When it comes to important countries in Southeast Asia, I believe that many people will think of Singapore for the first time.
Although it is only a land of bullets, because it is located at the throat of the Strait of Malacca, it has a strong international status and rapid economic development. The Chinese people have a good feeling for it, because the Chinese here account for more than 70%.
In the early development of Southeast Asia, the Chinese contributed decisively, and they had a demographic advantage in both Singapore and Malaysia.
However, compared with the latter, the Chinese in Singapore have a much lower recognition of China, and their Chinese level is much different from that of Malaysia.
Singaporean language
Ironically, Malaysia once had a history of fierce conflict against Chinese exclusion, while Singapore is an alternative among Southeast Asian countries, making Mandarin the official language and making it an effort to promote it, rejecting other Chinese dialects.
Who would have thought that the Singapore government's efforts had become futile, and the use of Mandarin here continued to be sluggish.
Is this "wedding dress for others" or is there an ulterior motive in the first place?
Government of Singapore
Singapore's difficult independence
To understand this, we first need to understand the history of Singapore.
Unlike other countries in Southeast Asia who actively pursue independence, Singapore is actually "forced" to become independent.
After the end of World War II, the Japanese withdrew their troops from Southeast Asia, and the local ethnic armed climate gradually became, setting off a wave of independence.
European colonists were so devastated by World War II that it was impossible to return, and they could only sit back and watch Southeast Asia get out of control.
In this process, the Malays and Indonesians were the most powerful, so these two countries won independence first. The Straits Settlements, once controlled by the British, became embarrassing, and where should it belong?
World war ii
This area is relatively special, in order to better develop it, in the early years britain sent a large number of Chinese immigrants.
Compared with the original Malays, the Chinese are not only more able to endure hardships, but also completely win over the degree of hard work. Thanks to their constant labor, the coastal cities of the Strait of Malacca soon developed.
The British introduced a large number of Chinese immigrants also to achieve "heterogeneous mixing", Malacca is far from the British mainland, once the problem will be out of reach. After the introduction of the Chinese, the contradiction between them and the Malays replaced the contradiction between the British and the Malays.
After the end of the War of Resistance Against Japan, the Chinese people's feelings of home and country were ignited, and the contradictions between them and the Malays became deeper and deeper. The city of Singapore is the largest concentration of Chinese, with more than 70% of the population.
Strait of Malacca
Despite Singapore's strategic location, its future is limitless. But because of the presence of a large number of Chinese, the Malaysian government is full of mustard about it.
At the time in charge of singapore were Lee Kuan Yew and the People's Action Party, which had been seeking to join Malaysia and wanted to use the latter's dominant ethnic group to complete the suppression of the Chinese.
Unfortunately, Malaysia completely ignored their request, and after the negotiations broke down, the Singapore government had no choice but to be "forced" to embark on the road to independence.
So in 1965, the Republic of Singapore was officially proclaimed.
Singapore
Although the country became independent, the problems facing Lee Kuan Yew's government remained acute, as Singapore was made up of Chinese, Malays and Indians, each with a powerful motherland and a lack of identification with the fledgling state.
Because the Proportion of Chinese is the highest, Lee Kuan Yew's government decided to start governance with them first.
The method of "transformation" is simply wonderful, perfectly embodying Lee Kuan Yew's super political qualities, which can be summed up in one sentence: "Let the Chinese complete de-Sinicization while speaking Chinese!" ”
Lee kuan yew
Speak Chinese, de-Sinicize
This sentence sounds very awkward, but the effect is very amazing, it fundamentally disintegrates the local feelings of many Singaporean Chinese.
To many people, nationalism and homeland sentiments seem to be innate. But in fact, the concept of "nation" did not appear for a long time, and the real trend of nationalism in various countries in the world was also after World War II.
The Chinese singaporeans after independence did not have a particularly strong sense of national identity at that time.
Their recognition of China actually comes from the nostalgia for their hometown, and the patriotism of these people is basically derived from the feeling of loving their hometown.
Singaporean Chinese
Because they have the same customs, language and culture as their hometown, they have a deep attachment to their homeland. In the eyes of Singapore's top management, these Chinese are simply Cantonese and Fujianese who are out of the country. They believe that only by severing the emotional connection between the Chinese and their homeland can they subtly disintegrate the possible nationalism.
Language is a tool for communication and communication between people, and dialect is the humanistic link between Chinese people and their hometowns. When everyone says the same thing, they are emotionally closer.
Once Singapore was a treasure trove of dialects, with eleven common dialects including Hokkien, Teochew, Cantonese, Hainanese and Hakka.
In order to strengthen the Chinese sense of identity with Singapore, the local government chose to deliberately create barriers to communication between Chinese and fellow villagers by "eliminating" all dialects and vigorously promoting Mandarin, that is, Mandarin, throughout the country.
Singaporean language
The reason for choosing Mandarin was because the Chinese in Singapore at that time were all southerners, and Mandarin based on the northern dialect was almost a completely new language system for them. Once these people begin to use Mandarin in their daily communication, their connection to their hometown will become weaker and weaker.
Moreover, at that time, Chinese mainland and Taiwan were promoting Mandarin, and Singapore would not be abrupt in taking advantage of the situation, and could completely wrap the real idea under the banner of "language unification".
