Nation building refers to the process of nation integration, consolidation to unify the people’s identity, achieve nation stability and development (Kolstø, 2000). An independent country has independent economy, military, culture, housing structure. Besides, science and technology development, cultures, social stability, national unity and diplomacy are also factors to show its prosperity. At the early stage of building Singapore, the focus was on survival as a nation. The tangible structures built in economics, military and housing at the early stage of building a Singapore nation are significant to its survival. Fifty years has passed, these structures have achieved great success. Meanwhile, in my opinion, these structures are still significant and they will be beneficial to current nation building instead of hampering it.
Tangible structures in nation building
After a sudden separation in 1965, Singapore need to build up its own arm force, develop own economy and accommodate their people as fast as possible in order to maintain social stability. Without the stability, a nation can never survive especially for the country like Singapore who has a small territory and population, as well as the uncertain neighborhoods.
The very first thing to the nation building is defense. Defense is a nation’s guarantee to resist aggression, defend territorial integrity and provide protection for state’s activities. At that time, Singapore set up Ministry of Defense, cooperated with