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I don't know of any other country that has ethnic quotas and such tight control over the housing market as the HDB does in Singapore. As for communication, mos
by hackerboos 12y ago
I don't know of any other country that has ethnic quotas and such tight control over the housing market as the HDB does in Singapore.
As for communication, most other countries have a single dominating language. In Singapore, Mandarin should be the dominate language, but the government has intervened to give each language an equal footing. It just doesn't work.
- Gigablah 12y agoWell, that's why English is the common language here.
- yen223 12y agoSingapore used to be a major British colony, that's why English is big over there.
- shadowsun7 12y ago> It just doesn't work. It does, actually.
- deleted 12y ago[deleted]
- visakanv 12y ago> As for communication, most other countries have a single dominating language. In Singapore, Mandarin should be the dominate language, but the government has intervened to give each language an equal footing. It just doesn't work. Are you suggesting that the Indians and the Malays in Singapore should've had to learn Mandarin instead of English?
- hackerboos 12y agoNice guys. Downvoting my opinion.
- visakanv 12y agoI'm not sure if you noticed my question so I'll ask it again: > As for communication, most other countries have a single dominating language. In Singapore, Mandarin should be the dominate language, but the government has intervened to give each language an equal footing. It just doesn't work. Are you suggesting that the Indians and the Malays in Singapore should've had to learn Mandarin instead of English?
- hackerboos 12y agoI noticed your question. I chose not to answer it.
- visakanv 12y agoHow then do you justify the idea that "Mandarin should be the dominant language"? Is it simply because Singapore has a Chinese majority in its population? Are you aware that the majority of Chinese in Singapore didn't actually speak Mandarin prior to the "Speak Mandarin" campaign? And even if Mandarin "should" be the dominant language, at what point should this have happened? While SG was still a crown colony? After the Japanese Occupation, when SG was a part of Malaysia? After being unceremoniously booted out of Malaysia, when racial tensions were harsh and volatile within Singapore itself? Genuinely curious to understand your perspective.
- shadowsun7 12y agoI don't think his perspective is shaped by much knowledge of the history of the country, or the history of the region. Of course, I might be assuming. But @hackerboos: just a friendly heads-up. We're not downvoting you because you 'gave an opinion'. We're downvoting you because you didn't justify your assertion.
- hackerboos 12y agoMy justification: Tamil: 3% Malay: 12% English: 32% Mandarin: 50% Why bend over backwards for 15% of the population? You can justify Malay at a push. "We decided to opt for English as a common language and it was the only decision which could have held Singapore together. If we had Chinese as a common language, national language, we would have split this country wide apart, and we would be foolish to have Malay or Tamil." Lee Kuan Yew I actually agree with the above. But Lee should have sought to replace minority languages with English.
- deleted 12y ago[deleted]