Globalization In Singapore Essay

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Upon independence, Singapore had a workforce consisting of three million people and a huge proportion of them were unemployed. More than two-thirds of the city state’s population was living in slums and squatter settlements. (Zhou) It lacked natural resources, sanitation, proper infrastructure and adequate water supply. Then, former Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew tried to seek for international assistance but it was to no avail, leaving Singapore to bootstrap itself out of its adverse situation. Learning from Israel’s ability and success to bypass its Arab neighbors who boycotted them and trade with Europe and America, Singapore knew that we have to connect with the developed world and convince their multinational corporations to invest in Singapore. That is when globalization was experimented and it has been officially embraced as one of the state policy in Singapore.
With the uptake of globalization, it has broken down boundaries and made it easier for the flow of messages, ideas, labor and goods. However, the interconnectedness has also led to an increasing blurred identity and many other impacts that are consequential to a nation state were ignored. Therefore, even though it is an indisputable fact that the economic prosperity was the result of a globalized economy (The World Factbook), we have to ask ourselves a question. Economic wealth at what cost? Are we willing to forgo our national identity, cultures and values in exchange for a higher gross domestic product index every year? A recent Gallup report shows that Singapore’s wealthy population is the unhappiest, compared to populations of Iraq, Haiti, Afghanistan and Syria. (Hoegberg, 2012) Perhaps, money can’t really buy you happiness.
In this paper, I will argue that de...

... middle of paper ...

... and a choice of how far would we go to get what we want, especially economically considering the fruits that Singapore has reaped from it annually. Thus, some of the polices that the government have in place with our economy as its best interest when they implement them should be revamped. One example would be the immigration policy that allowed the many foreigners we see today. These policies should be careful thought out and refined to tackle the social and cultural issues that might arise. To ensure that a country is prosperous and its people being happy in where they live in, we need to balance all three aspects of economic stability, social and culture aspects. What we need is not a house but a place called home. With these three factors taken into consideration, Singaporeans would then feel a sense of belonging and enjoy the benefits brought by globalization.

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