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The Mandarin-speaking strategy
- Thread starter theDoors
- Start date
Chinese schools were phased out in Singapore in the late 1970s so that those who were born after 1968 or 1969 are educated completely in English. That means the youngest Chinese educated are at least 42 years old now. And many of these younger ones though educated in Chinese are bilingual. So the real monolingual Chinese educated are the older ones perhaps in their fifties or older and many are retirees. So is there really a need for special effort to target or reach out to this group?
I am not a dumb peasant trying to find any reason to vote for the PAP. I am trying to query if minority races will feel marginalized by the reference to Tang Dynasty history. Why's the Tang Dynasty speech potentially alienating and what's it got to do with PRC immigrants, you ask? Because - intentionally or not - it posits Imperial Chinese history as being closely intertwined with Singapore's; it gives credence to the theory that we're one and the same as Chinese from China, without a separate history, culture or sense of identity - which therefore makes it okay to import them wholesale. FYI, I am a Gen Y too, and I don't hang around in kopitiams. What I understand though - and what you may have failed to - is that not everybody looks at things, or VOTES, in terms of what's cool and what isn't.
I have the utmost respect for Chen Show Mao. Which is why I would not want him to be remembered "for all the wrong things", as Scroobal said.
Thanks, I couldn't have put it better myself. And please continue to write more; I, too, want to know what our non-Chinese friends think.
Alfian Sa'at's quite an accomplished writer and playwright in Singapore who first made a name for himself writing anti-establishment poetry. So, no, definitely not a PAP troll. But yes, he is extremely concerned about the increasing Sinicization of Singapore, as can be seen on his Facebook posts.
Absolutely. If you look at LTK's speeches in the past, he usually speaks about general issues in English, and only Chinese-community like bilingual education in Mandarin. I'm referring to the last electoral cycle though; can't quite remember anything before that, which is an effect of aging (even if I'm not an unker or auntie YET).
I have the utmost respect for Chen Show Mao. Which is why I would not want him to be remembered "for all the wrong things", as Scroobal said.
Thanks, I couldn't have put it better myself. And please continue to write more; I, too, want to know what our non-Chinese friends think.
Alfian Sa'at's quite an accomplished writer and playwright in Singapore who first made a name for himself writing anti-establishment poetry. So, no, definitely not a PAP troll. But yes, he is extremely concerned about the increasing Sinicization of Singapore, as can be seen on his Facebook posts.
Absolutely. If you look at LTK's speeches in the past, he usually speaks about general issues in English, and only Chinese-community like bilingual education in Mandarin. I'm referring to the last electoral cycle though; can't quite remember anything before that, which is an effect of aging (even if I'm not an unker or auntie YET).
Ignore brocoli lah ... he's just a PAP IB troll.
Liquigas said:
You are right. This group should be getting smaller but is not. Also after so many years after leaving school and working in the community, most would have acquired a working level of English. Only very few, those with very low education who move around in restricted circles would be denied of an exposure to English. Most people in this group do not complain, they just adapt. The problem lies in those who parachuted in as adults not so long ago, who find the going tough in an English speaking multi-racial environment. They are the ones who ask for road signs to be changed and curry cooking to be stopped. This is a group who has no interest to adapt or find adaptation not in their consideration when they move here. But that said, using Chinese where the context demands it, such as referring to a moment in Chinese history or discussing a Chinese literary work or in dealing with Chinese business partners, will still be relevant.
i dun wan to name names, some ah pek here still have the preGE2011 mindset....
just because i disagree with chiu doesnt mean I am a PAP troll, you are the 1 acting rike the PAP...
I can rant about the PAP, but doesnt mean that I have agree with everything or anything that GMS, NSP and WP do...
if i think they are cock, i will just say it... this is the naise thing bout democracy...
if i think the ah pek posting are cock, i will also say it...
I will still continue to type and rant whatever I wan...
and i will continue to beg for points because I dun rike to be in moderation
the only idiot playing the race card is Nicole Seah
and no1 fark her?
and all you are worrying over an historical analogy ...
PAP are not that idiot to play the race card when there is nothing........
they will fall flat on their face if they do it publicly....
Nicole wasn't playing the race card. She was trying to embarrass old fart and score political points at the same time, and I think she pulled if off very well for a political rookie.
she can do it once she can do it again...
most of the chink dunno huat she said in malay ,,,, if not the backlash will be higher,,,
Successful troll is successful.
Exhibit A:
Exhibit B:
Looking into csm speech, 3/4 is in English and the rest in mandarin. Who can accuse csm of playing the race card for this 6 min of speech when pap had been promoting the speak mandarin campaign for the past 30 years? In any case, he wasn't promoting any racdical idea alone the racial line. WP Malay mp also spoke in malay and quoted Confucius. Why isn't anyone making an issue out of this?
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We are not talking or i am not talking about just one speech. Well it has already been mis-understood by some with a few articles popping out here and there etc.. Straits time ,Yahoo Ftp
P.s We are talking about the Strategy and Update yourself and rewind yourself back to the 1st post.
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I understand your point but you must also know that there will always be people who will find fault no matter what you do. Ultimately you need to strike a balance between the need to communicate with the chinese speaking community and taking care of the sensitivity of minority at large. In any case, you can't ignore Chinese speaking population as their number still exceed the minority population.
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Can't stop how other see it but I dun see how the tang Chinese is similar to the prc of today much as we agree that our ancestors who came here are different from the recent prc migrants in terms of mindset.
