Importance of traditional values

To a considerable degree, herein lie the uncertainties regarding where we are heading. To me, resolving the uncertainties means we should take a step back and take stock, and recognize the vital importance of our traditional values and culture.

In this vein, it is important for our educators to be reminded that in China the English language serves no more purpose than a tool for communication in a certain international context.

In more than one sense, China is in a quite different situation as Singapore.

During a recent trip to Singapore, I felt it very confusing when I tried to ask the way from any Chinese-looking locals.

Invariably I had to begin the query with, "Do you speak Mandarin?"

The funny thing was that if the answer was "yes," and when I had to ask for the location of a certain hotel or a street, the hotel and street names often were available only in English.

Singapore is different

For Singapore, the choice of English as the official language since the founding of the country in 1965 was a national necessity, as a strategy to foster national cohesion in view of the sentiments of other ethnic groups.

To forge the nationhood, the newly minted Singapore government drafted policies characterizing English, Mandarin, Malay and Tamil as equally official languages, in tandem with a host of other policies promoting multiculturalism and forging the Singaporean identity.

In China, the current challenge is how to reaffirm our own national and cultural identity by giving full credit to the indigenous culture, restoring faith in our values, particularly in view of the tendency towards Westernization on the part of many of our young people.