We applied a conceptual lens of gastrodiplomacy, or how countries conduct cultural diplomacy through the strategic use of cuisine in influencing perceptions of a nation, to examine middle power Singapore’s national and international campaigns to inscribe its hawker culture through UNESCO’s List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. With a rather robust nation brand and established programs in gastrodiplomacy, Singapore is the first among Southeast Asian nations to take the first step to seek international and formal food-based recognition. Above everything else, Singapore’s UNESCO bid is motivated by a desire, in collaboration with non-state actors, to further increase the value and standing of its nation brand through food. As self-making, Singapore’s bid builds not only upon national identity creation within its national borders but also othering, a process of shaping the country’s unique dissimilarities to differentiate from other nation states especially its neighbors to reap the expected perceptible benefits of a tangible and emotional transnational connection with its foreign publics through food.

We examine promotional materials produced by two organisations in Singapore, TrueLove.Is and Pink Dot, to investigate how these two groups employ discourses of love to support their opposing views regarding the reconcilability of Christianity and same-sex desire. TrueLove.Is is a Christian ministry that encourages LGB Christian Singaporeans to “come out, come home”, while Pink Dot is Singapore’s largest and foremost LGBTQ movement. We identify similarities and differences in their persuasive discourse strategies regarding ideas of love as discussed by lesbian Christian pastors. Although they position the idea of love similarly, their agendas are completely polarised. TrueLove.Is takes the position that non-heteronormative activity is ungodly and sinful, while Pink Dot offers a reconciliation between Christianity and same-sex desire. We employ Peterson’s (2016) approach to homophobic discourse analysis based on Systemic Functional Linguistics and a comparative discourse analysis to investigate the ideologies that inform the two organisations’ materials about the treatment of LGBTQ Singaporeans.

This article examines to what extent Friday sermons are used by the government of Singapore through its statutory board, Majlis Ugama Islam Singapura (MUIS) or Islamic Religious Council of Singapore, to enact government policies and communicate it’s approved Islamic interpretations. A content analysis methodology was employed to discursively elucidate Friday sermon texts delivered in 2019 in Singapore, which were all taken from MUIS websites. Findings showed that the religious authority modulated religious discourses and utilized the Friday sermons as an avenue of forging state-centric Muslim identity and modulating interpretations of Islam. This content analysis study stresses the importance of how Friday sermons could be used to construct Muslim identity in secular state policies and shape a socio-political harmony between state vision and development and Muslim minorities. This paper implies that the current entanglements of religion and development are closely intertwined in which religion and state-building initiatives led by the government reciprocally interact and mutually benefit. © The Authors.

The following sections are included: Introduction, Social Service in the Religious Lives of Malays/Muslims, Gotong-Royong Spirit in the Malay/Muslim Communities, Resurgence of Community Groups After WW2, Jamiyah Singapore, Facing Hardships Together (1960’s–1970s), “Many Helping Hands” — Galvanising the Community to Face Emerging Economic and Social Realities (1980s-1990s), New Horizons and Emerging Challenges (2000 and Beyond), Conclusion, References.