Desire Bound: formation of a Malay minority agency in Singapore

Abstract

This thesis helps us to understand how Malays as an ethnic minority have attempted to locate themselves in Singapore society since Singapore's independence. For this task the studr traces the formation of a certain Malay psychological agency, using Lacan's notion of agency as further developed by Slavoj Zizek and Ghassan Hage. The study finds that when Malays perceive a threat to their desire to be accepted as equal Singaporeans, they are driven to perform a patterned set of conducts: examining themselves critically, detecting flaws and setting those problems as targets for improvement. They do this by their own initiative and for their own good, without necessarily being aware that their discourses and conducts are reconfirming the mainstream ideologies. The study traces the formation of this agency over time in order to provide a fuller understanding of it. The story starts in the period from 1965 to 1970. We saw how Malays were located by the new government of an independent Singapore, and how this agency was aroused among politically engaged Malays - first Malay MPs and then leaders and members of Malay organisations as well - in response to the challenge by the state for Malays to embrace meritocracy (Ch 2 & 3). Next we examined how this psychological agency developed during the 1970s. Malay MPs and other leaders of their community led Malays to make themselves more fit to perform by the logic of meritocracy like the other ethnic groups in Singapore. This gave rise to a set of Malay conducts for self-improvement under the slogan "Change Attitudes" (Ch 4 & 5). Politically engaged Malays began to participate in that set of conducts through a series of public seminars and through newspaper forums and discussions, while it was also consumed by a broader audience of Malay newspaper readers. During this decade this behaviour also became a way for Malays to obtain temporary satisfaction, by demonstrating measurable achievements that brought them closer to acceptance as decent Singaporeans.