Chinchilla Notes
Y4 International Studies Notes 2020
Templates .................................................................................................... 2
National Identity.......................................................................................... 3
China as a Superpower ................................................................................ 6
Multiculturalism.......................................................................................... 9
Income Inequality ...................................................................................... 12
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Chinchilla Notes
Templates
Inference Questions:
1. Written (Text)
a. Firstly, as according to the source……Another reason was……Finally,
another reason was……
2. Pictorial
a. Firstly, the source portrays that……This can be seen where……
Secondly, the source portrays that……This can be seen where…….
b. Try not to quote directly – paraphrase key words!
Mini Essay:
1. Introduction
2. + Paragraph 1 (Firstly, from Source A/B, we can see very clearly that……)
3. + Paragraph 2 (Furthermore……)
4. - Paragraph 1 (However, from Source A/B, some may argue that……)
5. - Paragraph 2 (In addition…….)
6. Conclusion
HBQ:
1. Introduction
2. + Paragraph 1 (Firstly……)
3. - Paragraph 1 (However……)
4. Mini Conclusion (Considering these two arguments……)
5. + Paragraph 2 (However, some may argue that……)
6. - Paragraph 2 (In addition)
7. Mini Conclusion (Considering these two arguments……)
8. Conclusion
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Chinchilla Notes
National Identity
EQ: To what extent is Singapore’s national identity engineered or evolved?
Suggested Stance: Engineered to a larger extent
Background Information
After separating with Malaysia, there was an urgent need to inculcate a sense of
national identity in Singaporeans. With the country finding its feet and having
endured one of its “worst and most prologoned racial riots” just the year prior, unity
was desperately required to unite the populace to take the next step forward. Despite
its small size, Singapore has become a bustling cultural melting pot, punching way
above its weight in terms of diversity and heritage.
Singapore’s National Identity is Engineered
Through the Education System
• Elements of the curriculum were introduced across schools in Singapore to
provide students with shared experiences to carry for the rest of their lives
• E.g. Compulsory bilingualism policy for secondary school students from 1966.
Czech proverb, “You live a new life for every language you speak”, with English
the link language among Singaporeans
• E.g. Daily flag-raising and pledge-taking ceremonies just a year after
independence
• E.g. National Education, Uniformed Group Organizations
• These experiences evoke a sense of unity and relatability in conversations and
raise Singaporeans with the same values, regardless of their race or background
Through the Public Housing System
• Houses, as intimate spaces where people spend a large portion of their day,
provide a strong basis for interaction, particularly in densely populated HDB flats
• E.g. The government noticed an uneven distribution of races throughout
neighbourhoods in 1980s.
• People of the same race tended to congregate in the same living areas, raising the
threat of ghettos where minority races would be excluded from community
activities
• Later that decade, they would establish ethnic quotas on public housing
ownership forces different races to live together and ultimately learn to coexist.
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Chinchilla Notes
• Void decks and coffeeshops would become key places for intermingling between
different ethnicities, inculcating a sense of identity even from a home setting
Through the Selective Preservation of History and Culture
• Much like a picture, history can be cropped and shaped to portray its content in a
certain fashion. Certain monuments and objects can be chosen to tell story of a
nation’s past and symbolize the will to survive
• E.g. The Preservation of Monument Board, established by an Act of Parliament
in 1971, is purposed for preserving buildings and artifacts of historic, traditional,
archaeological and architectural interest. 72 monuments were gazetted by 2016.
• E.g. Monuments from the WWII period like paintings of food rationing
• These messages are reinforced by National Education mantras - “We find our
own way to survive and prosper, turning challenge into opportunity.”
