The Role of Public Relations and Culture in Singapore Society

This essay delves into the crucial relationship between public relations and cultural dynamics, specifically within the context of Singaporean society. It emphasizes how Singapore's multicultural environment, characterized by a blend of Malay, Indian, European, and Chinese influences, shapes c...Read More

Running head: PUBLIC RELATIONS IN SOCIETY
Public relations in Society
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author note

1PUBLIC REALTIONS IN SOCIETY
The culture of a place is something that is reflected in every practice that is prevalent
in a country1. The culture of a place is the backbone on which every other system is based
and it is culture that acts as the base for all that occurs in the governance of a country and its
systems2. Public relation on the other hand is the process of communication that is taken up to
reach out to the mass and make something effective or establish any system3. The public
relations industry is very important for countries in order to reach out to the world and
establish an image among other countries4. The link between culture and public relation is
very obvious and logical in nature. The culture bound nature of every place connects public
relations with the culture of the place. Culture is something that affects the communication
pattern and as it is evident that public relation is a communication activity, it is clear that both
culture and communication are related to each other5. The society and its various cultural
implications decide the style of communication that will be present in the country. The
project examines how culture has its influences in the Public relations of the country and its
various spheres mainly entertainment.
Singapore is a country that enjoys a cosmopolitan nature in the society. People from
various cultural backgrounds and roots live together and have a healthy level of interaction
among them6. The place has a mix of Malay, Indian, European and Chinese people in the
population. The streets of Chinatown are seen in the country as well as the little India and the
1Samaha, Stephen A., Joshua T. Beck, and Robert W. Palmatier. "The role of culture in international
relationship marketing." Journal of Marketing 78, no. 5 (2014): 78-98.
2Handley, Sean M., and Corey M. Angst. "The impact of culture on the relationship between governance and
opportunism in outsourcing relationships." Strategic Management Journal 36, no. 9 (2015): 1412-1434.
3Theaker, Alison. The public relations handbook. Routledge, 2013.
4Vitouladiti, Ourania. "Content analysis as a research tool for marketing, management and development
strategies in tourism." Procedia Economics and Finance 9 (2014): 278-287.
5Crowley, David, and Paul Heyer. Communication in history: Technology, culture, society. Routledge, 2015.
6Beck, Ulrich, and Daniel Levy. "Cosmopolitanized nations: re-imagining collectivity in world risk
society." Theory, Culture & Society 30, no. 2 (2013): 3-31.

2PUBLIC REALTIONS IN SOCIETY
Muslim characterized Arab streets, all stay in harmony with each other and refer to
themselves as Singaporeans. The Chinatown area displays all the Chinese cultural elements
and has a concentration of the Chinese population7. The Little India has variety of Indian
cuisines and the south Indian buffets dominate the food stalls of the place8. All these places
are well connected by the public transport and hence it allows people to get taste of the
variety very easily. The racial groups have their distinct celebrations and all are celebrated
equally throughout the year. The unique character of each group is preserved in the country.
So many cultures in the place make it the most diverse culture in the world.
The various languages that are spoken here are English, Malay, Mandarin, Tamil and
Chinese9.The place has many fascinating buildings that have religious influence to their
architecture and this makes the place look very beautiful and representative of the diversity
prevalent in the place. The official holiday list of the place incorporates the holidays of all the
major religions such as Hinduism, Christianity, Buddhism, Taoism and Islam10. The food of
Singapore portrays the rich cultural diversity that the place possesses. The cuisines from
Malaysia, China, India and Indonesia come together and form hybrid delicacies that are very
popular in Singapore. The huge diversity has led to the place being referred to as a secular
immigrant country where government is very protective of all the religious sentiments11.
7Lee, Sean, Ian Phau, Michael Hughes, Yu Feng Li, and Vanessa Quintal. "Heritage tourism in Singapore
Chinatown: A perceived value approach to authenticity and satisfaction." Journal of Travel & Tourism
Marketing 33, no. 7 (2016): 981-998.
8Goh, Daniel PS. "Multicultural carnivals and the politics of the spectacle in global Singapore." Inter-Asia
Cultural Studies 14, no. 2 (2013): 228-251.
9Cavallaro, Francesco, and Bee Chin Ng. "Language in Singapore: From multilingualism to English
plus." Challenging the monolingual mindset 156 (2014): 33.
10Chan, Andrew, and Md Saidul Islam. "State, religion, and environmentalism: fostering social cohesion and
environmental protection in Singapore." Environmental Sociology 1, no. 3 (2015): 177-189.
11Lai, Ah Eng, Francis Leo Collins, and Brenda SA Yeoh, eds. Migration and diversity in Asian contexts.
Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 2013.

