其实我们新加坡的华人一直都在学华文！我们国父的立场是英语是可以让我们多元种族的人民沟通的桥梁，也是让我们核心的语言，最重要的是英语可以让我们谋生。关闭南大是因为很多的南大学生都不会英语，让南大继续他们的教育模式会拉低他们的就业机会。所以李光耀先生决定关闭南大，把在即学生合并于新加坡国立大学。李光耀先生也认为如果我们不学习我们的母语，我们就会失去我们种族的身份和文化。李光耀先生也是很晚才学习华文，因为学习了华语，他叙述自己终于明白当初长辈之间说过的话的意思，让他深深的体会到学习华文的重要性，所以学习华文不仅仅是因为中国的崛起, 虽然中国的崛起是有一定的推动力。 I just want to reiterate in English the thoughts of Mr Lee Kuan Yew on why he wanted a bilingual society for Singapore. Firstly, English is not only a language where the people of our multi-cultural society can communicate and understand each other, it’s also a medium for us to unite ourselves. Most importantly, it’s the language where we can have good prospects and jobs with foreign companies at the time where Singapore was founded. The unfortunate closure of Nanyang University was due to the dire state where the students produced were of lower employability compared to the students of other English medium university. That’s why Mr lee decided to close down the school and merged the remaining students with the National University of Singapore. Even though English is the language of trade, our mother tongue is also equally important as Mr Lee believes the people will lose their identity and culture if they lose their mother tongue. Mr Lee had a first-hand experience as he learnt mandarin later in life and rediscovered snatches of what his parents and grandparents spoke and finally understanding its meaning which compelled him to reinforce the idea to Singaporeans that mother tongue is important to preserve one’s identity and culture. Of course, China’s rise has a motivational aspect to learning mandarin but it’s not the main reason. I hope that people have a better understanding of Singapore thru my explanation.
Stephen Roach 說的全句是 It pains me to say Hong Kong is over, but Hongkongers aren't. 不明白沒多少人會肯把全句轉說出來. 長期觀察, 發現太多太多中文KOL 尤其是普通話的KOL 甚至那些海外知名的華人學者. 經常只在意香港這城巿能不能繼續貢獻中國, 能不能繼續幫助中國經濟, 但對香港人這重要因素從來不多關心或重視, 也不多探討和認識香港人真正的個性, 想法和文化. 而對台灣, 不只想重視台灣島, 還很著緊台灣人和台灣社會文化. 其實不管親中或反共的人, 或多或少都有一種輕視和不多了解, 普偏是有意無意的只把香港當成工具的存在般看待. 反而英國人美國人等西方人, 從過去到現在有不少仍然努力探究和認識香港是什麼, 積極融入香港本土, 也有人到現在還在想辦法怎樣幫助香港在地或在海外保留香港的特色. 中國人就是這麼超現實主義, 刻入DNA裡.
