Know the region to which you belong

The National Youth Council is encouraging more young Singaporeans to take the opportunity to travel abroad following the reopening of international borders after the coronavirus pandemic. More than 20 per cent of the 7,000 regional opportunities to go abroad in 2023 have been availed of so far, with the rest scheduled for the second half of the year. This figure is up from 4,800 in 2019. Travel opportunities to South-east Asia, China and India offered by the council’s programmes highlight the importance of Asia in the mental landscape of young Singaporeans.

As a global city, Singapore has been keenly interested in developing its economic connections with the world lying outside its immediate hinterland. This approach was necessary particularly when the Republic’s departure from Malaysia required it to find sources of investment and to reach markets that would reduce its dependence on a traditional economic partner that had turned hostile towards it once it became independent. Singapore’s consequent closeness to North America and Europe resulted in its citizens developing, quite naturally, a Western-centric view of their economic place in the world. The young imbibed attitudes inherited from the experiences and expectations of their parents.