Re: Singapore also suppress Hakka

[teoh@cs.utk.edu]

>From yfsi@pacific.net.sg Tue Dec  3 21:57:32 1996
From: "Y. F. SI" <yfsi@pacific.net.sg>
Subject: Re: Singapore also suppress Hakka 

[moderator: Please cc to fhakka@asiawind.com Thanks !]


Hi everybody.

I have just came back from yet another oversea trip.

I have therefore missed the 13th Hakka gathering and also possibly some
discussions on Hakka issues.

Like many Singaporeans , I was initially in fact a bit upset when Singapore
started the speak Mandarin campaign. After analysing the situation in
Singapore , I think that was a logical way to do.

There are 3 main races namely Chinese , Malays and Indians in Singapore.
Among the Chinese there are many subgroups or dialect groups . The main
dialect groups being the Fujian, Chouzhou , Cantonese , Hainanese , Hakka
and Shanghainese.
Hakka is among the minority dialect group in Singapore.  As far as I can
recall there are only a few places where Hakka was spoken 20 years ago. One
of these few areas was Jalan Haji Karim which was situated next to Paya
Lebar Airport. ( The village had disappeared due to Airport expansion ).

Even in those days some of the younger Hakkas tend to use Fujian rather
than Hakka.
The Hakka association is called the Khek association ( we have to use
Fujian pronunciation for our association ! what a shame ).

The Chinese Chamber of Commerce was also divided into clans and the
Chairman and the committe members had to be selected among the members from
the clans . ( The Chamber has recently abolished the clan system ).

We have to accept the fact that Mandarin is the most widely use Chinese
language and if we stick to use  only Hakka we would not able to
communicate with other Chinese originated from other provinces.

I am a  Hakka (my parents are Hakkas) and I am able to speak Hakka but my
children are not so keen to speak Hakka. This is the trend  in Singapore
and it could also be the trend in other part of the World. It is not easy
to reverse the trend. 
I am fully support the idea of promoting the use of  Hakka at home, but I
think we must also face the reality and perhaps try to preserve the Hakka
spirit is more important.

y.f. Si  

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