Britain and Japan have read their own data grimly enough to appoint ministers for loneliness. Singapore is nowhere near these outcomes, for now. But the early indicators, thinning friendships, retreat from groups, ties sorting along class lines, are the same ones those societies recorded a decade or two before us.
EVERYDAY OPPORTUNITIES
This is why Prime Minister Lawrence Wong’s call for a “we first” society matters, as it puts the strength of our social fabric on the national agenda.
Some efforts are underway. For example, the Singapore Government Partnerships Office, set up after the Forward Singapore exercise, aims to turn civic energy into working partnerships among citizens, and between citizens and the state.
But a “we first” society cannot be built by the state alone. It needs everyday chances for people to meet, help and solve problems with others unlike themselves.
For instance, we can foster neighbourly mutual aid via what is known as a time bank, an initiative that is already available in other countries like New Zealand where members swap their skills and services using time as a currency instead of money. Imagine an hour spent helping a neighbour earns you an hour of help in return. This can help turn goodwill into regular contact across generations.
Existing ground-up efforts already show that the principle of matching neighbours works. Take Kampung Kaki as an example - an initiative founded by residents during the pandemic that matches volunteers with isolated seniors living nearby. Such schemes do not replace professional care; they catch the everyday needs that never become formal cases. They also give neighbours reasons to see one another regularly, not only when a crisis hits.
Second, give residents a genuine hand in shaping their own neighbourhoods. Today that usually means joining a residents' committee, a standing commitment not everyone wants to make.
An alternative is to convene small rotating citizens' assemblies alongside them. Each assembly might have about 20 residents drawn at random across age, race, housing and income, sitting for three months on actual local problems, with a real say in the outcome: from neighbour disputes and second-hand smoke to how a slice of the estate budget is spent.
The aim is to make this a civic duty everyone takes a turn at, randomly selected, not left to the willing few, so the assembly reflects the whole estate rather than the usual joiners. The mixing matters too, and can help build what a fraying society often lacks: the habit of working with people unlike ourselves, and the challenges and opportunities it brings. This is bridging social capital in action.
Third, we need more everyday, low-stakes spaces where strangers can meet. These can include neighbourhood tours that connect seniors, youths and newcomers through the void decks, hawker centres and markets, and informal groups formed over shared interests.
These settings work because the stakes are low. People first meet as neighbours, readers or fellow enthusiasts. And by putting them alongside others they would otherwise never meet, this helps to build what a fraying society needs most: trust across difference.
Are we in a social recession? Perhaps not yet. But the data should worry us because this kind of loss arrives without alarm.
Singapore has spent decades building economic, human and physical capital. The next bound is relational: the trust, ties and everyday habits that keep a social recession at bay. Building them is work for all of us, not the government alone.
Nicholas Thomas and Wong Kang Li are research fellows at the Institute of Policy Studies, National University of Singapore.
Wilson Goh is a research associate at the same Institute.