Yah Lah But podcast

#713 ft. Janadas Devan - The Absurdity of a Singaporean Identity and the Fragility of Cohesion

9/10/2025
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Janadas Devan, Chairman of the Singapore International Foundationโ€™s (SIF) Board of Governors, reflects on Singaporeโ€™s 60-year journey from unexpected independence to forging a national identity. He recalls how leaders like Lee Kuan Yew and S. Rajaratnam once doubted Singaporeโ€™s survival, and we discuss the impact of policies, lived experiences, and institutions have had on social cohesion in Singapore. We also talk about current strains on social capital - from inequality to immigration and social media, and why he still believes in the future of Singapore.ย 

๐™๐™๐™ž๐™จ ๐™š๐™ฅ๐™ž๐™จ๐™ค๐™™๐™š ๐™ž๐™จ ๐™—๐™ง๐™ค๐™ช๐™œ๐™๐™ฉ ๐™ฉ๐™ค ๐™ฎ๐™ค๐™ช ๐™—๐™ฎ ๐™ฉ๐™๐™š ๐™Ž๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™œ๐™–๐™ฅ๐™ค๐™ง๐™š ๐™„๐™ฃ๐™ฉ๐™š๐™ง๐™ฃ๐™–๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™ค๐™ฃ๐™–๐™ก ๐™๐™ค๐™ช๐™ฃ๐™™๐™–๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™ค๐™ฃ (๐™Ž๐™„๐™)

๐˜š๐˜๐˜ ๐˜ฃ๐˜ณ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜จ๐˜ด ๐˜ค๐˜ฐ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฎ๐˜ถ๐˜ฏ๐˜ช๐˜ต๐˜ช๐˜ฆ๐˜ด ๐˜ต๐˜ฐ๐˜จ๐˜ฆ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ ๐˜ต๐˜ฐ ๐˜ด๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ด๐˜ฌ๐˜ช๐˜ญ๐˜ญ๐˜ด, ๐˜ช๐˜ฅ๐˜ฆ๐˜ข๐˜ด, ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ด๐˜ฐ๐˜ญ๐˜ถ๐˜ต๐˜ช๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ๐˜ด ๐˜ต๐˜ฐ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜จ๐˜ญ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฃ๐˜ข๐˜ญ ๐˜ค๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ญ๐˜ญ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜จ๐˜ฆ๐˜ด ๐˜ฐ๐˜ง ๐˜ต๐˜ฐ๐˜ฅ๐˜ข๐˜บ. ๐˜ˆ๐˜ด ๐˜š๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜จ๐˜ข๐˜ฑ๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฎ๐˜ข๐˜ณ๐˜ฌ๐˜ด ๐˜š๐˜Ž60, ๐˜š๐˜๐˜ ๐˜ข๐˜ญ๐˜ด๐˜ฐ ๐˜ค๐˜ฆ๐˜ญ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฃ๐˜ณ๐˜ข๐˜ต๐˜ฆ๐˜ด ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ๐˜ณ ๐˜ฏ๐˜ข๐˜ต๐˜ช๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏโ€™๐˜ด ๐˜ณ๐˜ช๐˜ค๐˜ฉ ๐˜ฎ๐˜ถ๐˜ญ๐˜ต๐˜ช๐˜ค๐˜ถ๐˜ญ๐˜ต๐˜ถ๐˜ณ๐˜ข๐˜ญ ๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ช๐˜ต๐˜ข๐˜จ๐˜ฆ, ๐˜ถ๐˜ฏ๐˜ช๐˜ต๐˜บ ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ฅ๐˜ช๐˜ท๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ด๐˜ช๐˜ต๐˜บ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ต ๐˜ค๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ๐˜ต๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜ถ๐˜ฆ๐˜ด ๐˜ต๐˜ฐ ๐˜ด๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ฑ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ธ๐˜ฉ๐˜ฐ ๐˜ธ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ข๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ.
๐˜Š๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜ค๐˜ฌ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ๐˜ต ๐˜š๐˜๐˜ ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ธ๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ๐˜ฌ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜บ ๐˜ฅ๐˜ฐ | https://www.sif.org.sg/ | https://www.instagram.com/siforg

๐—ข๐—ป๐—ฒ ๐—ฆ๐—ต๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ธ ๐—ง๐—ต๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด

๐—ฆ๐˜‚๐—ฏ๐˜€๐—ฐ๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐—ฏ๐—ฒ ๐˜๐—ผ ๐—ผ๐˜‚๐—ฟ ๐˜„๐—ฒ๐—ฒ๐—ธ๐—น๐˜† ๐—ป๐—ฒ๐˜„๐˜€๐—น๐—ฒ๐˜๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ฟ โ€“ "๐—ฌ๐—ผ๐˜‚๐—ฟ ๐—Ÿ๐—ถ๐˜๐˜๐—น๐—ฒ ๐—•๐—ถ๐˜โ€
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(00:00) A Message from SIF
(00:40) Intro
(01:39) Singapore's Survival and Global City Concept
(04:19) Social Cohesion and Multiracial Achievements
(17:13) Local-Foreign Relations and Future Social Cohesion
(22:45) New Challengs: Immigration and Social Media
(33:41) The Role of Education and Government Policies
(36:11) The Evolving Singapore Identity
(37:45) Peace and Cohesion of Singapore
(38:03) Challenges of Racial Harmony
(41:20) Understanding and Tolerance
(43:33) COVID-19 and Social Capital
(49:00) Historical Context and Lessons Learned
(53:00) Cultural and Religious Diversity in Southeast Asia
(55:05) Institutional Influence on Cohesion
(59:13) Young People and Multiculturalism
(01:00:40) One Shiok Thing

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