Many of these curbs remain today, even though English is now the most comfortable language for almost half of Singaporeans.
Since the 1990s, the Speak Mandarin campaign has shifted its focus to English-educated Chinese rather than dialect speakers.
“The campaign has achieved what it originally intended: establishing Mandarin as the common language of Singapore Chinese and breaking up the dialect landscape,” reads the letter from the two filmmakers, published in local newspaper the Straits Times last week. “Showing a dialect film is now no different from showing a French or Malay film.”
“What better way to ensure the success of the Speak Mandarin campaign than to relax these rules entirely?” They asked whether it was a “sign of maturity” in dealing with the cultural diversity of Singapore’s Chinese population.
This has resonated across social media and commentary over the past week, with even politicians joining the conversation. Opposition lawmaker Dennis Tan praised dialects on Facebook as “a living repository of our ancestors’ journeys, customs and identities.”
The discussions are expected to continue after two lawmakers said they had asked authorities about screening the film in its original dialect.
“Many people actually can’t speak the dialect (anymore),” says Wu. “I think it’s time for them to revisit this policy. If they want to maintain some of our culture, I think that’s important.”
It’s not just the dialects that are disappearing, but also the traditions that came with them.
<사랑하는 당신에게>One of the things that touched Ms. Woo was the chaju ritual she performed herself. When she turned 15, a culturally important age in her community, her parents gave her a gift to commemorate her coming of age. This is called “leaving the garden” in Teochew.
When her niece turned 15 last year, Wu said there was no such celebration.
Still, young Singaporeans are increasingly showing an interest in connecting with their heritage, from learning their grandparents’ dwindling dialect to taking classes and planning trips to their Chinese ancestral homeland.
But Tan Ying Ying, an associate professor at Nanyang Technological University who studies dialects, is not optimistic that this will reverse the trend.
“Young people who are learning it now… you can learn it like a foreign language, you can learn it for fun, but if no one talks about it, you’re not going to be able to retain it,” she says.
The fuss over Dear You is probably “like mourning a loss,” Tan says.
