The way things are going I am sure you won't be surprised when you come back and "due to popular demand" they announce that they are replacing the National Anthem to help the newcomers integrate because they cannot relate to Majulah Singapura. This government does not seem to have any attachment to any singkie notion of "heritage" - they are already replacing the incumbent population.
I prefer not to be foul-mouthed but the one who wrote this is really a CCB:oIo::
"MONDAY'S article ('Sung with national pride') about the significance of national anthems - or their irrelevance - spurred my thoughts about our National Anthem.
In all honesty, I almost forgot its title when I tried to recall it; assuming it was Mari Kita (Let Us) because these are the first words, before I remembered that it is Majulah Singapura (Onward Singapore).
Sadly, beyond the title, I have no clue what the rest of the anthem means, despite having sung it every single day from primary school to junior college.
My second problem is that the anthem is in Malay.
If the purpose of a national anthem is to forge national identity and rally citizens towards a common vision or goal, why choose a language that four-fifths of Singaporeans today neither speak nor understand?
Should our National Anthem be updated? The view that doing so would open a Pandora's box of unwelcome controversy framed along sensitive racial lines misses the point.
The problem is not that most Singaporeans do not understand Malay, but that we do not understand what our National Anthem means.
More effort must be made in schools to teach the anthem to students. I remember being cursorily taught its meaning in primary school, with its translation tucked away in an obscure page of a social studies text.
If efforts are not made to impress the meaning and significance of the National Anthem, then generations of students will continue to sing Majulah Singapura every morning without understanding its importance or worth.
Since Chinese is the major demographics in Singapore, I believe that it is fair that Singapore cater a national language that suits the general public.
Grace Zhang (Miss)"
