What is the history of that in PAP history textbooks?
Hong Lysa and Huang
Jianli
The People’s Action Party’s unbroken mandate to rule in
Singapore rests in no small part on how it has explained its
lineage and record to the electorate. The Scripting of a
National History studies the constructed nature of the
country’s past as endorsed by the state, and the power vested in
it.
The authors trace state discourses on Singapore history starting
with the decision taken immediately after independence to recognise
the nineteenth-century British acquisition of the island as its
founding moment, through the 1980s and 1990s when an essentially
Confucian heritage received official recognition under the guise of
‘Asian values’, and finally to an emphasis on the history of racial
fragility and harmony in response to the threat of terrorism in the
twenty-first century. Embedded within these discourses is the story
of the PAP as the heir of the economic dynamics of the pax
Britannica, as an exponent of the morality and righteousness of the
Chinese scholar-gentleman, and as the firm hand that balances the
interests of the majority Chinese against those of Singapore’s
national minorities.
Through discussions of a range of specific issues, including the
claim that political leaders are historians by virtue of being the
makers of history, the popularization of history through
conscription of national heroes, and the vicissitudes of two
originally private homes turned into symbols of Singapore’s Chinese
modernity, the book lays bare the underlying template of Singapore
history.
The Scripting of a National History will fascinate
Singaporeans interested in a well-reasoned exercise examining their
country’s pervasive received wisdom, and should intrigue an
international readership for whom Singapore is an engrossing
enigma.
HONG Lysa was formerly with the History
Department of the National University of Singapore and has been an
independent scholar since 2000.
HUANG Jianli is Associate Professor at the
Department of History at the National University of
Singapore.
publication year: 2008
320 pages
ISBN:
978-9971-69-433-3 Paperback US$30.00 S$38.00
Our edition is available only in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand
and Indonesia.
http://www.nus.edu.sg/nuspress/subjects/history/978-9971-69-433-3.html
So do you recommend this book or something? Sorry I didn't read
the text you copy and pasted.
