Nationalism And Sexuality: Ideologies Of Reproduction In Singapore
The main arguments of the article are whether the state demonstrated power and whether its narratives effectively addressed the crisis faced by Singapore.
Distorted biological reproduction patterns was a serious issue that was carefully considered as it was significantly related to the country’s economic prosperity. The pattern was skewed towards the lower-education level women (the minority racial groups – mostly Malays and Indians). This means that they were biologically reproducing more babies than University graduates. As intelligence was believed to be associated with genetic inheritance, this was likely to result in difficulty of maintaining the country’s present standards, or even lead to the decrease of competence level. A country with no natural resources, Singapore faced the risk of losing its global competitive edge. With the ratio of race and class being deemed with high importance at that time, the Prime Minister, Mr. Lee Kuan Yew, addressed the reproductive crisis being faced with great power. Controversies of the topic arose, which led to the “Great Marriage Debate”. PM Lee encouraged higher-educated women to conceive more children while lower-educated women have a state-preferred quota of 2. This was an act to counter the threat of a disrupted social and economic order. However, this was being seen as discrimination of the “less intellectual” as the freedom for sexuality pleasure was being shaped into a mere tool to aid in economic development. Although PM Lee was able to emphasise his power through the statistical representations of the nation’s progress with support from other government officials, he was discounting women as somatic machines for economic growth at the same time.
The lack of emotions on the topic led to the dissatisfaction and disagreement on how the issue was being addressed. This was due to the misinterpretation of PM Lee’s intended message of encouraging women with higher education level to have more children so that there is a more balanced reproduction rate. PM Lee did not intend to make the lower-educated women segment feel inferior towards the situation. Incentives were provided as a way to convince the public to accept the changes that were introduced. Working-class women will be awarded an amount of $10, 000 if they agree to undergo tubal ligation. This incentive was packaged in an attractive manner to help the lower-income families in achieving a better quality of living, but it was in fact, to convince the lower-educated women to stop at a maximum of 2 children.
Benefits such as tax breaks were given to the Graduate mothers. It was also guaranteed that their children will be able to enter the best schools in Singapore. However, this promise contradicts a particular clause in the Constitution, which states that there will be no discrimination of the admission of students. The school admission policy was eventually dismissed due to the overwhelming negative opinions and emotions towards the scheme. After so, cabinet masters used the concept of the National Service in attempt to persuade higher-educated women to conceive.
The crisis of maternity was also one concerned with paternity. PM Lee even speculated the possibility of reintroducing polygamy as a counter-strategy. The concept of single motherhood also arose as many women did not like the idea of marriage and felt that they have the ability to bring up children single-handedly. However, the government did not favour the concept. The above-mentioned points show that the state demonstrated power in its narratives to effectively address the regeneration of Singapore society.
Singapore also faced a cultural crisis of equal exigency. In fear of facing dilution of national identity, the state promoted the use of Mandarin in full blast as “Western” values were perceived in opposition of Confucianism. Confucianism had always been an accessible culture as Chinese secondary students were able to choose it as a subject to study in “moral education” classes. It was believed that rapid industrial development would be impossible without the Confucian based culture. The state had taken great measures in preserving the “Chinese” aspect of the Chinese by initiating the “Speak Mandarin” campaign and dubbing most TV materials into mandarin. The reason that the state only emphasised the importance of Mandarin at that time was because the East Asian societies were developed economies as compared to the Indian subcontinent and Malay Archipelago. Due to the British Colonialism, majority of the Singaporeans were speaking English with different fluency. Therefore, the English language was institutionalized and used as the main language of communication after decolonialization. The concern was whether the consistency of cultural identity will be altered.
PM Lee’s take on the matter was that the citizens would become recognizable as the English language serves as a tool for them to take on opportunities. Moreover, the equation of “Confucian Chinese” agrees with making necessary changes to construct an essential identity. This means that Singapore was still holding Confucian values, and internalized orientalism was what allowed Singapore to preserve the “Chinese” aspect while striving towards a better economy.
In all, we can conclude that the narratives of the state were those of great power and effective in dealing with the cultural crisis. Just like a father to his daughter, the state had confirmed its power and addressed the crisis faced by the nation effectively. For instance, the state did not approve the concept of single motherhood as the indulgence would lead to heavy consequences. Agreeing to the idea simply based on women’s opinions would be unrealistic and may potentially worsen the economy, as a country filled with single mothers would undoubtedly deter potential investors and hinder economic growth. Whenever a crisis arises, there are many factors that the state has to take into consideration as the nation is just like a “daughter” that it needs to take great responsibility for.
