JAMES LAO

M.Soc.Sci. Student

Research Title: Malae Sira Singapura: Motivations and Discourses around the Singapore Model of Development in Timor-Leste
Research Group: Politics, Economies And Space (PEAS)
Thesis Advisor: A/Prof Woon Chih Yuan

As someone who is interested in the place of soft power as a nonviolent dimension to classical power relations between states and groups, I hope to explore some of its sources, uses and mechanisms through contemporary case studies. Due to its many forms, I believe soft power is a particularly worthy subject of study that cuts across various fields: economic geography, geopolitics, cultural geography, communications and many more.

My current research aims to explore the degree to which notions of development present as a potential source of soft power. This research will be done in the context of Timor-Leste, its accession to ASEAN and its burgeoning relations with Singapore – another small state. Noting that Singapore’s developmental model has garnered numerous admirers from around the world due to how fast it uplifted an otherwise geographically limited island into prosperity, I wonder if Timor-Leste, through its current interlocutions with Singapore, will adopt a similar developmental path or if other factors may prevent it from doing so. Said factors may include discursive tensions between Timorese and Singaporean understandings of development, the differences in political economies between post-independence Singapore and contemporary Timor-Leste, and the worries brought about by a drawn-out accession process to ASEAN.