• This allows the government to piece together fragments of Singapore’s past in a
favourable, memorable and positive light
Singapore’s National Identity is Evolved
Through the Rise of Hybrid Language
• Singlish, the Singaporean version of English, is immensely popular among locals,
comprising of vocabulary from English, Bahasa Melayu, Hokkien and Cantonese
• No one came up with a fixed set of rules in the way Singlish should be spoken
• This is in spite of the PAP government instating the “Speak Good English”
campaign in fears of Singaporeans speaking incoherent English to the rest of the
world, showing how deeply ingrained it is for something so spontaneous
• A sensible conclusion points toward the evolution of such a language through
consistent interaction between people of different ethnicities over time
Through the Food Culture
• The unique gastronomic food scene in Singapore is epitomised by the various
ethnic foods offered by hawker stalls
• E.g. Curry fish head, with Indian spices and cooked in a Chinese claypot
• Hainanese Chicken Rice – Kechap Manis, a Malay condiment, paired with
chicken poached in the Chinese style
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Chinchilla Notes
• The dense gathering of cultures, ingredients and cooking styles in a single venue
reflects the way Singaporeans come together, regardless of race and culture, and
contributed to the melting pot that is Singaporean cuisine
Through the Emergence of Icons
• Over the years of Singapore’s history, members of the population have risen to
prominence, reflecting attributes that all Singaporeans are proud to identify with
• E.g. Joseph Schooling and Yip Pin Xiu, setting international swim records
• Home-grown talents like Nathan Hartono, first runner up for Sing China 2016
• This evokes a sense of pride to be Singaporean, and feel a sense of belonging
even on a global stage – a source of national significance
• Inspires Singaporeans to hone their talents and utilize their gifts to bring glory to
the nation in order to achieve a similar sense of accomplishment
Insights
• Upon closer examination of where culture has evolved, one can see influences of
artificiality that suggest national identity has also been engineered
• Language and food are fundamentally made through the fusion of various
cultures
• In order for this to have taken place, a foundation of racial harmony engineered
through education and housing policies must have been built prior
• Much like monuments, icons can be selectively portrayed by the government to
instill certain feelings within the general populace
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Chinchilla Notes
China as a Superpower
EQ: Will China become the world’s next superpower?
Suggested Stance: Agree to a larger extent
Background Information
Since major economic reforms in the 1980s, China has enjoyed exponential growth,
particularly in financial and developmental aspects. The nation’s astounding growth
has been reminiscent of the making of a global superpower, for which a country must
be able to exert its economic and political power over mulitiple regions. As a result,
many have considered the nation’s ability to replace the United States (USA) as the
world’s leading nation.
Economic Aspects
Ambitious Economic Projects
• China is the world’s biggest producer in important industrial materials, from steel
to cement.
• Its state-owned enterprises also have a wealth of experience at building physical
infrastructure, as shown by its unprecedented investments in highways and
renewable energy facilities
• E.g. Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is intended to include South Asia, the Middle
East, Africa, Western Europe and Latin America in its sphere of influence
• This places China on the trajectory of dominating on the economic front through
establishing longer-term revenue, ties and dependencies
• E.g. The Made in China 2025 initiative will also improve the quality of products
offered by China, in a bid to overtake the US as the world’s leading technological
power, offering goods and services like semiconductors, artificial intelligence
and 5G
Misplaced Investments
• While China clearly has immense spending power with ambition to match, past
events by no means guarantee the potential of these resources will be maximised
• Gargantuan amounts of money has been invested in white elephants with
redundant industrial capacity and vanity infrastructure projects
• E.g. Airports with no commercial flights, highways to nowhere, stadiums with
no teams, squandering funds and accumulating bad debt
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Chinchilla Notes
• In addition, China’s approach for BRI involves investing in developing countries,
which have less guarantee of being able to pay them back.
• This results in a domino effect in which loans are defaulted, China takes over
assets in the country, diplomatic tensions form and Chinese investments slow due
to resulting risks.
