Government Involvement In Festivals And Special Events In Singapore: A Policy Analysis

Reasons for Government Involvement in Festivals and Special Events

Question:

Discuss about the System Level Resources and Political.

This essay explores the involvement and interest of the government in festivals and special events across the country. It reflects the extent and nature of involvement and also investigates each activity by purpose, reasons for the government’s engagement. According to Foley, & et.al. (2013), reasons for the involvement of the government in planned events include the perceived socioeconomic and cultural consideration of public good, equity on social terms, ROI, the efficiency of all the associated sectors, psychological benefits, and mitigating market failures. In the final part of this essay, a new paradigm is discussed, including specific recommendations on how the sustainable event’s paradigm through public policy can be achieved.

The main aim of this research is to reveal the emphasis of policies in festivals and events of Singapore so that it could assist in economic development strategy; the same can be done through evaluating the policies used by the government rather than to access the extent of the objectives achieved. As per Foley &et.al. (2015), the worth and impact of an event are evaluated by the Government through a triple?bottom?line (TBL) approach. Each of the elements of TBL (economic, social/cultural and environmental) along with the probable objectives and associated policy initiatives to be taken are suggested.

In accordance with Getz & et.al. (2016), it has been argued that the nation’s economic stability has been attributed to the growth in the festivals and events sector in Singapore. This has provided the sector with great opportunity to enrich the cultural life of the country. The ideologies of economic culture are very well reflected in the country’s glocalization process, in which the global activity is courted actively by the locals, as per the directions of the country’s policy for festivals and special events. Policies which symbolize this phenomenon include various variants which specify city as ‘eventful city’ which have capitalised global events, suggesting a ‘localisation of globality’. As in case of a free exhibition at Singapore Philatelic Museum; a known place where children can have weekend fun and event relating to Sing Jazz presents Gregory Porter which provides charm to Singapore through his soulful voice. Thus, the policy related to this sector is especially significant given the economic benefits which the events and festivals bring to the Nation as a means to realize the objective of the glocalisation process formulated by the country.

Sustainable Event Policies through Public Policy

According to the words of Lauermann (2014), a public policy may be defined as principled guidelines to the actions undertaken by the branches of the state’s administrative executive with regard to some addressed issues in a manner which is regarded as consistent as per the law and institutional traditions. The base of public policy comprises of national laws and regulations. Further, it also includes both legal interpretations and regulations generally authorized by the operating legislation. The strength if any public policy is recognized when it efficiently solves problems it was addressed for, serves the purpose of justice, supports other government institutions and policies, and encourages active participation of all citizens.

As per the words of Malcolm Foley& et.al. (2015), the main concept for the policy formulated for events such as Singapore Grand Prix and Asia Fight Championship 2017 which comprises a new concept of uniting different nations and providing a platform for showcasing their skills; the same include the following aspects-

• The present and future perception of events and festivities in Singapore
• Formulating strategies for promoting Singapore as Asia’s event capital.
• Reducing distinctions between issues which are multi-racial and multicultural promoting festivity in the
• Imparting a true value to the Singaporean identity.
• Placing the importance or role of local culture of Singapore in the global map
• Describing the role of events like sports and arts in making the country a global player in the worldwide event’s sector.
• Marketing Singapore as the link between international events headed in the East and the West.
• The importance of local events in forming the cultural identity of Singapore and the promoting it globally.

According to the opinion of Malcolm Foley& et.al., every country that wants to become an ultimate destination for heading events must have a policy that optimizes the possible benefits of derived by them. In addition, there is a necessity of constant monitoring along with an adaptation of strategies for the tourism associated with the events. The event such as Sand for Singapore Charity Festival at Marina Bay Sands and Speak show fest are responsible for the development of related strategy in a direction that establishes overall objectives of the industry dealing with various related issues. By perceiving all the possible outcomes of events, it is clear that the wide variety of scope for economic and social benefits for the country. Therefore, the policymakers must consider events as a valuable “tool” for the tourism development and thereby adopt a long-term approach for planning and develop which is strategic to event tourism in order to grasp the full potential of the country.

As per the opinion of Morgenbesser (2017), the political regime in Singapore has maintained its rigid position. However, the economic and social goals like the legitimacy of policy have still not achieved a major authoritarian stance in the country. This has contributed to the development of various shared values in the country. The national survival also achieved the stability; however, the social progress has still not gained its statute; the reason behind the same is the absence of required essential policies. During the 90s era, the government was against the Western Culture, as it immensely affected the youth of Singapore. This was mainly because the country lacked its legitimacy in social progress like that of events and festivals. Thus, the impact of Western Culture was detrimental to the citizens of Singapore. It is then that various initiatives were taken to counteract the global influence of western culture by promoting the events and festivals of the country through the “Glocalisation process” to reduce the chances of Western decadence that could infuse into the cultures and lifestyles of the Singaporeans.

