ABSTRACT
In Southeast Asia, the ethnic Chinese are alleged to play a significant role in the regional economy as well as respective local economies, in spite of their minority status as an ethnic/racial group. Naisbitt (1997), among many others, even attributed the so-called ‘Asian miracle’ (prior to the Asian economic crisis beginning in July 1997) to the successes of ethnic Chinese business. This characterization, we maintain, is not applicable to the ethnic Chinese enterprises in Singapore. In Singapore, ethnic Chinese as a group constitute about 75 per cent of the population, but their enterprises play only a minor role in the national economy, taking only third place after multinational corporations (MNCs) and government-linked corporations (GLCs). 1 Moreover, a majority of these Chinese enterprises are small and medium enterprises (SMEs), which are mostly labor-intensive in their operations and are oriented primarily towards the small domestic market. Only a minority of – and only until recently – these business enterprises are involved in large-scale operations, though still confining themselves mainly to banking, light manufacturing and real estate and property development. 2 Of the ten largest ethnic Chinese enterprises in Singapore, three are in banking, another three in real estate and property, and the rest in light manufacturing and hotel. Only one Chinese corporation is in the high technology and computer industry (Yazhou Zhoukan 1998). In this essay, we attempt to argue that amidst all the generalizations and claims made about ethnic Chinese business in Southeast Asia, the Singapore case presents itself as a bit of an anomaly. An important part of our analysis and interpretation of such a state of affairs in Singapore is a historical one.
