Singapore’s bilingual policy has been a cornerstone in its development miracle “from Third World to First”.
However, as global power shifts gradually but irresistibly from the English-centred West to Asia, especially with the rise of China, it may be time for Singapore to take the step up further from bilingualism to biculturalism. While there is already a bicultural programme in place in some schools, to foster a bicultural elite, more could be done.
If Singapore wants to continue riding on China’s growth, its traditional, distinct competitive advantage of mastering both the English and Chinese languages will not be enough. Therefore, from a pragmatic perspective, Singapore needs to foster more bicultural talent.
Moreover, as an immigrant nation, Singapore needs to strengthen its cultural underbelly. Singaporean culture is a mixture of mainly British, Chinese, Malay and Indian cultures. However, just like Singlish, the local culture seems to be neither fish nor fowl.
While the Government has realised the importance of culture and has been intensifying efforts in cultural preservation, governmental efforts alone are never adequate. At the ground level, families play a more critical role in promoting both bilingualism and biculturalism.
Instilling biculturalism is an ambitious vision, but several precautions should also be considered.
First, Singapore must firmly uphold its sound institutional culture, especially the rule of law, which is one of its precious competitive advantages. While learning from other cultures, Singapore should be mindful to “take the essence, but discard the dross”, as a Chinese axiom goes, to avoid diluting its core social values.
Second, the aims of biculturalism should be practical. Only few elites can equally master two languages and two cultures, especially English and Chinese. As it is unrealistic to expect all students to acquire such bicultural genius, there must be a delicate balance in policy.
Last but not least, immigrants from Asia could contribute to Singapore’s biculturalism, and the Government can inject more authentic Chinese, Malay and Indian culture here by attracting more cultural talent.
Although integration is the priority, whereby new immigrants should embrace Singapore’s core values, they should also be more explicitly encouraged to retain their positive original cultures to inspire locals.
Singapore’s success has been largely credited to its foresight. If Singapore can succeed in its great upgrade from bilingualism to biculturalism in the future, it would likely continue to and even enjoy greater prosperity in this Asian Century.
With bilingualism and biculturalism, the world will be infinite, as another Chinese adage goes.
Sun Xi
* The writer, a graduate of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, is an investment analyst based in Singapore. He was born in China and became a Singapore permanent resident in 2011. His letter first appeared in TODAY (29 May).