3PUBLIC REALTIONS IN SOCIETY
Singapore is located at the southern tip of Malaysia. The place acted as a port for
trading for the British ships en-route to the Indian mainland. As a noteworthy point of
exchange or trade and because of its nearness to Malaysia, Singapore was disposed to
multiple remote influences, both from United Kingdom and from various other Asiatic
nations. Laborers from China and India shifted to Singapore in order to be employed at the
harbor. The country was a British colony until 1942. It took a considerable amount of time of
the country to turn into the state in which it is at the very moment. The industrial nature of the
country was achieved after a considerable amount of time. Today, it is assessed that half of
the aggregate workforce in Singapore is foreign. A blend of various dialects, conventions,
and religions is seen everywhere in the country. The biggest blow to the place came during
the World WarII; the land was attacked by the Japanese and in the largest surrender of
history, the British army surrendered to them. Though the Japanese surrendered in 1945, the
place became a British colony from then on.
Singapore went into a merger with Malaysia in the year 1963 and the people
supported this move hugely but soon the merger was broken and Singapore was separated.
Singapore got independence in the year 1965 and from then on the country’s struggle to
establish itself as a prosperous country began12. The strategic location of Singapore helped
the place in attaining better and faster growth and position itself favorably in the world
economy. The industrialization programs were launched in the country and it helped the place
to get a boost in the economy and come forward from other nations who were still struggling
to establish themselves after being freed from the colonial rule.
Public relations in Singapore until recent days were mainly limited to media
relations, print industry, events, promotions and entertainment. The current state of Public
relations in the country is in a transformational period where the focus is shifting from the
12Hill, Michael, and Kwen Fee Lian. The politics of nation building and citizenship in Singapore. Vol. 10.
Routledge, 2013.

4PUBLIC REALTIONS IN SOCIETY
previously mentioned sections to important areas such as- development, image management
and strategic planning. The industry is showing a trend towards maturity by taking the agency
structure and entering the private and public sectors13. An eminent improvement, which lends
support to the rising PR business, is the Singapore government's push towards the
regionalization of neighborhood organizations in building the nation's external economy.The
country does not invest much in the public relations area when it comes to the organizations
or business institutions that are working in it, but the trends are changing and businesses are
creating opportunity for public relation personnel to work for them and create a better image
for them in the public.
Singapore has a controversial and complicated relationship for the entertainment
area. Be it arts, films or theatre, the strict laws of censorship create struggle for the directors
when they want to portray any kind of sensitive issue such as religion, politics or racial
dispute14. Despite this the arts and entertainment area of the country has expanded massively
in the recent days and film festivals and various art meets are strongly developing the
scenario in the country. The public relations of the country is thriving to portray the country
in a better way to the outside world and in this pursuit many projects are being taken up that
show the country in a good light and enhance the rich culture of the place to the outside
world. The recent plethora of films from Singapore has been very successful and has made
the country proud in various international film festivals and screenings. The portrayal of
culture in the content has led to the citizens emoting with the content of the entertainment
industry. The idea that people have of the industry has been moving towards a positive
dimension as people feel like a part of those contents that are being produced.
13Culbertson, Hugh M., and Ni Chen. International public relations: A comparative analysis. Routledge, 2013.
14Kuhn, Annette. Cinema, Censorship and Sexuality 1909-1925 (Routledge Revivals). Routledge, 2016.

5PUBLIC REALTIONS IN SOCIETY
The relations and the image of the country are ever strengthening with the effect of
public relations in the entertainment area of the country. In particular, a documentary named
“The Songs we Sang”, directed by Eva Tang, was released in the year 2016. This
documentary was highly acclaimed by the people of Singapore and all around the world
alike. The focus of the film was a form of folk music named “Xinyao” that was popular in the
1980s but it diminished in popularity in the 90s and people did not go back to this very
popular culture of the country. The Xinyao music was a folk music that was very popular and
the youth were the prime target for this kind of music. These songs were a reflection of the
age of innocence of the country; they spoke of the aspirations that the land held for itself15.
The Xinyao music was attributed as the voice of common people. The public relation
approach to such a project remains in the fact that the country has a huge cultural variety and
hence its promotion is required for the world to know the hidden gems of the land. The
documentary went on to become very popular and the people who had their youth in the
1980s were emotional on seeing it because they were feeling the nostalgia of the music from
their college days. The word Xin means heart in the Chinese language and the people of
Singapore who are aware of the music Xinyao refer to it as the heart of the land as it correctly
reflects the values of Singapore.
The documentary lead people to move towards listening to the Xinyao music and this
benefitted the Public relations because the songs contained lyrics that had a detailed
description of some of the streets of Singapore and some of the popular places in the country.
The broad variety in the culture of the place is reflective in the songs as the lyrics have words
that are a combination of various languages. The song, which is Mandarin in language, has
successfully incorporated lyrics of other languages as well into it. Often Hokken words are
15Ang, Jolyn. "Constructions of Transnational Cultural Identity Through Language, Music and Space in Cape
No. 7 and that Girl in Pinafore." (2014).