Triple-Bottom-Line Approach to Event Evaluation

It is great social good to have legitimacy in every sector. According to the views of Rolf Franken Berger, most of the individuals prefer to associate with something which is powerful rather than self-interested; thus the Sociological and psychological factors stress its importance for human happiness. In this case, legitimacy may result in more interested citizens in the events and festivals undertaken by the country, rather than being influenced by the Western Culture. The same is possible only if efficient policies exist regarding organization and development of events; so that they could attract people in an appropriate manner. However, the importance of legitimacy does not only end with the prescribed inherent value. Instead, legitimacy has many other instrumental benefits that permeate many features of political life.

For the purpose of deciding the areas of legitimation, the planners should undertake a SWOT analysis in relation to the events. Which have maximum potential must be considered for legitimation. This may help the country to identify what events can offer maximum effectiveness. As per the views of Woo (2016), every country has its own limitations regarding the kinds of event it can host, which further depends upon accommodation availability and tourists’ preferences.

If the evaluation is seen as the method of judging whether or not there must be interventions from the government, the selection of evaluation techniques is an important base for legitimating policy for events (The Role of Events in Tourism Development, 2015). Using the method of innovation, it is important to analyze the interrelation of legitimation of policies regarding input, throughput, and output. One of the most pertinent forces of economic growth is innovation. The objectives of policy must be broken down into measurable outcomes that can be easily quantified using statistical techniques. The policy should support additional benefits and give the best ROI for the public. After the vision and goals of the event policy are formulated, the authorities should undertake an appraisal of the available resources. Resources represent the country’s potential and their analysis may be used in the development and marketing of country’s events.

In the initial days the major challenges for the legitimation of policy regarding events were the widespread influence of Western Culture and huge unemployment in the country; with this, the authorities had other major issues to deal with instead of event policy legitimation (Zhang & et.al. 2017). Currently, the economy of Singapore is largely dependent upon the event tourism and any downturn in the sector may pose great difficulty to the nation. Singapore’s attraction base has severe implications for the events sector development. The destruction of heritage sites for purpose of redevelopment in the late 90shad a harmful impact on the potential tourism due to the weak heritage attractions base. Another major challenge remains the conventional power available to the country.

Conclusion

It can be concluded that the events undertaken in a country should be thoroughly planned and developed serving as a medium for the further development of the destination. It is important that the events are planned and structured considering the fact that country's event provides recognition globally which results in greater satisfaction and loyalty of tourist which is an important source of economy for Singapore. The more distinguished events a country has, the more it attracts the tourists. The key to their success lays in the proper legitimation of policies related to events keeping in mind the challenges. The essay reveals a noteworthy level of the festival and special events taking place across the country, which is supported by the government basically for a perceived socio-cultural benefit.The essay reflects the consequences of the lack of legitimation of events and tourism and the extent of authoritarianism regime in the country.

References

Foley, M., McGillivray, D., & McPherson, G. (2012). Event policy: From theory to strategy. Routledge.

Foley, M., McGillivray, D., & McPherson, G. (2015). Culturing Sports Mega-Events: Leveraging Public Value. Creating Public Value in Practice, 331-347.

Getz, D., & Page, S. J. (2016). Progress and prospects for event tourism research. Tourism Management, 52, 593-631.

Lauermann, J. (2014). Event-led development: Sporting mega-events as urban policy experiments. Clark University.

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Malcolm Foley, Gayle McPherson&Cathy Matheson. Glocalisation and Singaporean Festivals. International Journal of Event Management Research Volume 2, Number1. Available through<https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.515.2703&rep=rep1&type=pdf>. [Accessed on 4^th October 2017].

Morgenbesser, L. (2017). The autocratic mandate: elections, legitimacy and regime stability in Singapore. The Pacific Review, 30(2), 205-231.

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Woo, J. J. (2016). Singapore as an International Financial Centre: History, Policy and Politics. Springer.

Woo, J. J., Ramesh, M., &Howlett, M. (2015). Legitimation capacity: System-level resources and political skills in public policy. Policy and Society, 34(3-4), 271-283.

Zhang, X., & Ding, X. (2017). Public Focusing Events as Catalysts: An Empirical Study of ‘Pressure-Induced Legislations’ in China. Journal of Contemporary China. 1-15.