ABSTRACT
Multiculturalism was advocated as an anticolonial rhetoric by the newly-formed political party People’s Action Party (PAP) in 1954. Since then, it has remained a consistent state ideology in Singapore’s society, but little is known about how the concept was envisaged by individuals in the immediate post-WWII era. This essay looks at four different movies produced in the era and argues that a collective identity of multiculturalism in Singapore cannot be solely attributed to the sheer political will of its founding leaders after the nation became independent in 1965. Rather, it was built upon the moviescape of the various film companies and, over time, shaped the memoryscape of multiculturalism across disparate cities and communities in Southeast Asia.
