“Stupid†to advocate the learning of dialects: PAP’s new ca
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“Stupid” to advocate the learning of dialects: PAP’s new candidate once said
![Chee Hong Tat [left]](http://www.theonlinecitizen.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/chee-hong-tat.jpg)
Chee Hong Tat [left]“It
would be stupid for any Singapore agency or NTU to advocate the
learning of dialects, which must be at the expense of English and
Mandarin,” Mr Chee Hong Tat wrote in a letter to the Straits Times Forum
page in 2009. (See here: “Foolish to advocate the learning of dialects“.)Mr Chee was writing in his capacity as then Principal Private Secretary to the late former Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew.
Mr Chee was revealed on Wednesday as one of the People’s Action Party (PAP) candidates for the Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC in the upcoming general election.
His last appointment was Second Permanent Secretary for Trade and Industry.
In his 2009 letter, Mr Chee was responding to comments made by the then acting head of Nanyang Technological University’s (NTU) Division of Linguistics and Multilingual Studies, Dr Ng Bee Chin, who reportedly said at a language seminar:
“Although Singaporeans are still multilingual, 40 years ago, we were even more multilingual. Young children are not speaking some of these languages at all any more.
“All it takes is one generation for a language to die.”
In his letter, Mr Chee defended the government’s language policy.
Straits Times, Mar 2009“We have achieved progress with our bilingual education in the past few decades,” Mr Chee said. “Many Singaporeans are now fluent in both English and Mandarin.”
He said the government “emphasised the learning of Mandarin, to make it the mother tongue for all Chinese Singaporeans, regardless of their dialect groups.”
“This is the common language of the 1.3 billion people in China,” Mr Chee said. “To engage China, overseas Chinese and foreigners are learning Mandarin and not the dialects of the different Chinese provinces.”
He said that “Singapore’s experience over 50 years of implementing the bilingual education policy has shown that most people find it extremely difficult to cope with two languages when they are as diverse as English and Mandarin.”
“This is why we have discouraged the use of dialects,” he explained. “It interferes with the learning of Mandarin and English. Singaporeans have to master English. It is our common working language and the language which connects us with the world.”
Mr Chee’s letter prompted more response from the public, many of whom wrote to dispute his claims.
Read this: “A response to MM Lee’s private secretary on dialects“.
The Online CitizenIronically, at the press conference on Wednesday where he was introduced as a PAP candidate, Mr Chee spoke in the Hokkien dialect, along with English and Chinese.
“There is a Hokkien saying: you must be committed to what you do,” Mr Chee said in Hokkien. “This is what I believe. I hope to have the opportunity to serve everyone.”
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Don't disgrace the Hokkiens.
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Please don't be a lackey of Harry Lee and destroy the mother tongue of Singaporean chinese.
Don't insult Singaporean chinese mother tongue dialect like Harry Lee.
This PAP Chee, he is from which ethnic group? Chinese, malay, indian or peranakan?
There is no way I am going to support this guy. See I also lazy to see.
Hong Kong people rally to save Cantonese language
HONG KONG - Hundreds of protesters rallied in Hong Kong Sunday against China's bid to champion Mandarin over Cantonese, a week after a similar demonstration was staged in the nearby mainland city of Guangzhou.
The group marched to government headquarters to call for the co-existence of the two Chinese language dialects and the preservation of Cantonese culture.
"We want to show our support to our Guangzhou friends in their campaign to protect Cantonese against any threat of elimination," said Choi Suk-fong, organiser of the rally.
Participants wore white T-shirts with a logo which said: "You want us to shut up! We will speak louder in Cantonese!"
http://news.asiaone.com/News/Latest%2BNews/Asia/Story/A1Story20100801-229867.html
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Don't go and suppress and kill off other people's mother tongue lah. This PAP bastard Chee Hong Tat. Show some respect.
He was secretary to the peranakan Harry Lee?
You want to be a dog of Harry Lee, so be it, but I am not a dog of Harry Lee.
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How come this Chee Hong Tat disrespects Hokkien people? His parents never teach him to show respect?
