly erroneous' In life and death: Reading maketh a man Setting the record: Right from the start The family first: The First Family 13 14 15 18 21 22 27 29 31 33 36 38 40 Sermon: Rajaratnam and Devan Nair as High Priests The template of Singapore history 'From someone who knows . . .' (Joe Yeoh) Genesis and the Revelation The final verdict: Lee Kuan Yew and Rajaratnam The final verdict: Lee Kuan Yew and C. V. Devan Nair Liturgy: Telling Singapore's Past through Oral History Singapore's Oral History Centre What is an oral historian? The common voice The singer and the song PART II SINGAPORE'S CHINESE DILEMMA Political Vanguard: PAP Leaders of the Chinese-Speaking Community Profiling the PAP Leaders Marching to the battle front Fighting for a Malayan vision Battles over merger and beyond Campaigning for a 'Malaysian Malaysia' Holding the fort: Discourse on 'East versus West' Extending the discourse to 'generational differences' Changing of the guards: Language of displacement Bridging the gap Language Fault Lines: The Wang Gungwu Report on Nanyang University Setting the stage for another university review Essence of the report and its immediate aftermath 'Being Malayan': A bridge too far Position of the Chinese language: Trilingualism or bilingualism? Accusations of Anglicisation Lamentations Student Political Activism: Articulation, Contestation and Omission Highlights of student politics, 1950s-1980s Problematising the articulation of a binary world: Chinese vs. English-educated activists Contesting for a place in history books: Memories and archives Interrogating through allegory: Novels and theatres Winning over the post-1965 generation: Political apathy and the omission of history PART I11 CONISCRIPTING SINGAPORE'S NATIONAL HEROES Toying with Pandora's Box: The Scripting of Singapore's National Heroes The heroic enterprise: From negating history to spotting heroes Interim heroes, mutating pasts Simply a war heroine A national treasure: Revealing or reiterating the silences? Swan song of a heroic ghost? Imagining a Big Singapore: Positioning the Sun Yat Sen Nanyang Memorial Hall Sun eclipsed: The Villa in the orbit of China's politics Land of the rising Sun: Reorienting history Singapore's essential Sun: Reaching high noon with China as the mega-market Sun's imaginative sons: Opening Windows 2000 Singapore's Sun shrine: Creative replicas on display Sun screened: Alternative discourse from the theatre 'Take in all the sunlight and love the wind and rain' 10. Conscripting Chinese Diasporic Culture into National Identity: Taming of the Tiger Balm Gardens From colony to nation-state: The importance of being 'Chinese' The Villa that Aw built: The tiger and his habitat The Villa post-Aw Boon Haw: The loss of aura Cultures plebeian and 'imperial': In search of Chinese nativity Enter (and exit) the dragon: Death of a schizophrenic Disney theme park Defenders and detractors: A debate on culture and politics Haw Par Villa reloaded: Redefining Singapore's national identity Conclusion: No End to History Notes Selected Bibliography Index 205 205 208 213 215 219 222 227 231 235 283 293