Because life is like that

Before our independent in 1965, many of the community lived in an ethnic enclave. People were more comfortable living with their own kind. In fact the British policy of divide and rule contributed to this kind of lifestyle. Areas were demarcated based on ethnicity. For instance, the Cantonese would live around the China Town area, the Boyanese, Jalan Besar area, Javanese, Java Road area, Malay Geylang and coastal areas etc etc etc.

Although it does not promote interaction among different groups, it has its merit as well. Ethnic culture and language/ dialect thrive. Apart from the Malay Language as the main lingua franca, there were people from the Chinese community who spoke only the Cantonese dialect, and others who spoke only the Hokien dialect and so forth. Even within the Malay community, there were people who spoke the Boyanese or the Javanese dialect. In other words, these dialects/ languages were spoken by many because of communal needs.

Today after more then 40 years of independent, these dialects had lost their relevancy. Apart from English which has taken over the Malay language as the main lingua franca, The Chinese community speaks only Mandarin. We are not able to tell whether that Chinese friend of us is an Hokien, Hainanese or Cantonese for that matter. We are not able to tell whether our Malay neighbour is a Javanese or Boyanese because they don’t speak that dialect anymore.

Perhaps the policy of promoting Mandarin among the Chinese community contributed to the erosion of the Chinese dialects or perhaps by breaking the enclave left the Javanese and the Boyanese for that matter lesser opportunity to speak in their own dialect. Or perhaps it has lost its practicality……..perhaps its commercial value……perhaps this…...perhaps that.

Well, actually I don’t know. What I know is that I am not able to speak the Javanese language, my mother tongue. If only I can speak the language, the search for my roots in Java would be more meaningful. I should have spoken it when my parents were still around. Anyway it is not too late. There are more then 100 million people still using that language in the archipelago and I will learn it.

Today when I speak Hokien to my parents in law, my children would laugh because its sounds foreign to them. When my wife speaks Hainanese to her Mum, it makes me smile because it sounds so ‘colourful’. When these generations are gone, these dialects will follow them too. So now I am learning Mandarin because no Chinese in Singapore would understand my Hokien in the near future.
Perhaps this is the evolution of language. Welcome to Singapore.