English isn't the enemy,an article

hey guys....below is an article i came across while doing research.it reflects the opinions of a writer on English being accepted into our Singaporean culture.publish your own comments on this statement if possible



Monday • November 6, 2006

Michael Wee
michael@mediacorp.com.sg

IN "ON writing the Great Singapore Novel," (Oct 30), commentator Liang Dingzi discussed the need for "the Singapore breath and breadth of life" in our English-language literature.

As an aspiring Singaporean writer, it seems to me a great impediment lies in the failure to fully integrate the English language into our culture. It is surprising how, after more than a century of British colonial rule, a growing number of English-speaking households and even native speakers of English here (that is, children born into English-speaking families who learnt English first), Singapore has yet to wholly claim the English language as part of her culture.

By that, I don't mean developing our own colloquial tongue, Singlish. Truth be told, English here is still treated as a language for business or instruction in schools. It has an official status, but not a personal one.

It often seems almost a crime for, say, an ethnic Chinese here to claim that English is "his or her own language" rather than Mandarin — even if he or she did grow up in a mostly English-speaking environment, at home and in school. This is because culture has been made so rigidly synonymous with language, and English is treated here as something foreign — brought in by foreigners and thus not truly "Singaporean".

While the Ministry of Education's inclusion of more local English-language literature into the curriculum might slowly change this perception, Singaporeans who speak mainly English (or worse still, proper English) are treated with scepticism or sometimes even labelled to be "acting ang moh" (Caucasian).

I feel Singapore can truly claim English as part of her culture, despite being an Asian society ostensibly upholding Asian values.

With a growing English-speaking environment, we should be less culturally suspicious or shy towards the language and instead embrace and integrate it into our unique culture.

I am not saying everyone should start speaking English, but Singaporeans need to realise English can play a part even in the most Asian aspects of our culture.

The potential in this is great. The English language can be used to promote and breathe new life into our culture and go hand-in-hand with our "Asian-ness". Culture need not confine the language of expression.

In schools, for instance, class discussions on the Mid-Autumn Festival and poetry recitations about the moon can enter English or Literature classes. The occasion need not be labelled a "Chinese cultural activity", solely reserved for the Chinese-language department to exploit.

By exposing the young to our rich Asian heritage through not just Chinese, Malay or Tamil but also through English, we can show that the latter isn't distinctly Western and can also function culturally in an Asian setting.

English is not the enemy and does not necessarily result in deculturalisation; conversely, it can be used to keep our cultures alive. After all, the concept of an Asian country claiming and integrating English is not new — India, on account of her colonial history, has accepted English as a "colonial inheritance" of sorts. The fruits of this are sampled in India's body of English language literature, which Mr Liang made reference to in his article.

If Singaporeans accept English as a part of their culture, writers would subsequently find using English to exude Asian Singapore more appropriate — and maybe our Great Singapore Novel will no longer be as elusive as before.

-AMALA-