The IPS-Nathan Lecture Series by Professor Tan Tai Yong
In 2019, Singapore marks the bicentennial of a significant turning point in its history – the arrival of the East India Company and the establishment of a British trading settlement on the island in 1819. Marking a bicentennial might suggest that 1819 was a point of origin, where it all began. But, did our history begin in 1819? What was Singapore before theIndiana landed on its shores, and how far back does our history go? The Bicentennial is perhaps an opportune occasion to think more deeply about our history and to reflect on whether that history has meaning for our present and future.
In this lecture series, Professor Tan seeks to explain how Singapore has evolved over a period of 700 years. Throughout its long history, Singapore has taken many forms – trading port, colony, port city and city-state – and its evolution was often influenced by external forces and factors. He will identify some of the underlying continuities to show that history is not merely a thing of the past; but by understanding how our island has been shaped by its history, we will have a better appreciation of our current and continued challenges as a city-state.
Lecture IV: "The Idea of Singapore – City, Country and Nation"
Singapore is both a city and a country, and arguably one of a kind. It was a classical cosmopolis, colonial port city, and was designated as a city under British rule in 1951. It then, unexpectedly, attained nationhood in 1965, and has since engineered a distinct national identity, built on strong institutions of governance. But being a city and a country at times involves conflicting needs and orientations. Looking inwards within the boundaries of Singapore’s shores for rootedness and common identity did not always coincide with the openness, mobility and external orientation of a globalised city-state. This lecture will examine the processes and paradoxes that went into the making of contemporary Singapore, asking how a stable national identity could be built around the constant tensions of being simultaneously global and local.