• If China is guilty of misplaced investments in its own country, it is bound to have
similar issues with its endeavours abroad
Political Aspects
International Diplomatic Influence
• China has a well-regarded cadre of diplomats, who are backed by a near-doubling
in funds to $9.5 billion since President Xi’s coming to power
• President Trump’s “America First” approach provides an ideal foil for China to
establish itself as a new leader on open borders and free trade
• China’s stake in the United Nations peacekeeping missions has also grown
considerably, from being close to negligible 20 years ago to constituting 10%
• This move has enabled China to project its influence around the world on the
peacekeeping front, in a noncoercive manner, which can only improve relations
with other countries
Internal Political Struggles
• Despite major breakthroughs on the global stage, aspects of China’s handling its
internal affairs have been less than exemplary
• E.g. Ethnic and religious minorities like Muslims in Xinjiang, Buddhists in Tibet
and Christians have suffered extensive persecution under the rule of President Xi
• The widespread censorship of media and internet, coupled with the highest usage
of surveillance cameras in the world and a disproportionate budget for the police
compared to the military
• These policies hardly reflect neither the inclusiveness and freedom of speech that
the world has to grown to expect from the US, nor does it exude confidence that
China can employ a sustainable political regime in its interactions with other
nations
• It is also worth noting that the US budget on foreign affairs dwarfs China’s with
close to $38 billion
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Chinchilla Notes
Insights
• While China’s investments have hardly been perfect, the redundancies in their
efforts may not have been follies, but rather deliberate moves to maintain GDP
growths, which the government itself has deemed unsustainable – China is aware
of it, which lessens the threat that it will affect its ventures in its other economic
policies
• Even though the United States’ budget for foreign affairs is much larger than
China’s, it does not necessarily mean that it was as well spent. China’s funds are
complemented by their investments in the BRI, effectively killing two birds with
one stone by simultaneously building relations with other countries while
furthering its own economic interests
• China’s response to COVID 19 has been decisive, with complete lockdowns in
strategic areas flattening the curve relatively early. It has also made significant
headway in terms of finding a solution, with novel nasal vaccines having passed
multiple tests so far.
• The biggest test for a potential global superpower would be a global crisis, and
given China’s relative success, it has in many ways passed with flying colours
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Chinchilla Notes
Multiculturalism
EQ: To what extent is the Singapore government’s pursuit of multiculturalism
justified in relation to the opportunity cost?
Suggested Stand: Justified to a larger extent
Background Information
• Since their rise to governance, the PAP has placed emphasis on shaping
Singapore into a multicultural society, undoing the ethnic segregation of the
colonial era
• Such an ideology includes acceptance and sharing of cultures among different
races, which all enjoy equal treatment and opportunity
• However, there are limit to which these values can be pursued, without sacrificing
administrative ease and effectiveness, presented as opportunity costs
Administrative Ease vs Preservation of Identity
Justified – Administrative Ease
• The PAP’s simplification of cultural differences resulted in four groups – Chinese,
Malay, Indian and Others, based on principles like race, religion and geography
• E.g. Combining Javanese, Bugis and Peninsula Malays, among others, into the
Malay racial group
• Centralized organization established by Malay MPs, MENDAKI, to provide
academic support to Malay-Muslim children from needy families
• In this way, races are bolstered as entities and are more likely to receive aid based
on the needs of their majority. In MENDAKI’s case, this was in response to
academic under-performance of Malay students
Not Justified – Loss of Identity
• Streamlining racial groups raises the threat of assimilating the smaller cultural
groups within them, resulting in the loss of their original identity
• E.g. Merging Chinese from different provinces neglects distinct linguistic
differences, as all within the group, whether Hokkien or Cantonese, would be
forced to learn Mandarin in school, confining their dialects to home languages
• This results in a disconnect among generations even within a household, as
Mandarin-speaking grandchildren cannot converse with their grandparents
• E.g. There is also lack of recognition of mixed-race individuals, forcing them to
choose one or the other, conforming these members to a specific category
•
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Chinchilla Notes
Pragmatism for Survival vs Equality in Job Opportunities
Justified – Pragmatism1 for Survival
• As a fledgling nation, the government’s main priority was to ensure the country’s
survival on the economic front
• E.g. There was emphasis placed on the learning of English, which would provide
Singaporeans with better opportunities for collaboration on the global stage
• At the same time, some measures were taken to prevent the homogenization of
language, introducing the bilingual policy to preserve Mother Tongue
• Prime Minister LKY – “English for trade, Mother Tongue to preserve identity”
• This shows that even in essential policies for national interests, the government
did consider the importance to preserve identity for all races
Not Justified – Inequality in Job Opportunities
• However, such policies also brought significant tradeoffs in terms of equality in
job and education opportunities, due to the existing dynamics of the colonial era
• E.g. The Chinese community had established an extensive education network
consisting of Chinese vernacular 2 schools, and even Nanyang University, the
only Chinese-language medium university outside of China and Taiwan
• The rapid expansion of English-language primary and secondary schools made
institutions capable of producing future Chinese community leaders obsolete
• E.g. Eliminated the advantage of Indians, who had been the first non-white racial
group to have achieved highest English facility, resulting in more competition for
jobs in the civil service. Thus, the number of Indians in these positions dwindled
Promoting Racial Cohesion vs Equality in Available Support
Justified – Promoting Racial Cohesion
• Houses, as intimate spaces where people spend a large portion of their day,
provide a strong basis for interaction, particularly in densely populated HDB flats
• E.g. The government noticed an uneven distribution of races throughout
neighbourhoods in 1980s.
