I look forward to working together with all Singaporeans and with a broad spectrum of civic groups to grow our civic society, strengthen our sense of pride and ownership, and draw us closer together as one people. But remember that unity, pride and ownership depends also on a sense of common goals and shared visions (Lee 2004a). In January 2004, in a landmark speech outlining his political platform as Singapore's Prime Minister Designate, Lee Hsien Loong spoke at length about 'civic society' and 'active citizenry'. He argued that it is the responsibility of all Singaporeans to promote active participation in Singapore's social and cultural life. Such involvement requires continued commitment to a set of national values and a sense of 'common goals and shared visions'. Lee's comments are consistent with statements made by previous leaders about the creation of a sphere of civil society that reflects 'Asian values' such as consensus ahead of confrontation. According to Lee, Singapore's civic society will be made up of active citizens who contribute to the state's nation-building project by providing thoughtful feedback and participating in state-sanctioned grassroots activities. This vision remains bounded, however, by the parameters of the nation-state; civic society is a space occupied by citizens engaged in the national project. And yet, the Singaporean nation is intrinsically linked to the global political economy and subject to transnational flows of capital, people, ideas, and disease. Although Singapore recovered relatively quickly from the Asian financial crises of the late 1990s, in recent years economic growth has been impacted by global terrorism and SARS. As unemployment rates rise and wages are cut, Singaporean workers are increasingly concerned about the presence of large numbers of migrant workers, 'foreign talent' 2 and permanent residents whose commitment to the nation is questioned. It is against this backdrop that in August 2004 a group calling itself 'Transient Workers Count Too' (TWC2) was formed to advocate on behalf of migrant workers in Singapore. Using the TWC2 as a case study, this paper examines the efforts of Singapore's 'active citizens' to address the forces of transnational labour migration. By juxtaposing Lee Hsien Loong's statements about civic society against the work of the TWC2, this study brings into relief the underlying tensions between the 1 Earlier versions of this paper were presented at the CAPSTRANS Newcastle Seminar Series, and the Singapore Studies Workshop held at the University of Wollongong in October 2004. I want to thank colleagues who participated in those seminars for their thoughtful questions and feedback. I also wish to thank two anonymous reviewers for their insightful comments and suggestions. 2 A term used to describe expatriate white-collar professionals. The term 'migrant worker' is used for low-skilled workers in the construction and manufacturing industries, as well as domestic workers.

:  The border studies literature makes a strong case against claims for unfettered transnationalism and ‘borderlessness’ in our ‘globalising world’. However, its focus on movement across borders means that it fails to address bordering practices that occur within the nation‐state as a result of transnational activity. In this paper, we extend Cunningham and Heyman’s concepts ‘enclosure’ and ‘mobility’ to confront the different layers of bordering (both physical and non‐physical) that have occurred in Indonesia’s Riau Islands since they became part of the Indonesia–Malaysia–Singapore Growth Triangle.

In the Riau Islands of Indonesia significant numbers of women have entered into marriages with men from the nearby countries of Singapore and Malaysia. In many cases, neither spouse migrates after marriage: instead, husband and wife continue to reside in their country of origin. Their close geographical proximity means that the couples can see each other regularly while at the same time taking advantage of the economic opportunities presented by living on different sides of the border. These cross-border marriages challenge the normative model of the nuclear cohabiting couple/family. Our research into the motivations and desires of these cross-border couples living in the Riau borderlands reveals that space and mobility mediate their interactions with the Singaporean, Malaysian and Indonesian states, thus producing localized accounts of citizenship in which class mobility (rather than physical mobility) becomes the dominant frame through which they view state regulation of marriage and migration. This research challenges the state-centric tendencies in some of the scholarly literature on international and transnational marriage which places overwhelming emphasis on the ability of states to regulate access to citizenship rights. In presenting a view of inconsistent and sometimes incoherent states, we highlight the significant differences between perceptions of state influence and actual state practices in relation to the regulation of international marriages.

Les cadres juridiques qui régissent le déploiement des migrantes dans les marchés du travail domestique entravent souvent l'accès de ces dernières aux droits à la citoyenneté dans les pays d'accueil. La distinction entre la travailleuse « qualifiée » et « non qualifiée » s'inscrit dans les régimes du travail et de l'immigration qui en revanche déterminent les conditions de travail des migrantes (y compris les salaires, les heures de travail, les jours de congé, etc.), et leur liberté de circulation, leur capacité à se marier et à parrainer les membres de leurs familles, ainsi que leur admissibilité à la résidence permanente et en dernier ressort, à la citoyenneté. Dans le cas de Singapour, l'État tente d'améliorer les compétences de sa main-d'œuvre par l'entremise d'un régime d'immigration qui classe les travailleuses non citoyennes selon leur salaire. À l'aide d'un système à trois niveaux pour admettre des travailleuses non citoyennes, l'État classe les migrantes dans les catégories suivantes : professionnelles (titulaires de titre d'emploi—employment pass), travailleuses à compétence moyenne (titulaires de titre S—S pass) et travailleuses non qualifiées (titulaires de permis de travail—work permit). Ces trois catégories représentent une division du travail selon le genre dans le marché de l'emploi, entraînant des conséquences pour les migrantes à Singapour. Se fondant sur des études faites auprès des migrantes philippines qui travaillent à Singapour, le présent article explore comment le programme singapourien visant la main-d'œuvre migrante et fondé sur les compétences porte atteinte aux droits du travail et aux droits sociaux des infirmières migrantes. Notre analyse explore la place de la profession d'infirmière dans les régimes du travail, de l'immigration et de l'éducation. Nous avançons que le programme singapourien d'importation de la main-d'œuvre à plusieurs niveaux renforce la perception commune du public selon laquelle toutes les Philippines sont des « domestiques », donnant aux infirmières migrantes un statut ambigu, quelque part entre les catégories de travailleuses qualifiées ou non qualifiées. Bien que l'entre-deux des infirmières migrantes structure leur expérience de migration, il offre aussi un site de résistance.

Studies of sexuality and the Internet have focused on how the web provides individuals with opportunities to perform new sexual acts and establish new sexual communities, thus challenging heteronormative models of sexuality. But Internet bulletin boards and chat rooms can also provide a medium for the recuperation and performance of forms of hetereosexual masculinity that have become marginalised and rendered unacceptable in the offline world. Faced with the challenges of the globalised economy and changing expectations about gender roles in the public and private spheres, some men seek to reclaim power over women through the performance of a hyper-sexualised subjectivity in a homosocial online space. The Sammyboy Times -a commercial sex information site aimed primarily at a Singaporean male audience -is such a space. In its members-only forum about sex tourism to the Indonesian island of Batam, Singaporean men escape from the demands of a heteronormative expression of masculinity predicated on the reproduction of the Singaporean state. But Sammyboy provides much more than a space for the expression of an alternative, transgressive masculinity; it also allows the men to produce a localised form of brotherhood in which the men share information and look out for each other's welfare in their encounters with Batam's sex workers. While descriptions of sex acts are ever present in the forum's 'international field reports', we argue that they are a vehicle for fraternity rather than eroticism or competitiveness.