Making Chinese
the official language of Singapore was out of the
question as the 25 per cent who were
non-Chinese would
revolt."
25% will revolt?
As long as you don't go and restrict, go and suppress or
disrespect other's people language, why should anyone go and
revolt?
Lee Kuan Yew's statement saying that 25% will revolt is based on
what evidence?
Was there an opinion poll for that policy?
In colonial Singapore, the nearest
thing to a common language had been Bazaar Malay, a
form of Malay with simplified grammar and a very restricted
vocabulary that members of many ethnic groups used to communicate
in the marketplace.
The government used English, with
translators employed when necessary, as in the courts.
Among the Chinese a simplified form of Hokkien
served as the language of the marketplace.
The Chinese schools, which were founded in large
numbers in the early years of the twentieth century and associated
with the rise of Chinese nationalism, attempted to teach in
Mandarin Guoyu, the use of
which on such formal occasions as weddings and Chinese national
holiday celebrations came to carry some prestige.
In the terminology of sociolinguistics, Singapore's language
system was multilingual and diglossiac, that is, characterized by
two languages or dialects, high and low, or classical and
vernacular, each used in different social contexts and carrying
differential prestige.
Bazaar Malay and market Hokkien were the low languages, employed
in the streets and market places, and English and Mandarin were the
high languages, used in education, government offices, and public
celebrations.
In addition, such native tongues as pure Malay, Teochiu, Tamil,
or Punjabi were used in the home and in gatherings of members of
the same speech group.
In a 1972 survey asking which
language people understood, Hokkien came first, at 73 percent,
followed by Malay, with 57 percent.
Malay was the most important language for
intergroup communication, with almost all the Indians and 45
percent of the Chinese claiming to understand it.
http://countrystudies.us/singapore/20.htm
The once
flourishing literary activities in Baba Malay came to a
grinding
halt and wayang peranakan and dondang sayang were in
crisis. Thus,
the most
important "Malay" aspect of the previous Baba
identity was indeed in
decline.
On a political level, the good
relations between the Babas and the
Malays
also
deteriorated somewhat when, during the
pre-independence struggle for
Merdeka, the Malays were infuriated by secessionist
Babas. To the
Malays,
those Babas were "puppets" or even "pariahs" of
the British Queen.
From the end of World War II, many Babas
abandoned Chinese
religion and a syncretic system of beliefs, and
embraced Christianity,
particularly
Catholicism.
Moreover, Baba Malay and dondang sayang standards
deteriorated, the sarong
kebaya was less seen in
public and the art of Nyonya cuisine
was at least
simplified,
if not abandoned.
Baba
Malay as a lingua franca had been on the decline from the
'20s
onwards, and after Merdeka, English became the
most important lingua
franca.
In addition, a
gradual and incomplete switch in mother tongue from
Baba
Malay
to English occurred among the Singapore
Babas.
http://www.asiawind.com/pub/forum/fhakka/mhonarc/msg01319.html