6PUBLIC REALTIONS IN SOCIETY
found among a string of Cantonese words in the song. This shows the blending nature of the
country’s culture and the dominance of diverse culture in Singaporean context.
The entertainment industry is responsible for bringing the country at a common point
and the influence of culture is evident in the type of work that is produced in the country16.
The younger generation of the country are unaware of the variety and the past practices of the
land and such products from the entertainment area only enables them in understanding the
culture in a better way and appreciate the diversity that is prevalent in the land. Apart from
such documentaries, numerous other entertainment products deter the nature of Public
relations in the country. The plays such as “Mimi Fan”, “Are You There, Singapore?”, “Off
Centre” and many more have successfully portrayed the acceptance of the diversity in the
land and also the support that every individual is provided with when needed. The integrity in
the society and among the mindset of the people that is a result of the Public relations in the
society of Singapore is evident from the kind of work that is produced in the society and the
relation this has with culture is seen from the content that is being produced.
To conclude, it is seen that the public relations of the country is something that is
extremely connected with the culture of the place. The effort of the PR team in creating a
society that understands and respects the diversity in the society is huge and every aspect is
dealt with a motivation to uplift the multicultural dimension of the land. The process of
communication with the mass is something that is looked after by the Public relations
department and this effectively ensures various practices that are ensued in the society. There
are various fairs and celebrations in the society that are of various religious and ethnic
background. Every festival is celebrated in the country and with due respect to all the
religions and other groups. Public relations of the country have made sure that every group
feels at home in the land and no deterring attitude is shown by anyone to any group or
16Shuker, Roy. Understanding popular music culture. Routledge, 2016.

7PUBLIC REALTIONS IN SOCIETY
individual. The optimization of the personal mentalities in a way that will promote the
sustainability of various groups in the society has been the prime concern of the Public
relations department in the land of Singapore.
Reference
Ang, Jolyn. "Constructions of Transnational Cultural Identity Through Language, Music and
Space in Cape No. 7 and that Girl in Pinafore." (2014).
Beck, Ulrich, and Daniel Levy. "Cosmopolitanized nations: re-imagining collectivity in
world risk society." Theory, Culture & Society 30, no. 2 (2013): 3-31.
Cavallaro, Francesco, and Bee Chin Ng. "Language in Singapore: From multilingualism to
English plus." Challenging the monolingual mindset 156 (2014): 33.
Chan, Andrew, and Md Saidul Islam. "State, religion, and environmentalism: fostering social
cohesion and environmental protection in Singapore." Environmental Sociology 1, no. 3
(2015): 177-189.
Crowley, David, and Paul Heyer. Communication in history: Technology, culture, society.
Routledge, 2015.
Culbertson, Hugh M., and Ni Chen. International public relations: A comparative analysis.
Routledge, 2013.
Goh, Daniel PS. "Multicultural carnivals and the politics of the spectacle in global
Singapore." Inter-Asia Cultural Studies 14, no. 2 (2013): 228-251.
Handley, Sean M., and Corey M. Angst. "The impact of culture on the relationship between
governance and opportunism in outsourcing relationships." Strategic Management
Journal 36, no. 9 (2015): 1412-1434.
Hill, Michael, and Kwen Fee Lian. The politics of nation building and citizenship in
Singapore. Vol. 10. Routledge, 2013.

8PUBLIC REALTIONS IN SOCIETY
Kuhn, Annette. Cinema, Censorship and Sexuality 1909-1925 (Routledge Revivals).
Routledge, 2016.
Lai, Ah Eng, Francis Leo Collins, and Brenda SA Yeoh, eds. Migration and diversity in
Asian contexts. Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 2013.
Lee, Sean, Ian Phau, Michael Hughes, Yu Feng Li, and Vanessa Quintal. "Heritage tourism
in Singapore Chinatown: A perceived value approach to authenticity and
satisfaction." Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing 33, no. 7 (2016): 981-998.
Samaha, Stephen A., Joshua T. Beck, and Robert W. Palmatier. "The role of culture in
international relationship marketing." Journal of Marketing 78, no. 5 (2014): 78-98.
Shuker, Roy. Understanding popular music culture. Routledge, 2016.
Theaker, Alison. The public relations handbook. Routledge, 2013.
Vitouladiti, Ourania. "Content analysis as a research tool for marketing, management and
development strategies in tourism." Procedia Economics and Finance 9 (2014): 278-287.