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he Singaporean government, one based on shared secular experiences, values and norms, rather than ethno-religious differences. How does the Singapore government construct such a civic national identity? The next chapter examines the Government’s position as dominant discourse in society which facilitates the understanding of national identity in Singapore.

 

2.1 Gramsci, Hegemony and the Government as Dominant Discourse

Gramsci argued that political power is backed up by hegemony, attained through the dissemination of ideas of the ruling group to society to gain the people’s consent, to in turn sustain the hegemony [4] , thus acting as a self-enforcing cycle.

 

Since a nation is defined by the people’s continued consent to and civic participation in the state, it can be said that the government naturally has hegemony over the people. Thus, the government is able use its position of hegemony to disseminate ideologies and ideas through socialization – the internalization of the government’s ideologies – through institutions such as schools, which inculcates the government’s notion of national identity in the people. Since national identity inspires loyalty to the state, any government finds it politically expedient to construct national identity. However, a truly representative national identity should be able to encapsulate the values, norms and experiences of its people. Can the government-constructed national identity do so?

 

Since any government policy will bear a political agenda, a government-constructed national identity thus has political value in mind, rather than epistemic value. The constant socialization process may thus change what one knows of oneself as a Singaporean, and gradually erode one’s knowledge of national identity to fit into the social norms created by the government-constructed national identity. One example of the Singaporean national identity the government has tried to remove or reduce has been the popular colloquial language Singlish, a variety of English mixed with Chinese, Malay and Indian words and dialects. As Stephan Ortmann points out, “For many Singaporeans, Singlish has become a ‘badge of identity’”. [5] However, the government has on countless attempts disparaged and opposed the proliferation of Singlish, as it does not fit into their development plans, through campaigns such as a nationwide Speak Good English movement, promoting English and restricting the use of Singlish. Such actions taken by the government highlights the erosion of culture through the process of socialization which limits what one knows of himself as a citizen of Singapore to what the government-constructed national identity narrates.

 

The next chapter uses the Asian Values as a case study to show the epistemological problems of a government-constructed national identity.

 

3.0 The Asian Values and problems of Essentialism

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