Uncovering the kampong spirit : a re-examination of Singapore's "tradition"

Abstract

Many Singaporeans identify themselves with the kampong spirit, using the term to describe the strong camaraderie within their community. Yet, for the younger generation of Singaporeans who have never experienced living in a kampong before, they can only rely on the memories of those who have lived in kampongs to understand what the kampong spirit is referring to. This thesis argues that the collective memory that Singaporeans have of the kampong spirit shaped the lens of how people remember the kampong life. Firstly, the paper will investigate gotong royong – a term that is used synonymously with the kampong spirit in Singapore – in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore. By doing so, the paper endeavours to discover how Singapore practised gotong royong differently and what were the impacts that followed. Next, the paper will look through the memories of people who used to live in kampongs to get a better picture of what entailed kampong life. Lastly, the paper will examine the issues that Singapore faced and discover why there was a need for the “kampong spirit”.