We the Citizens: Concluding Thoughts on Belonging

This chapter concludes the book by summarising the main arguments and looking at future areas of research. By using the metaphor of the rojak to unpack the argument, this chapter highlights that migrant integration into Singapore is not assimilationist but a recognition and protection of the unique characteristics of everyone, in particular their ethnic and local identities. Hence, each individual ingredient is still a recognisable even as it is incorporated into a larger whole. This incorporation is held together with a sauce of common social norms that are seen to identify a good Singaporean—good neighbourliness and a multicultural ethos of accepting ethnic diversity. However, this dish does not just simply magically come together but is done so through the deliberate involvement of various ‘cooks’, including and especially the grassroots volunteers tasked with aiding in migrant integration—Integration and Naturalisation Champions. Their unique position between state and society enables them to play a key role in bringing together disparate ingredients to make a cohesive whole.