The Somme tout/Le Devoir editions are publishing these days Singapore. Laboratory of the future, by Alexis Riopel and Valérian Mazataud, a work which reproduces in an expanded version a series published in our pages. Excerpt from the introduction.
If we had to choose a country the opposite of Quebec, Singapore would be a good candidate.
In Quebec, space is so abundant that we waste it. Our cities are constantly spreading out, condemning their inhabitants to ever longer daily trips. The roads are multiplying, as are the vehicles traveling on them. In the countryside, corn and soybeans stretch as far as the eye can see, to feed animals that are exported. Our homes are getting bigger and bigger, while there are still fewer of them and the housing crisis is getting worse. Thanks to our immense hinterland, we benefit from renewable and affordable energy, but use it greedily, often inefficiently.
As you will see in this book, the dissimilarities between Singapore and Quebec — which do not all work in favor of the small city-state — go beyond the territorial register: they also concern the political mechanics, the system of values and the environment economic of the one nicknamed “the city of the lion” (it is in reality the tiger, exterminated from the island in 1930, that the nickname alludes). However, since the issues linked to resources and the occupation of the territory interest us first and foremost, we retain the thesis of space – or rather, the scarcity of space – to explore the multiple facets of Singapore.
It is therefore, in a way, an eminently “geographic” report. The constraint of space results in numerous public policies which, seen from here, appear radical. These drastic experiments, in terms of town planning, economic development, housing, food or transport, illustrate the immensity of the possibilities available to us to meet the challenges of the future. […]
A hub for maritime transport and the petrochemical industry, the country continues to take advantage of its enviable geographical position. Not content with this hold on trade at sea, Singapore has also managed to make its airport one of the busiest in the world. In accordance with the vision of [sir Stamford] Raffles, more than 200 years ago, this country today represents the consecration of globalization. In fact, without globalization, Singapore wouldn’t be much.
A breeding ground for the country’s success, Singapore’s resolutely pragmatic philosophy is also its misfortune, according to some. It leaves very little room for political opposition, the free expression of opinions and ideals that deviate from the conservatism promoted by the State. Opposition members have already been accused of defaming the ruling party for saying, for example, that it is not sincere in its defense of the Tamil language. At the end of the 1980s, around twenty people were also arrested and detained without trial for alleged involvement in a “Marxist conspiracy”.
More recently, the historian and activist PJ Thum, who produces videos critical of power, has been in the government’s sights. In 2020, this former Olympic swimmer, founder of the independent media New Narative, is forced to correct some of its claims under Singapore’s anti-fake news law for decrying the law’s overbroad scope. He also claims that his phone and computer have already been seized by the police for a trivial matter of electoral financing. “They are trying to intimidate me,” he has already declared, “but they don’t want to make a martyr out of me. »
In summary, the Singaporean model, which some thinkers describe as “authoritarian capitalism”, suits today’s world dangerously well, more globalized than ever. Let us point out, however, that this same globalization, which benefits the city-state so much, also risks dissolving certain of its cultural particularities — a problem which is not foreign to Quebec. English, the language of business and schools, but also of the digital sphere, is gaining ground at a rapid pace. In 2010, a third of Singaporeans spoke this language at home; in 2020, almost half of them did so. This shift is to the detriment of Mandarin, Tamil, Malay and Chinese dialects. […]
Singapore is a laboratory for the future, but what fate does it reserve for its past? This is another good reason to focus on this small country whose transformation perhaps presages that of the rest of the world.