ABSTRACT
Singapore’s national identity is built on a model that ostensibly combines a civic, secular identity with a form of multiculturalism based on an officially allocated ethnic and communal identity known as CMIO (Chinese, Malay, Indian, Other). Since the 1980s, however, Singapore’s national identity has been overwhelmed by a locally generated, state-sponsored form of Chinese ethno-nationalism. This chapter considers both the history of and the current nuances in the Singapore’s elite’s quest to balance the logic of a ‘modern,’ civic national identity and its ethno-national approach to identity and social control, with a view to pointing out the challenges that lie ahead.
