On the Thursday (25th November, 2004) Minister Mentor Mr. Lee Kuan Yew made a speech in the parliament defending his bilingual policy which he championed in his heydays and that is has to undergo a radical change in the current scheme of things. He was of the opinion that his dream of a bilingual population has not bourne fruits and that he has since realized that it is near impossible for expecting people to be bilingual. He said that he himself has struggled at lot with his Mandarin, Malay, Hokkien and Japanese and in recent times has completely lost touch with Hokkien and Japanese.
I personally was surprised by that statement of his since when he spoke of himself, he was not referring to a bilingual problem but his difficulties in mastering not two but five languages including English. The full text can be found at
http://www.straitstimes.com.sg/sub/singapore/story/0,5562,287050-1101506340,00.html. In case the link does not work, post a comment with your e-mail ID and I will send you the full text.
The people I know back home in India are mostly bilingual, in fact a reasonably educated person in India is bilingual. Many of them know more than two languages. I myself know about four languages. Another interesting thing to note is that Mr. Lee Hsien Loong son of Mr. Lee Kuan Yew spoke in three languages (English, Mandarin and Malay) fluently during his opening speech when he took over as Prime Minister.
What surprises me is that Mr. Lee who is regarded as the architect of Singapore is giving up on the fact that people of Singapore cannot master two languages and he suggested radical changes in the policy, which lets the parents determine how far their children would go in learning a language, putting the onus on parents. This might seem like a trivial debate when there are more pressing issues that needs the attention of people than to talk about whether children should learn two languages or not.
Why it is important is because language is the window to understanding a culture and tradition of a sect of people. The Chinese, Indians and Malay population live in harmony in Singapore but yet retain their own traditions and practices. The traditions and practices are important because this gives people a sense of identity and belonging and they feel part of a larger whole. If the second language policy is relaxed and option is given to the people to sacrifice subjects that are deemed hard to learn, I am sure people are bound to take the easier route not realizing the larger impact of such actions. Of course the government says that it is the responsibility of the people and they have to bear the results of their actions and it can only be a warning sign bearer.
I am not saying that children should be forced to learn or that the government should take responsibility of the lives of the people. I am of the contention that things that uniquely identifies us and gives us a sense of belonging should not be sacrificed for convenience sake. Of course learning two languages is difficult and it will require a lot of effort on the part of children to learn them. But what is living a life if we are not prepared to even face this challenge. Imagine a Chinese growing up knowing only English and not knowing Mandarin. Some might ask, so what is the big deal. Of course it might seem like it is not a big deal. We are seeing a convergence in many things around us so why not in language. People are definitely ready to accept a common protocol to transfer data between computers all over the world. So it is in telecom. In fact there are even efforts to bring about a common practice of accounting so that it paves way for truly global companies. But are people ready for a convergence in culture? Can we think of one culture, one realigion, one language, one tradition, one practice, one set of values, one set of morals, one set of ethics for the entire planet at this point in time? Definitely not.
There will be a time in future where we might think of a scenario like this. But in the current scheme of things people are not ready. Many are carried away by the sheer pace of life. They don't stop by to think of larger implications of simple actions that they take on a day-to-day basis, like not studying Mandarin or Tamil or Malay and following only the English language, until the reality hits them. But then it is too late.
I think sacrificing the mother tongue for the English language or for that matter studying only the mother tongue is a foolish decision. It will not prepare the children either for facing the challenges in life and career or for giving then a strong sense of identity.
This is something the Singaporeans have to seriously think about.
