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A Political Reading of Home and Family in English-Language Singaporean Novels (1972-2002)

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A Political Reading of Home and Family in English-Language Singaporean Novels (1972-2002) A Political Reading of Home and Family in English-Language Singaporean Novels (1972-2002) Submitted by Caroline Nicole Garsten For the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the London School of Oriental and African Studies 2008 ProQuest Number: 10673113 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. uest ProQuest 10673113 Published by ProQuest LLC(2017). Copyright of the Dissertation is held by the Author. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. ProQuest LLC. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106- 1346 ABSTRACT Homes and families feature in many post-independence, English-language Singaporean novels. They also have pronounced importance in Singaporean politics. In state discourses ‘home’ symbolizes the Singaporean nation and ‘family’ society. In addition, government policies are renowned for extending into the private domain. Furthermore, the national value of ‘family as the basic unit of society’ has been ratified by Parliament. A few published essays link portrayals of home or family in this fiction to national politics (Koh Tai Ann 1989, Philip Holden 1998 and Shirley Lim 2003). These studies often consider depictions of home or family relations in relation to whether they ultimately affirm or shake the status quo. This thesis is the first extended study to examine the potential political meanings or connotations of portrayed homes and families in over a dozen English-language Singaporean novels. It provides a thematic analysis of housing, the overlap between home and nation, inter-class and inter-racial relationships, ‘filial’ strains and paternalistic behaviour in a politico-historical context. The identified stances in the texts are then related to the long-ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) Government’s positions on these subjects. The analysis demonstrates that depictions of home and family in the selected texts can be meaningfully related to the hegemonic PAP government’s policies, values, ideologies, and forms of authority. The multiple perspectives that emerge from the narratives can present more varied arguments than are commonly found in state discourses. In raising or gently alluding to different viewpoints, the novels may affirm, modify, question to the point of moral interrogation, present alternatives to, and/or critique state stances. In doing so they provide ideas for debate in a society where politics is deemed to be for politicians and where there is censorship and self-censoring. Table of Contents Acknowledgements iv Abbreviations v Chapter One Introduction 1 Research Rationale 6 Analytical Approach 16 Thesis Structure 22 Methodology 27 The Study’s Focus and Boundaries 29 Chapter Two Housing and the Urban Environment 32 Housing in Post-Independent Singapore 35 Kampongs and their Demise 39 Period Housing and UrbanRenewal 55 Public Housing 72 Conclusion 86 Chapter Three Home and Nation 88 Home in Singaporean Political Discourses 92 Nation Building 97 Geography and Nation in Literary Criticism 102 Fictional Homes in the Nation of Singapore 105 Singaporean Homes as Places to Stay or Leave 114 Home and Having a Say 127 Imagining National Community from Home 132 Conclusion 146 Chapter Four Inter-class and Inter-ethnic Love and Courtship 148 Couples who Traverse Socioeconomic Differences 152 Inter-racial Love and Courtship in Fistful of Colours 180 Conclusion 210 Chapter Five 'Filial’ Strains: Individualism Versus Communitarianism 213 The Singaporean Government’s Communitarian Ideology 217 Critique of Individualism in Ricky Star 226 Clashes Between Individualism and Communitarianism in Mammon Inc. 236 Advocacy Of Individualism in Peculiar Chris 257 Conclusion 264 Chapter Six Paternalism 269 The Issue of Paternalistic Government in Singapore 274 Paternalism in Abraham's Promise 283 Paternalism in Foreign Bodies 294 Conclusion 301 Chapter Seven Conclusion 304 Bibliography 314 Tables Table One: Narrative settings and temporalities of ‘core’ texts 19 Table Two: National reception of the ‘core ’ texts 24 Acknowledgements Many people in England and Singapore have assisted me. My thanks go to my patient supervisors. To Rachel Harrison for inspiring me to embark on this thesis, and for ail her advice and detailed readings of numerous drafts; and to Ulrich Kratz for the different perspectives he raised and his kindly guidance. I am also grateful for the support of other members of my research panel: to Vladimir Braginsky for his suggestion that the study’s early preoccupation with sibling relationships be broadened to family portrayals; and to Michel Hockx for encouraging the focus on a solely political interpretation of the texts. In addition, 1 would like to thank scholars who have given me opportunities to publish research related to this thesis. I have also appreciated a variety of research forums run at SOAS by