Singapore's experience with culture and development

Mr Chairman, Excellencies, distinguished panellists, ladies and gentlemen, good afternoon.

1. I would like to firstly express Singapore's gratitude to Indonesia for the kind invitation to this forum and the warm hospitality extended to us all. When I heard about the proposed Ministerial Roundtable topic, I thought to myself: I could formulate a theory on culture and development from a theoretical framework, or provide views on drafting sustainable development goals of the future from a personal experience. But I also thought that sharing Singapore's journey of culture and development from a country's perspective could be more useful, and that is what I will speak on today. 

2. Today's topic is culture. But what exactly is it? It's something we know in our heart, but it's not easy to explain. Culture is notoriously difficult to define. In 1978, our Minister for Culture, Mr Ong Teng Cheong, who would later become President, tried to look for a definition of culture and he encountered unexpected difficulty. He said, and I quote: “The library gave me some 300 different interpretations as to what culture is [...] there is perhaps no other term with more interpretations than the word 'culture'.” Learning from this experience, I did not want to split hairs trying to find a specific definition for the term. So, for the purpose of this presentation, I will define culture in a more generic and holistic term as our “way of life”. This includes both “high culture” as well as our everyday aspects of life, such as arts in the community, our food, our memories and our identity. 

Organic cultural growth in the early days 

3. Let me first talk about Singapore's history to provide a background on our humble cultural beginnings and its evolution later on. During our colonial era from the 19th century, there was no such thing as Singapore culture. Singapore then was a depository of immigrant communities with their separate cultures – these included Chinese, Malay, Indian and Eurasian cultures. 
   

4. This depository of cultures has laid the foundation for modern Singapore, and in terms of our cultural development, it has also given us the impetus to build unity in diversity. After racial riots of the 1960s, we were determined to build bridges between the various communities and develop a common national identity. Culture is one of such bridges. In the 1960s, Singapore had very few resources to put into culture, but our culture grew nevertheless. Some aspects of our culture were the result of government policies, such as ethnic quotas in public housing and compulsory military service, both of which contributed to racial and religious harmony in Singapore. Other aspects of our culture developed organically as we shared a common way of life in our schools, playgrounds and hawker centres. I would be scolded by my fellow Singaporeans if they knew I was talking about culture without mentioning how Singaporeans have equally embraced Chinese, Malay, Indian and European foods as their own, and how different cuisines have even fused with one another to produce new ones. In Singapore, food is almost like a religion and has to be taken seriously as part of our multi-racial culture. 

New impetus to reinforce our culture

5. Singapore is a young nation that has only turned 48 years old this year, and there is a need to continue reinforcing our sense of who we are. The situation is all the more challenging given that with the immigration of new people into our society every year, our population mix has continued to evolve and change. But just as the cultures of our various ancestors intermingled to form the Singapore culture of today, so the cultures of our new citizens will enrich the Singapore culture of tomorrow. Arts and culture can be a shared passion and common space to celebrate who we are, tell the stories of our past to our new citizens, and bond these communities together. 
   

6. Secondly, economic issues still remain pressing today, but we have done reasonably well overall. As a result our people are now turning to softer, higher aspirations, like fulfilment, happiness, and meaning. Arts and culture can fulfil some of these aspirations and needs. 
   

7. And in Singapore, while trying to create a culturally vibrant society, we are also trying to create economic value through cultural development. For Singapore, the economic benefits of arts and culture are indirect. We recognize that a flourishing arts and culture landscape creates a new form of tourism, cultural tourism, and we hope that a vibrant and creative cultural landscape makes us an internationally attractive city and contributes to our economic development.

Strategies to bring arts and culture to the community 

8. Because of all these reasons, we completed a major review of the arts and culture landscape just last year. We wanted to create a vision for the years up till 2025, and as part of this plan, we are committed to investing a substantial amount of resources to bring arts and culture to everyone, everywhere, every day. Amongst our goals are raising the percentage of Singaporeans who attend arts and heritage events from the current 50% to 80% in 2025. We also aim to increase the percentage participating in arts and heritage events from the current 20% to 50% in 2025. 
   

9. To bring arts and culture to those who have not yet been touched by its power, we must do it in a way that is accessible and relevant. As such, while we will continue to support “high culture” in our theatres, concert halls and galleries, we have also channelled funding to more accessible activities like singing, drumming, hip hop, street art and photography in the community, in the neighbourhoods. 
   

10. Childhood is the flowerbed of a lifelong love for culture, so we must reach out to Singaporeans when they are young. We will do this through arts education. We have art and music classes as part of our school curriculum, and our schools bring in professional artists to the school compounds so that students will be exposed to a variety of art forms directly and conveniently. We also have Art and Music Elective programmes in our schools that allow students to develop deeper expertise in these areas. We also have set up a dedicated art school called “School of the Arts” to focus and specialize on this aspect of education, to provide multiple pathways for our students. 
    

11. Outside of school, we want to sustain a lifelong interest in arts and culture. We plan to do this in several ways. We will provide facilities for various groups to practise in and showcase their works, and build these not just in the downtown area but also in residential areas as well. We will continue to fund wide-reaching programs, such as educational programs at our public libraries, and also work with arts groups and the community to encourage active participation amongst Singaporeans of all demographic groups. We also try to do this in a variety of different spaces, such as community clubs, libraries, parks and shopping malls. 

Conclusion

12. To sum up, Singapore is a young nation, and there is a lot more room for cultural development. We will continue to ensure that Singaporeans have the space to develop their culture, and that the government supports this growth. With such growth, we hope to achieve the objective of Singapore being an economically active and culturally vibrant country. On this note, I wish this forum every success and look forward to the many exchanges this platform will offer. Thank you.