Blog Commentary

Having read Eric's blog (http://www.gpfreako.blogspot.com/), I would like to comment on his entry, "Chinese Language In Singapore"

These are his views:
Good day! In this entry, I will be focusing on the topic of the use of chinese language in Singapore.

Since the applications of chinese language into the education system, many people have been debating about the usefulness of it in the Singaporean context and many people have questioned whether Singaporeans really practice the language.

Firstly, I feel that many students practised the language. In school, I can hear many conversations which are conducted in Chinese. There are also many activities which are held in Chinese, like dramas, plays and they have attracted many audiences who enjoy and learn through such activities. Some of my friends enjoy chinese lessons and say they benefited much of it. This rising culture could be due to the rise in Mandarin pop culture in the recent times, where pop icons coming from chinese speaking countries have captured the attention of our young here. Thus they want to follow their idols and learn from them, one way is through mastering the chinese language. Also, some mature youngsters understand the rise in China's economy status from the past, they realise the need to catch up with chinese people and if not, they will lose out to them in the future.

From the above paragraph, I have pointed the reasons for why many students practised chinese language. Although there might be some instances where students dislike chinese, but these are the minorities. I hope that through education, peer and family influences, it will change their opinon of chinese language and try their very best to improve their language skill.

And these are mine:
I totally agree with Eric on the reasons he provided on why the Chinese Language is so popular now.

However, I feel that using Mandarin excessively in Singapore, like using it as a primary language of communication among students in schools as noted by Eric, has its harm. By doing so, as in not primarily using English, but using native languages instead, it encourages students of the same race to conform, and thus inter-racial interaction will eventually be lost, which can widen the gaps between the various races in Singapore. Racial tensions will also rise as people of various races would be suspicious of the other races of what is said since they do not understand their counterpart's native language.

Some argue that by using Mandarin on a regular basis, Singaporean Chinese are constantly reminded of their Ancient Chinese roots. However, the Chinese language in Singapore has somehow morphed into an undefinable form, which has a mix of dialect, malay language, english and predominantly Mandarin. Thus it has really lost its true traditional cultural value. While this may appear as an opportunity for others to counter argue that this form of Chinese will promote inter-racial interaction since there is a mix of various languages, I beg to differ. This is due to the fact that this kind of Chinese language is still predominantly Mandarin, thus ultimately the other races will still not understand what is being said.

Furthermore, many people claim that it is totally right to learn the Chinese language at this point when China is having an economic boom. But what they are forgetting is that, they should not ONLY learn the Chinese Language, apart from English, they should also learn Tamil and some Hispanic languages since both India and South American nations are also developing fast now.

Here's a summary of what I have been trying to point out:
Please use proper Mandarin, in the form that Chinese nationals would understand. While using Mandarin, do keep in mind to use English as a primary language of communication. And finally, do not use the Chinese economic boom as the main reason for learning Chinese as it's very short-sighted and 'conformist-like'. What goes up, must come down.

And I hate Chinese, but at least I still use it in it's original form.

Education is a platform for conformists to brainwash innocent young kids into fellow conformists.
Education is a tool for propaganda, to be used on impressionable young minds.
To provide education for the public is providing ruling parties an excuse to impose unnecessarily high taxes.
But education is also a platform for enlightment.
An escape route for many to escape the cycle of poverty.
Without it, mankind would essentially be still living in caves.
What matters really, is how it is handled by which of people.

And you have just finished reading a random post.

Free Speech 2

In multi-racial, democratic Singapore, the topic on free speech seems to always attract the attention the public. In Singapore, a democratic country, free speech is 'prevalent', however that happens under the watchful eyes of the authorities. Some people claim that the authorities do this to help protect the dominance of the dominant ruling party here. However, some more logical claims by others would be that of preserving the peace and harmony between cultures and religions. Hence from these, I feel that more focus should be placed on social responsibility than leaving free speech unrestricted to allow democracy.

In multi racial Singapore, inter-racial relations might appear to be good, however they are very fragile. The relations are like a porcelain vase, beautiful on the outside, but fragile and hollow on the inside. It can all the smashed and destroyed in a moment of carelessness. Hence, it is important for individuals to be socially responsible and not express any racist views which may stir up racial tensions and finally discord within Singapore. Though that restricts free speech, it can still preserve the peace and bring along progress and prosperity to Singapore.

What is most important to a nation is basically the welfare of its citizens. And that is basically the objective of using the system of democracy. Hence, it can be said that democracy without absolute freedom of speech is still democracy, at least in Singapore, as it can be seen that it can still improve the welfare of citizens.

Hence free speech is not exactly essential for democracy. Thus more emphasis should be placed on social responsibility