![]() ![]() Minorities have much to say about being minorities. Political opposition is far from tolerated. Literature is also a way of archiving stories and values either abandoned or repressed. With progress, somebody is always left behind. Literature in English has become an efficient way to know and connect us as the language is unceasingly adaptable, reflecting the accelerated rate at which Singapore develops. Not everyone is happy about this, of course. For better or worse, English-neither consistently British nor American, much to the bemusement of outsiders or newcomers determined to "correct" our pronunciation, our ever-modifiable syntax-is becoming the language of all our dreams.Įnglish is a fraught and widening bridge between our cultures. Its national language is tokenistically Malay, with Mandarin and Tamil as other officialized "mother tongues" Chinese dialects to Indian languages are thus sidelined. Our multiculturalism is a source of both pride and painful cynicism. Singapore can be "cosmopolitan," but only for practical reasons we must do business and "play well" with others. The island formed part of the Federation of Malaysia from 1963 before its independence in 1965. But with fear comes pragmatism and robotic adaptability. ![]() ![]() Singapore is an island-city in a pathological state of survivalist panic. ![]()
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