ABSTRACT
Singapore was a product of Cold War geopolitics. A city otherwise replete with commemorations of colonial rule and colonial wars when it was a part of British Malaya, Singapore has neither a Cold War museum nor a monument that specifies its role or position during the Cold War. By asserting that Singapore is as much a Cold War city as it is a global city, as is commonly suggested in the existing scholarship, this article highlights the salience of Cold War thinking in the minds and actions of leaders and ordinary citizens in postcolonial Singapore. The article uses the Raffles statue, a local memorial site, as a lens to examine Singapore’s responses to global geopolitics during and after the Cold War. It focuses on the public discussion on the historical significance of the Raffles statue and suggests that during the Cold War, the statue acquired an economic importance for attracting foreign investments and tourists. After the Cold War, geopolitical tensions eased, and the economic and geopolitical value of the statue diminished. The debate about colonial symbolism returned, and Singaporeans questioned the validity of letting Raffles stand where he stands today.
