Letter from Ronald Chan, Today Online 3 Nov 09;
I WATCHED with delight the recent advertisements for the Clean and Green campaign, that offer flashbacks into Singapore's past. The short film evokes beautiful memories of my childhood and the stories of my parents' childhood. However, the same film also highlights how quickly our dear Singapore is changing.
Singapore has undoubtedly changed for the better in certain ways. We have a cleaner environment, political and social stability, and economic prosperity. Yet, have these occurred at the expense of what may be more valuable in the long run? We may be becoming more modern and developed by the day, and we are integrating well into the globalised world, but what do sacrifice to gain all this?
Dialects have faded away to the extent that doctors now need to learn dialects from scratch just to communicate with the elderly, and fresh recruits today have no idea what the army slang they so eagerly pick up actually means in its literal form. Even Singlish has come under fire, accused of corrupting the English language and the international image of Singapore.
Is there a need to sacrifice our own mannerisms just to conform to this supposed standard form of the language? Does such a standard truly exist in the first place? Singlish might not be a culture, but it is certainly the peanut sauce to our beloved satay.
Our wet markets, too, could disappear.
What defines a country's soul? Is France memorable for the Eiffel Tower or for the romanticism on the streets of Paris? When you think of Taiwan do you think of Taipei 101 or the vibrant city life? Some emotions cannot be artificially created. No number of Formula 1 races, Singapore Flyers, Barrages or IRs is going to make Singapore more Singaporean than it already is.
Unfortunately, the long-gone National Library at Fort Canning and the Drama Centre have taken away a piece of Singapore with them. At the end of the day, what makes Singapore truly what we know it to be are brands like Tangs and Singapore Airlines that bore the brunt of hardship, the tembusu tree which has formed the backdrop of many a photograph, the pasar malams, the National Day Parades and the local sporting events, just to name a few.
Who really cares about the silver towers or the cash cows at the end of the day?
Change is perfectly fine. In fact, we should all be worried if Singapore hasn't changed since independence. But sometimes, I wonder if we are seeking change for the sake of change. Why import so many new ideas when we have good ones of our own? What happened to the Talentimes and Beauty Worlds of yesteryear? Why begin the teaching of Mandarin songs in class with Jay Chou's songs when we have our own Xinyao to tap on? Why dilute our culture with so many external influences when we can already hold our ground with some of our own?
At the rate we are going, what will Singapore have to call our own?
