USA Africa Dialogue Series - FYI: SOME LESSONS FOR COUNTRIES IN AFRICA

The Monitor's View

http://www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/the-monitors-view/2015/0325/A-legacy-in-Singapore-for-how-countries-can-rise-above-ethnicity?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_term=Commentary_OpEd&utm_campaign=2015_0326_Newsletter%3ACommentary&cmpid=ema%3Anws%3ACommentary%2520Weekly%2520%2803-26-2015%29

 
A legacy in Singapore for how countries can rise above
ethnicity

The death of Singapore founder Lee Kuan Yew recalls how
his tiny country of mainly Chinese influenced China. One lesson still not
learned in Beijing: How Lee rose above Chinese ethnicity to set a national
identity. 

By the Monitor's Editorial Board March 25, 2015 

A potent force in the world today is the notion that people
of a particular ethnicity, say Danish or Thai, should also have a monolithic
vision for their society. Vladimir Putin, for example, defines Russian "civilizational
values" for Russian-speakers anywhere.

One leader who broke that mode of thought was Lee Kuan Yew.
The founder of modern Singapore, who died in March, was ethnic Chinese.
Yet he knew when to lay aside his heritage for higher ideals about identity,
both individual and collective.

Mr. Lee's way of running his tiny island state of 5.4
million people – under autocratic rule with a free market – was a model mostly
adopted by China after 1979. But he differed from Beijing's ruling Communist Party by not creating a
national identity based on Singapore's largely Chinese population. Also unlike
China, he showed no resentment toward or humiliation about past colonizers of
his land (Britain and Japan). He upheld rule of law and an independent court
system, symbols of universal values.

Lee's death came as leaders in China are struggling to
define the national identity, not only for the mainland but for its territories
of Hong Kong, Xinjiang, and even the independent island nation of
Taiwan. Party leaders realize that economic
integration and material prosperity are not enough to bind a country of 1.4
billion. So they have promoted aspects of ancient Chinese culture.

President Xi Jinping said last year that China has
built its identity on Confucianism and other philosophies that are "records of
spiritual experiences, rational thinking, and cultural achievements of the
nation." He ordered state media and academics not to promote "Western" values.
Instead he pushes his vision of a "China Dream," which is based on restoring
Chinese greatness in the world and ending past humiliations.

In both polls and protests over the past year, however,
people in Hong Kong and Taiwan have revealed a distinct identity in both
political values and everyday culture. The "Umbrella Movement" in Hong Kong
fought for freedom to select election candidates. In Taiwan, the "Sunflower
Movement" turned back attempts for more trade and cultural influence by
mainland China.

In Xinjiang, Muslim Uighurs are in revolt over China's
attempts to bring Han Chinese into their lands and to impose Chinese culture.
Beijing's attempts border on the desperate. In February, party officials led
10,000 people in a line dance next to a mosque, playing a popular Chinese song,
"Little Apple."

In Tibet, too, officials have imported Han
Chinese and their culture by the train load. Beijing recently said that it will
decide, not Tibet's Buddhist leaders, whether their spiritual leader, the Dalai
Lama, will be reincarnated.

This struggle over defining Chinese identity is the topic of
a current exhibit in Hong Kong called "Scenarios for the Chinese Nations."
Artists from mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan were invited to create works
that challenge the idea of a monolithic vision of society. The organizers hope
to show the future of China can be based on a "coexistence" of different
identities among people identified as Chinese.

That was Lee's vision, and after his death, perhaps China's
leaders will learn to emulate that particular model, too.    

 

--

Samuel Zalanga
Department of Anthropology, Sociology & Reconciliation Studies
Bethel University, 3900 Bethel Drive #24
Saint Paul, MN 55112.
Office Phone: 651-638-6023

--
Listserv moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin
To post to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com
To subscribe to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue+subscribe@googlegroups.com
Current archives at http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue
Early archives at http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index.html
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "USA Africa Dialogue Series" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to usaafricadialogue+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.