To effectively promote Mandarin, we closed down all dialect
programs on radio and TV from 1979. Also, I
was setting a bad example making speeches in Hokkien in the 1960s
and ‘70s to reach the largest number of Chinese. From 1979, some 30 years ago,
I decided to stop speaking in Hokkien and switched to Mandarin. Had
I not done this, Hokkien/Teochew will be the predominant common
language for the Chinese in Singapore, not
Mandarin.
The value of a language is
its usefulness, not just in Singapore, but also in the wider
world. If you speak Hokkien or Cantonese,
you reach some 60 million in Fujian and Taiwan, or about 100
million in Guangdong and Hong Kong. With Mandarin, you can speak to
1,300 million Chinese from all provinces in China. Now, overseas
Chinese and foreigners are learning Mandarin, not Chinese dialects.
China is setting up 500 Confucius Institutes in different countries
to teach Mandarin to many millions of people around the world.
I understand the strong emotional ties to one’s mother tongue.
However, the trend is clear.
In two generations, Mandarin will become our mother
tongue.
http://www.news.gov.sg/public/sgpc/en/media_releases/agencies/mica/speech
During the Japanese occupation of Singapore he worked for a Japanese
government propaganda department...
http://www.time.com/time/asia/asia/magazine/1999/990823/lee1.html
Lee Kuan Yew.
Don't lie to me.
Don't talk cock to me.
Don't come and give bullshit reasons to me.
Just tell me the truth.