Alfian is most likely a SDP supporter which belongs to one of the most vocal group against WP. Is his view a representation of his community? I don think that the case.
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With CSM, I do not worry about his understanding of culture. With PAP MPs and people like TT, I worry.
Again, I said it was his maiden speech, and he was right to establish his position up front, and reach out to beyond the gallery. Never fail to exploit any opportunity to estab rapport with yr targeted audiences. That's the diff between NGO academics and street-smart politicians.
Again, I said it was his maiden speech, and he was right to establish his position up front, and reach out to beyond the gallery. Never fail to exploit any opportunity to estab rapport with yr targeted audiences. That's the diff between NGO academics and street-smart politicians.
Mate, you and I can argue till the cows come home that the Tang dynasty has nothing to do with the PRC of today. What does anyone existing from 618 to 907 AD have to do with anyone living today, in any case?
The only problem is: these things don't exist in isolation. Like I said in an earlier post, it's coming at a time when the influx of Chinese immigrants into Singapore is an especially sensitive issue, and the so-called "sinicization of Singapore" - whether real or imagined - is being most strongly felt. That, coupled with the fact that the entire history of Chinese civilization has been usurped by the PRC for its political ends - and voila! Think Tang Dynasty, and one of the first thing that comes to the mind of anyone who's non-Chinese is, "Not the PRC again!" Of course, I could be getting it all wrong as a coffee-shop uncle operating under pre-GE conditions pretending to be a Gen Y-er. Sure, we can't stop how anyone chooses to see these things (like you said). Which is exactly why it could go awfully wrong as a strategy (as Psy83 mentioned).
Don't know which party Alfian supports, but please, let's not paint things along party lines or black and white, shall we? Some of these grievances are very legitimate ones.
The only problem is: these things don't exist in isolation. Like I said in an earlier post, it's coming at a time when the influx of Chinese immigrants into Singapore is an especially sensitive issue, and the so-called "sinicization of Singapore" - whether real or imagined - is being most strongly felt. That, coupled with the fact that the entire history of Chinese civilization has been usurped by the PRC for its political ends - and voila! Think Tang Dynasty, and one of the first thing that comes to the mind of anyone who's non-Chinese is, "Not the PRC again!" Of course, I could be getting it all wrong as a coffee-shop uncle operating under pre-GE conditions pretending to be a Gen Y-er. Sure, we can't stop how anyone chooses to see these things (like you said). Which is exactly why it could go awfully wrong as a strategy (as Psy83 mentioned).
Don't know which party Alfian supports, but please, let's not paint things along party lines or black and white, shall we? Some of these grievances are very legitimate ones.
U are you suggesting that WP gave up communicating to chinese speaking community just to appease the minority? In general I don't see this 2 as mutually exclusive.
Of course there will always be people who tries to create a mountain out of a molehill. U can't please everyone in life and I believe CSM speech in parliament overall is a net gain for WP. You are of course free to interpret differently.
As for Alfian U can draw your conclusion.
"Seen cheering at SDP's Rally at Commonwealth tonight: Actor/Director Lim Kay Siu, Model/Actress Denise Keller and Poet Alfian Sa'at"
http://www.facebook.com/yoursdp/posts/10150232185398455
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I'm not in the position to want or to suggest anything. I'm just here to discuss whether the strategy will work or how it can potentially backfire - as the thread was meant to be for.
Personally, I agree with Fook Seng that even the Chinese-educated have gone on to pick up English over the course of their working life. My mom, who spent her entire youth in Chinese schools, was completely determined to speak English well when she started work; these days, she can't even give a presentation in Mandarin. And no, she doesn't give a flying-eff about the Tang Dynasty either. On an even more personal level, I'm a loser bleeding heart who doesn't like anyone to feel left out in our so-called multiracial society, if that's okay with you. It's easy to say, "Oh, we're the majority, they can just suck it up since the definition of a democracy is one where majority rules anyway."
As for Alfian, he also went to WP rallies over the campaigning period, ya? Granted he's really an SDP supporter at heart, so what? Just because SDP supporters often speak against the WP doesn't necessarily discount everything they say. [Yeah yeah yeah, shoot me already!]
Personally, I agree with Fook Seng that even the Chinese-educated have gone on to pick up English over the course of their working life. My mom, who spent her entire youth in Chinese schools, was completely determined to speak English well when she started work; these days, she can't even give a presentation in Mandarin. And no, she doesn't give a flying-eff about the Tang Dynasty either. On an even more personal level, I'm a loser bleeding heart who doesn't like anyone to feel left out in our so-called multiracial society, if that's okay with you. It's easy to say, "Oh, we're the majority, they can just suck it up since the definition of a democracy is one where majority rules anyway."
As for Alfian, he also went to WP rallies over the campaigning period, ya? Granted he's really an SDP supporter at heart, so what? Just because SDP supporters often speak against the WP doesn't necessarily discount everything they say. [Yeah yeah yeah, shoot me already!]
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Nothing beat speaking with the a community with the language they understood most. My take is CSM was trying to create a good first impression with his targeted audience and he does so brilliantly. The qns on the other hand is if it a good strategy to ignore this group because you want to 闭嫌 (avoid unwarranted accusation). I don't even care if the some members of the minority feel left out so long as it a net gain for WP.
In any case, the relevant of Faisal as a Malay opposition MP in the next 5 years will have a greater impact on Malay support then a 6 minute speech.
In any case, the relevant of Faisal as a Malay opposition MP in the next 5 years will have a greater impact on Malay support then a 6 minute speech.
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