Thoughts on Singapore's 'Chinese-ness'

It is a well-known fact that Malaysian politicians have used the fact that Singapore has ethnic Chinese majority population as a bogeyman to stoke fear and resentment against us.  Unfortunately, in recent days, I have been reminded of the reality that there are some non-Chinese Singaporeans who think like those Malaysian politicians, and thus the fragility of our racial harmony.

What started this train of thoughts for me was an article by an apparently well-known Malay Singaporean literary figure (I am obviously out-of-touch in this area) that was posted on an anti-government website, and some remarks about Singapore being part of China by some non-Chinese chaps.

The article had accused MM Lee Kuan Yew of promoting a sense of Chinese distinctiveness amongst the Chinese population in Singapore in his post-independence policies, which I thought was a very clear misreading of the reality.  Taking a somewhat sanguine view of the author's position would mean that one could attribute such xenophobia to a lack of understanding of what Chinese culture is and what 'Chinese-ness' mean.  As a Chinese Singaporean, I had thought that the exact opposite was true: That the PAP's policies have been assiduous in the suppression of Chinese distinctiveness.

Let's look at some simple facts:

• The teaching of Chinese language in the school system has been progressively dumbed-down, such that even as a person who had attended an SAP school (such as myself), may find it difficult to read a Chinese business newspaper, let alone more advanced materials. (The ability to read Lianhe Zaobao does not count - it too has been simplified considerably.)
• The teaching of Chinese history and literature has been restricted to only a very small minority of Chinese Singaporean students whose language facility allows them to understand the materials.  Most Chinese Singaporeans are clueless in these areas.  As proof of this, one can do a simple experiment: Walk down any busy Singapore street, randomly pick out 20 Chinese Singaporeans below the age of 40 and ask them to name all the '四书', the 4 great classics of Chinese philosophical thought.  I am willing to bet that 95% of the people can't do it.  Forget about them having actually read the books.

My basic contention is this: If Chinese Singaporeans have such a poor grasp of the Chinese language and almost no knowledge of Chinese culture and history beyond what had been orally handed down to them by their elders, what Chinese distinctiveness are we talking about?

On a less benign interpretation of things, it would appear to me that, since reading Dr. Hussin Mutalib's letters to the ST Forum more than 20 years ago, there have been rather persistent demands by some non-Chinese Singaporeans for Chinese Singaporeans to keep conceding in the areas of language and culture, out of an irrational fear of cultural dominance by the latter.  The irony in all these is that non-Chinese Singaporeans are themselves also concerned about the erosion of language and culture against the Western cultural juggernaut riding in on the back of the English language.  They seem to have forgotten 'the Golden Rule'.

While no amount of argument would disabuse these non-Chinese Singaporeans of their mistaken notions that we Chinese Singaporean seek to be culturally dominant or that we desire to be 'part of China', here's a little suggestion to those who are more willing to let the facts speak for themselves: Go live in China for 2 weeks, and observe how different the people of these places are from Chinese Singaporeans, despite the apparent similarity in language. And don't bother to queue up at a fast-food restaurant.  It's an alien concept there.