Mulaika Hijjas, Ben Murtagh, and Amina Yaquin, which provided valuable feedback opportunities. The Singaporean focus of this thesis was stimulated by browsing in the SOAS library’s Singapore collection, which is so ably managed by Nick Martland. I am extremely grateful to many people in Singapore who helped me. My thanks go to the Singaporean novelists who made time to meet me, including: Colin Cheong, the late Goh Sin Tub, Philip Jeyaretnam, Stella Kon, Johann Lee, Catherine Lim, Suchen Christine Lim, Rex Shelley, Daren Shiau, and Hwee Hwee Tan. Many academics in Singapore generously shared their expertise with me, including: Gwee Lei Swee, Matilda Gabrielpillai, Cherian George, Robbie Goh, Koh Tai Ann, Kwok Kian-Woon, Philip Holden, K.K. Seet, Stella Quah, Hadijah Rahmat, Kirpal Singh, Chitra Sankaran, Ismail Talib, Edwin Thumboo, Tamara Wagner, Wai-chew Sim, C.J. Wee Wan-ling, and Gabriel Wu Yeow Chong. I would like to thank to all the other specialists from the publishing, research and arts worlds that helped me, and for the information provided to me by Singapore’s Media Development Authority. In addition, I greatly valued informal discussions with numerous people and accommodation provided by friends. I also appreciated using the resources at NUS’s library and the National Library of Singapore. My thanks too to people who read drafts of this thesis or papers closely related to it: Lucy Cottrell, Chris Garsten, Jude Comyn, Mulaika Hijjas, Stewart Lansley, Ruth Maxey, Ben Murtagh, Noreen O’Conner, Kevin Read, and Katherine Wale. In addition, I appreciated discussing the thesis with Kate Collatta, Ross Forman, Elizabeth Garsten, Rachel Godden, Alison Hook, Wen-Chin Ouyang, Ceri Sullivan, Nora Yamada, and Henry Zhao. My thanks to Hester Higton for proofreading this document and to Louis Houghton for transcribing some background interviews. The moral support of many of the aforementioned people, my parents, and Andrew Clay, Lynn Dowsett, Nizam Mamode, and Talia Bar-Yoseph has also been greatly valued. I would also like to acknowledge the assistance of the University of London Central Research Fund for sponsoring my first fieldtrip to Singapore. Finally, and most importantly, I am enormously grateful to my husband, Kevin, for all his support and encouragement. This thesis is dedicated to my family. Abbreviations Abbreviations of Literary Texts Frequently cited fictional texts are abbreviated as outlined below. Full publications details are listed in the bibliography. Abraham’s: Abraham’s Promise (1995) by Philip Jeyaretnam Adventures: The Adventures of Holden Heng (1986) by Robert Yeo Dream: /f We Dream Too Long (1972) by Goh Poh Seng Fistful: F/sffu/ of Colours (1993) by Suchen Christine Lim Following: Following The Wrong God Home (2001) by Catherine Lim Foreign: Foreign Bodies (1997) by Hwee Hwee Tan Mammon: Mammon Inc. (2001) by Hwee Hwee Tan Peculiar. Peculiar Chris (1992) by Johann Lee Raffles: Raffles Place Ragtime (1988) Philip Jeyaretnam Ricky: Ricky Star (1978) by Lim Thean Soo Sin-kheh: The Sin-kheh (1993) by Goh Sin Tub Abbreviations Relating to Singapore CMIO Chinese, Malay, Indian or Other HDB Housing and Development Board ISA Internal Security Act NAC National Arts Council NBDCS National Book Development Council of Singapore NCMP Non-Constituency Member of Parliament NMP Nominated Member of Parliament NUS National University of Singapore PAP People’s Action Party SDP Singapore Democratic Party SDU Social Development Unit URA Urban Redevelopment Authority General Abbreviations CED Collins English Dictionary CEO Chief Executive Officer NGOs Non-governmental Organizations NFDMT The New Fontana Dictionary of Modern Thought OED Oxford English Dictionary OCDT Oxford Concise Dictionary of Politics vi CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION Home and family are prominent features of post-independent fiction and political discourses in Singapore. Homes are often set on the island and family life is frequently depicted (Koh Tai Ann 1989b: 280) in English-language Singaporean novels. On a symbolic level, the long-ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) government invokes the images of the national territory as ‘home’ and the Singaporean citizenry as ‘family’. These symbols are not politically neutral. The metaphor of home helps to make the concept of such a geographically small island being a nation more natural and fosters a shared sense of national belonging. The symbol of family projects a communal image on Singapore’s population, which is socioeconomically varied and multi-racial (76.8% of the resident population are classified as Chinese, 14% as Malay, 7.7% as Indian, and 1.3% as ‘Others’, including Eurasians).1 Political leadership is also referred to in paternal terms, the first two Prime Ministers of Singapore, Lee Kuan Yew (1959-1990) and Goh ChokTong (1990-2004), sometimes being referred as ‘fathers’. This paternal mantle is reinforced through their positioning of Singapore as an, as yet, ‘maturing’ nation, which needs firm leadership for its sustained prosperity and racial harmony.
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