Citizen Historian presents another documentary proposal to retell Singapore’s history. In Shauna Ling’s proposal, Singapore history is retold through the two iconic figures of Thomas Stamford Raffles and Lee Kuan Yew, and how they have shaped Singapore by plugging her into a larger, international network in A Tale of Connections.

The plot of the documentary features how Singapore as a global city-state has always been linked to a larger entity. The documentary portrays an internationalist instead of a nationalist history because Singapore’s evolution from an emporium to a city-state has always been shaped by global forces.

The two characters in the plot of this documentary are Stamford Raffles and Lee Kuan Yew. The documentary observes their contribution to the evolution of Singapore into a global city-state. Under Raffles, Singapore flourished under the cycle of globalization driven by the emergence of Britain as a world power. Under Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore was connected to the world through its global port and influx of multinational corporations.

Read the proposal on Citizen Historian.

Tags: Singapore history, globalisation, Thomas Stamford Raffles, Lee Kuan Yew