It has not only given an account to the people, but also won the favor of the mainland and Taiwan internationally.
Lee Kuan Yew's fame as a well-known politician of the 20th century was no longer vain, and such clever tactics are truly admirable.
Lee kuan yew
Strong promotion of Mandarin
After establishing a policy of "promoting the Chinese language and eliminating dialects", the Singapore government soon became fully operational, and they developed a very detailed plan that provided a full set of solutions to each problem that may arise.
In 1979, Singapore established the Council for the Promotion of Chinese Language, which formally established the "Speak Chinese Campaign" at the official level. On September 7 of that year, Lee Kuan Yew delivered an important speech, saying that he would "purify" Singapore's Chinese environment and restrict the use of Chinese dialects.
Since September 21 of this year, the "Speak Chinese Campaign" has been launched within the government, and a series of measures have been introduced to this end.
The first is to require government officials to use Mandarin as much as possible and avoid speaking dialects when communicating with Chinese personnel. Second, communication between civil servants must use Mandarin instead of dialects.
"Mandarin Speaking Movement"
In order to make the policy teacher famous, Lee Kuan Yew also compiled a non-existent expert, who repeatedly mentioned in his lectures: Well-known language experts believe that children's brains cannot accommodate two language systems, and if they want to learn Chinese well, they cannot teach children dialects.
Although this rumor was quickly refuted by language experts, because after their investigation, they found that there were many Chinese families who mastered several dialects at the same time, which had no impact on children at all.
However, this debunking did not affect the progress of the "Speak Chinese Campaign", and the Singapore government subsequently announced the annual campaign indicators and designed a special slogan for it.
For example, in 1979, it was "more Chinese, less dialect". The slogan grew more radical every year, and by 1983 it was "Mandarin's In." Dialect's Out" (Mandarin, dialect roll).
"Mandarin Speaking Movement"
After achieving certain results within the government, the "Speak Chinese Movement" began to spread to the social level.
Beginning in 1981, almost all dialect programmes were discontinued in Singapore, and traditional media were discouraged from using dialect expressions.
At that time, there were many Cantonese people in Singapore, so Hong Kong TV dramas would be directly imported into the original version. However, from this time on, the government no longer allowed the introduction of original Hong Kong dramas, and must use Chinese dubbing before they can be broadcast.
The move drew a lot of resentment from the public, and the TV station received a large number of complaints, but the Singapore government insisted on implementing it.
In addition to the media, schools are also the main front of the movement, and Lee Kuan Yew believes that the elimination of dialects must start with children. As a result, students in Singapore are banned from using dialects from primary school and face terrible punishment if they are discovered.
Lee kuan yew
The penalties set by the Singapore government are very harsh for primary school students, starting with penalty stations, and if they are caught many times, they will even be pulled down and beaten 10 times on campus.
The psychological damage to the children is extremely great, and slowly no one dares to speak in tongues.
By the end of the Speak Mandarin Movement, the Singapore government's measures had become increasingly demanding, and many senior government service workers had been dismissed simply because they didn't speak Mandarin well.
Under the almost coercive measures, by 1990, the use of Chinese dialects in Singapore had dropped significantly, and even the use of household communication had fallen below 18%.
Singaporeans
"Sandpiper clams" compete with each other, and English wins
According to the latest statistics from Singapore's authorities, young people here now use the dialect, and many of them are no longer even able to communicate with their elders in their homes. And these post-80s and post-90s generations have also greatly reduced their identification with China.
Others naively think that Lee Kuan Yew's "Speak Chinese Campaign" at least promoted Mandarin, but the actual results were very different.
After entering the 21st century, the dialect usage rate of Chinese singapore has dropped by 11.5%, while the number of Chinese speakers has increased by less than 3%.
As for where the rest went, the answer is simple, of course, another official language of Singapore , English.
Lee kuan yew
This is the Singapore government's strategy of "repairing the boardwalk in the open and obscuring the chencang", ostensibly they vigorously promote the Chinese language, and even adopt a lot of coercive measures.
But in fact, the authorities have also designated English as the first language, constantly emphasizing the great benefits of mastering it.
On the one hand, it is a crammed forced promotion, and on the other hand, it is subtly lured by profit, and it is self-evident that young people who are fed up with school oppression and policy constraints will make a choice.
Singapore
epilogue
Many Asian countries faced a serious problem after independence: they achieved sovereign independence, but they were not culturally independent.
After thousands of years of Chinese civilization, it is difficult to completely get rid of the influence. So whether it is Japan, South Korea or Vietnam, they have done their best in this matter to have some effect.
Singapore, on the other hand, is undoubtedly one of the best, and it has completed the "annihilation" of the local Chinese dialect without bloodshed with a perfect camouflage. Through exquisite means, Lee Kuan Yew has made "de-Sinicization" well hidden under the banner of Singapore's development.
Because of its different positions, China will not make a big rebuttal of this; It is only such a clever means, but it must be guarded against.
Resources
Achievements and Reflections on the Singapore Mandarin Movement – Xie Shiya
"Migration, Ethnicity and Identity, the Historical Characteristics and Development Dynamics of Chinese Dialect Groups in Southeast Asia" - Wu Xiaoan