• People of the same race tended to congregate in the same living areas, raising the
threat of ghettos where minority races would be excluded from community
activities
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Dealing with something in a realistic way
Where one’s original dialect of language is spoken
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Chinchilla Notes
• Later that decade, they would establish ethnic quotas on public housing
ownership forces different races to live together and ultimately learn to coexist.
• This policy was based on the proportion of the Indian, Chinese and Malays in the
population, while promoting intermingling between them – completely justifiable
on paper
Not Justified – Inequality in Available Support
• Measures to promote racial harmony had unintended ramifications the minority
Malay and Indian racial groups
• Dispersion of Malay kampongs and Indian enclaves where they were the majority
made it harder to find support, both in an organizational and social sense
• Malay and Indian households would have greater difficulty in finding another of
the same ethnicity who would understand and practice the same religious or
traditional practices, and less accessibility to help in related emergencies
• Existing organizations and programs like MENDAKI have been criticized as
being unable to fully represent the interest of the Malay-Muslim community, with
their leaders in the government and bound to national interest
• The main rationale behind this arrangement has been cited by the government to
be to preserve racial harmony
Insights
• In its fledgling pathfinding years, Singapore’s main objective was to ensure its
survival – thus, it was inevitable that it would adopt more pragmatic approaches
to make policies more efficient and ensure that they could be implemented
• Even today, the government recognizes that this is still work in progress, and that
equality of race, language and religion is an “aspiration” and ‘not reality”
• There have been steps in the right direction, with initiatives like MENDAKI’s
becoming more specific to suit the current needs of their populations, with
COVID-19 packages recently released
• In the pre-colonial era, there was already inequality in opportunities – English
education merely redistributed these discrepancies and boosted the nation’s
economic prowess on the whole
• In emphasizing racial harmony, different races in Singapore have increased
tolerance for the smaller yet inevitable differences in opportunity, culture and
identity, allowing Singapore to, despite these unavoidable trade-offs, become a
highly multicultural society
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Chinchilla Notes
Income Inequality
EQ: “The Singapore government is doing all it can to address income inequality.”
To what extent do you agree with this statement?
Suggested Stance: Doing all it can to a larger extent
Background Information
• In the last decade, income inequality in Singapore has grown as much as its
economic development
• Some aspects of income inequality represent concerns toward the country’s
values, threatening concepts like meritocracy, in which people are selected for
opportunities completely by their own abilities, not their financial backgrounds
• This is particularly pressing for the younger generation, with the growing
impression that social mobility has declined
Inequality in Earnings
Doing all it can: Equity-Based Taxes
• The government has introduced taxes based on equity, which involves
redistribution to ensure that all citizens have a basic and equal minimum of
income, goods and services
• The Progressive Income Tax system allows lower-income Singaporeans to pay
less tax compared to the top 20%, taxing more fairly and placing less strain on
those whose income is already not enough
• Regressive Taxes such as GST being raised to 9% will tax more from the rich
trying to buy luxury items, while keeping the prices the same when it comes to
everyday necessities for lower income families.
