Crafted culture: Governmental sculpting of modern Singapore and effects on business environments

Abstract

These [major state institutions] are institutions unique to Singapore, institutions created in response to the huge problems of the 1960s and the 1970s. At the national level, the act of creation has been largely accomplished and this is now internalized in the Singapore soul. But below the level of the state, at the level of civic life, the Singapore soul is still evolving. Yes, the state is strong. The family is also strong. But civic society, which is the stratum of social life between the state and the family is still weak. Without a strong civic society the Singapore soul will be incomplete (Brigadier General (BG) George Yeo, then Acting Minister for Information and the Arts, in a 1991 Speech at the National University of Singapore).