Events

CHAIRPERSON

Prof Tim Bunnell, Asia Research Institute, and Department of Geography, National University of Singapore

ABSTRACT

Two years ago, I had presented a seminar at ARI with the question of whether the late American liberal theorist, John Rawls, who envisaged the ‘property-owning democracy’ (POD) as a ‘realistic utopia’ of societal justice and fairness, would be happy with Singapore. In this update, I will argue that the material condition – namely, a wide distribution of productive assets at the beginning of each stage of an individual’s life – which is essential in enabling citizens to exercise ‘freely and fully’ their political rights and liberties is in place. What remains is the question of ‘democracy’ in Singapore. While Rawls favors liberal democracy as the model for POD, Singapore has an anti-liberal stance with laws that restrict liberal individual rights and freedoms. Drawing on the national public housing program as the critical element in social asset distribution, I will demonstrate that this housing program in fact constitutes a political arena in which a procedural democracy, in the parliamentary system, is realized and refreshed in Singapore. In contrast, the essential wide distribution of productive assets would require a material and ideological revolution that is unimaginable in contemporary liberal democratic capitalist societies, with its ossified ideological and economic structures. Consequently, a liberal democratic POD is unrealistic and unrealizable, contra Rawls.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Chua Beng Huat is Emeritus Professor. He had been Professor of Urban Studies at the Yale-NUS College and Professor, Department of Sociology, National University of Singapore. Professor Chua received his PhD from York University, Canada. He has previously served as Provost Chair Professor, Faculty of Arts and Social Science (2009-2017), Research Leader, Cultural Studies in Asia Cluster, Asia Research Institute (2000-2015); Convenor of Cultural Studies Programmes (2008-2013) and Head of Department of Sociology (2009-2015), National University of Singapore. His publications include: The Golden Shoe: Building Singapore’s Financial District (1989), Communitarian Ideology and Democracy in Singapore (1995), Political Legitimacy and Housing: Stakeholding in Singapore (1997), Life is Not Complete without Shopping (2003), and as editor, Singapore Studies II: Critical Studies (1999). Beyond Singapore writings, he has edited several volumes on cultural politics in Asia, including Consumption in Asia: Lifestyles and Identities (2000), Communitarian Politics in Asia (2004), Elections as Popular Culture in Asia (2007). His most recent book, Liberalism Disavowed: Communitarianism and State Capitalism in Singapore (2017), was on the list of Best Books of 2018 by Foreign Affairs journal. He is the founding co-executive editor of the journal Inter-Asia Cultural Studies.

REGISTRATION

Registration is closed, and instructions on how to participate in this hybrid talk has been sent out to registered attendees. Please write to ziqi@nus.edu.sg if you would like to attend the event.