I am hokkien, he is telling me that my hokkien dialect mother tongue must be finished off in Singapore. That bastard. Pui. Dialect chinese people and others built up Singapore okay, show some respect.
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Actually, after Chiang Kai Shek died, Taiwan began to lift the ban and suppression of dialects. Now that Harry Lee is dead, I think that suppression of hokkien and other dialects should also end. These things are all political in nature, that old bastard is already dead, why still go and follow his garbage policies?
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Have not become MP already show colour. Boloryong tat, you digg7ng grave for yourself.
An zua buay sai kong hokkien . Wa jiu si ai kong . An zua buay sai kong kong hoo, teochew, hai lam way..... wa nang ai kong. Lai la, lai liah wa nang kong dialects. Lai .... buay kia li. Tong kor bin, ,li siong kong li chin ho, pui la ... kee jiak sai.
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Yit ti yan cang hai fei zao wor siong, wen sun. Sei zai bao.
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Hoi t lei zee kay.
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Surprised he said that as even during PAP's political rallies in2011, they delivered in different dialects even though the other political parties mostly did not deliver in dialects.
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Originally posted by Neutral-Thinker:
Surprised he said that as even during PAP's political rallies in2011, they delivered in different dialects even though the other political parties mostly did not deliver in dialects.
7 lunar month they speak to those old ghosts.
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Originally posted by Clivebenss:
7 lunar month they speak to those old ghosts.
maybe they would also VTO them.
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hmm can i get my grandpa and grandma to VTO also?
ah, maybe not to disturb them since they have slogged those days.
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some stupid ghosts may mistake election rallies are getais.
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Originally posted by Clivebenss:
some stupid ghosts may mistake election rallies are getais.
Then PAP rally no one would dare to sit in first row. Non-PAP rallies don't have this problems as they do not have reserved seats.
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Originally posted by Clivebenss:
some stupid ghosts may mistake election rallies are getais.
free chicken rice.
no hokkien mee ah?
laksa leh?
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Originally posted by Neutral-Thinker:
Then PAP rally no one would dare to sit in first row. Non-PAP rallies don't have this problems as they do not have reserved seats.
PAP rally = ghost town
WP rally = crowded
RP rally = interesting
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Originally posted by Clivebenss:
some stupid ghosts may mistake election rallies are getais.
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o wise one.
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kill the dialect is killing the culture and coherent
without culture , man is just another animal. , without coherent, man is a self.
he prefers to be a lonely animal to man
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Value-ing efficiency over history, culture and sentiments...
Yes, it works for corporate, but everyone can see what kind of person he will be if he become mp.
For the sake of progressing, he will be very much willing to kill anything and anyone off.
You dun kill off a language/culture, just becoz it is of no use to the corporate $$$ world.
Multi-lingual is hard? So because it is hard then we need to kill it off?
dun make me luff leh, the road to sg50 also beri hard, but we still made it.
I'm proud of our multi-lingual society, our forefathers ability to speak multiple language (abit rojak though), and extremely proud of our Singlish which gives us a sense of identity as Singaporean...
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They double standard. Now they using starhub cable screen cantonese song poon gun pak leong to sing about pioneer package. Election propaganda.
So ish, others cannot use dialects only pap can use dialect.
See if i can post the mv in cantonese here.
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Originally posted by SJS6638:
They double standard. Now they using starhub cable screen cantonese song poon gun pak leong to sing about pioneer package. Election propaganda.
So ish, others cannot use dialects only pap can use dialect.
See if i can post the mv in cantonese here.
starhub or singtel have a channel showing taiwan dramas in Hokkien and Mandarin but not dual audio. anonther channel in Cantonese. which minister is sleeping on the job again.
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Originally posted by SJS6638:
They double standard. Now they using starhub cable screen cantonese song poon gun pak leong to sing about pioneer package. Election propaganda.
So ish, others cannot use dialects only pap can use dialect.
See if i can post the mv in cantonese here.
NSP is a multi-lingual party. They addressed voters using Hokkien in 2011: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kN48lI9SgMY .