• Increase in such taxes also increases the government’s budget to provide social
welfare for lower income families
Not doing all it can: Insufficient Margins for Taxes
• While tax policies do have an impact in lessening the financial burden of daily
commodities to lower-income families, they do not provide sufficient
opportunity to close the income gap, and result in the maintenance of status quo
• The margin in the Progressive income Tax System is still too low and allows the
rich to continue to keep their wealth – 22% taxed on the top 20% does not allow
the lower income bracket to catch up in wealth, compared to other Western
countries with text percentages of up to 52%
• Regressive Taxes still remain a more significant burden to lower income families
than the rich, since the added tax will represent a larger chunk of a lower income
family’s wage compared to someone who is richer
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Chinchilla Notes
Inequality in Wealth and Assets
Doing all it can: Policies to Increase Affordability
• The Central Provident Fund (CPF) takes up to 20% of an employee’s monthly
wage, and allows those in need to have their salaries increased by up to 17% from
employer contributions.
• It provides double the interest of banks at 4%, automatically creating a savings
fund for lower income families to save for healthcare or buying a house, so 90%
of Singaporeans own their own home
• HDB Flats are sold at a much lower price than private developments, so that it is
less difficult for Singaporeans to have access to public housing, regardless of
financial status.
• Different policies have been established to help people of different ages and
income groups, such as first-time married couples (Parenthood Priority Scheme)
and Senior citizens (Senior Priority Scheme), ensuring that everyone at least has
a place to live in
Not doing all it can: Inflexibility of Policies
• The Central Provident Fund (CPF) makes it difficult for access to funds due to
many withdrawal restrictions, creating much frustration among those living in
Singapore.
• This may affect lower-income families in urgent need to access these funds, as
the fund may represent a large chunk of their assets
• Past policies to encourage buying of HDB Flats as a means of financial stability
has left many lower-income families stranded due to the flats become
increasingly less profitable, given the expiring leases of the land that the houses
are on.
• This means that the profits that lower-income families had been banking on for
future financial stability are becomes more and more unlikely, leaving many
Singaporeans asset-rich but cash-poor
Inequality in Job Opportunities
Doing all it can: Reducing the Class Divide
• Dependency Ratio Ceiling (DRC) has been lowered in 2019, decreasing the
number of workers that the company is allowed to hire in relation to the
workforce, from 40% to 35%, freeing up blue-collar jobs for lower income
Singaporeans, removing the wage distortion caused by the large number of
foreign workers demanding a lower wage
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Chinchilla Notes
• To create a level playing field in terms of social mobility, the Ministry of
Education and Ministry of Manpower have made investments in training the
future workforce through education.
• Measures have been taken to reduce stratification at this level to tackle the issue
of inequality at its roots, abolishing the streaming system in 2024 and replacing
the ‘O’ and ‘N’ Level examinations with a common National Exam to remove
social stigmas among employers, giving students an equal chance to succeed
Not doing all it can: Outdated Skills
• The advancement of education makes it difficult for older Singaporeans to
compete for jobs. For instance, only 14% of people in their 50s benefitted from
tertiary education, compared to a much higher number in younger generations.
• This creates a challenge for older Singaporeans to find mid-high skill jobs.
• The needs of society and the workforce have changed, which results in students
not being equipped with relevant skills that will prepare them for entering the
workforce
• This is exemplified in the fact that in 2017, a record 1022 applicants vied for 120
places in NTU medicine, signaling an over-saturation of manpower
• This will have a bigger impact on lower-income families, who would rely more
heavily on their child’s ability to improve their standard of living and would have
invested a more sizeable chunk of their income
Insights
• There is no quick fix to income inequality – increasing taxes on the rich will
decrease the attractiveness of Singapore to large multi-national companies, which
employ large numbers of Singaporeans. A delicate balance must be kept
• Policies to curb income inequality will thus have to be eased into the system –
existing problems may not be due to the government’s unwillingness to solve
them, but because preliminary steps may first have to be taken
• The effects of such policies may not be immediately visible, for instance
education policies from the ground up will take at least a generation to bear fruit
• In order to allow Singaporeans to adapt to the ever-changing work climate, Adapt
and Grow initiatives have been implemented, helping more than 24000
individuals gaining jobs as a result. Even in the COVID 19 pandemic, the
SGUnited package offered a similar number of opportunities, including 5200
executive, technician and manager positions
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