<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR>And give let them break your coolie rice bowls while you serve ant ass and pay for their children's education?
Embrace all migrants
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<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->THE argument by Mr Norman Vasu and Ms Joanna Phua in Thursday's article, 'A common tongue to foster Singapore Spirit' for English as the singular or dominant language that will foster the Singapore Spirit despite the 'global' or 'cosmopolitan' nature of this nation contradicts the very notion of a cosmopolitan city.
The word 'cosmopolitan' has its root in 'cosmo', which means 'universe, world'. 'Cosmopolitan' means 'common to or representative of all or many parts of the world; not national or local'. Like the world we live in, Singapore, as a cosmopolitan city, attracts people from different cultures and languages. The question is how to live with these many languages that offer different opportunities within and around Singapore.
The English language has been our bedrock as Singapore forges ahead in terms of commerce and nation building, but it is not the singular factor behind Singapore's success. There are many businessmen from Singapore who make their wealth in non-English-speaking environments outside Singapore.
I recall pictures I saw in school textbooks and on visits to the National Museum of coolies who laboured in the docks at Keppel Harbour. These workers may not have had English language skills but I would be remiss not to remember their contribution.
In the spirit of recognising the history of Singapore in nation building, where people from all over the world migrated and contributed to make Singapore what it is today, perhaps it is more productive to embrace the new wave of immigrants.
Even if these immigrants are not fluent in English, their children, when they attend school in Singapore, will rise to the challenge of a rigorous curriculum and become proficient in English, like most of us now are - fluent in one language but grappling with others.
The goal should not be restricted to fluency in English, but, rather, to match the competitive nature of living in a cosmopolitan city, to be fluent in more than one language, no matter which, given growing opportunities in China and India.
Ong Wooi-Chin
Embrace all migrants
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<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->THE argument by Mr Norman Vasu and Ms Joanna Phua in Thursday's article, 'A common tongue to foster Singapore Spirit' for English as the singular or dominant language that will foster the Singapore Spirit despite the 'global' or 'cosmopolitan' nature of this nation contradicts the very notion of a cosmopolitan city.
The word 'cosmopolitan' has its root in 'cosmo', which means 'universe, world'. 'Cosmopolitan' means 'common to or representative of all or many parts of the world; not national or local'. Like the world we live in, Singapore, as a cosmopolitan city, attracts people from different cultures and languages. The question is how to live with these many languages that offer different opportunities within and around Singapore.
The English language has been our bedrock as Singapore forges ahead in terms of commerce and nation building, but it is not the singular factor behind Singapore's success. There are many businessmen from Singapore who make their wealth in non-English-speaking environments outside Singapore.
I recall pictures I saw in school textbooks and on visits to the National Museum of coolies who laboured in the docks at Keppel Harbour. These workers may not have had English language skills but I would be remiss not to remember their contribution.
In the spirit of recognising the history of Singapore in nation building, where people from all over the world migrated and contributed to make Singapore what it is today, perhaps it is more productive to embrace the new wave of immigrants.
Even if these immigrants are not fluent in English, their children, when they attend school in Singapore, will rise to the challenge of a rigorous curriculum and become proficient in English, like most of us now are - fluent in one language but grappling with others.
The goal should not be restricted to fluency in English, but, rather, to match the competitive nature of living in a cosmopolitan city, to be fluent in more than one language, no matter which, given growing opportunities in China and India.
Ong Wooi-Chin
