yax-143 Who killed volunteerism in Singapore?

@laytenggg wa ting jie so nice

I think the evidence points to something more specific. For the century or more right up to the 1960's, civil society was quite vibrant in Singapore. The various immigrant communities had their self-help associations that were completely bottom-up projects. The British colonial government was too undermanned and too psychologically distant to do much more than provide some basic policing and the legal framework, just like colonial administrations in most other places. Schools, hospitals, retirement funds or job-search networks for new migrants were mostly grassroots efforts by the separate communities or religious groups. The Christian missions did their bit, the Chinese clan associations did theirs too. Businessmen who did well in life became philanthropists and seeded institutions we now take for granted. When bigger projects were conceived, the various groups banded tog...

Full article: http://www.yawningbread.org/arch_1999/yax-143.htm