The story of Singapore history regarding language can be
summarised as follows:
In the 1950s, 1960s there were two main political groups.
One represented the english speaking elite of colonial
Singapore. This group wanted to make english the dominant language
in Singapore.
The other group represented the masses of dialect speaking
working class people. This group wanted to make mandarin as
dominant language of Singapore.
The group that fought for interests of dialect speakers lost the
political struggle.
The group of pro-british, english speaking elite won.
The rest is history.
