Militarizing civilians in Singapore: preparing for 'crisis' within a calibrated nationalism

In: The Pacific review, Band 30, Heft 3, S. 365-384

Abstract

The Singaporean polity has created the 'militarized civilian'. This policy phenomenon beckons the question: How is this cross-fertilization carried out in Singapore's civil-military relations? Militarization is in the first sense meant to inculcate a calibrated dual personality within the civilian whereby being an effective soldier requires indulging in simulated military suffering as a badge of pride; at the same time, the citizen soldier has to believe that military and civilian values are perfectly interchangeable and contribute equally to the maintenance of peace. In a second sense, militarization is equally about permanently ritualizing sacrifices for a communitarian defence. We argue that while mostly successful, militarization also produces the tension arising from the need to appear pugnaciously vigilant while avoiding the casualties that must logically arise from heightened simulated combat. This tension is explained through two dimensions of ongoing crises: the parameters of a politically dramatized National Service ritual; and the constant propaganda of geopolitical dangers threatening the Republic. (Pac Rev/GIGA)