Onward Singapore!

I just learnt a rather surprising fact recently about the inhabitants of Singapore.

It turns out; the majority of them cannot speak Malay.

Perhaps that’s not much of an eye brow raiser. But consider this; Malay is one of their official languages. Furthermore, their national anthem ‘Majulah Singapura’ is written in Malay and only be sung in Malay.

The term ‘Majulah Singapura’ is seen on a lot of the official buildings, crest or what have you around the country. It was a term that really made an impression on me when I first came to Singapore.  As a Malaysian, Singapore had always been the more modern, more developed neighbor we all so loved to envy and make fun of, a bit like Belgians with the French, or Canadians with the US. We didn’t like them for the way prosperity had made them, but we still respected that they achieved what they did, which was so much, with what they had, which was so little.

So when I first learnt of the term ‘Majulah Singapura’, I was impressed. Literally it meant ‘Onward Singapore’. I remember thinking that this was just about the most appropriate motto you could ever attach to Singapore. It is a country all about progress, development and becoming a global, world class city... moving forward in short. You feel it the moment your feet touches the ground here. ‘Kiasu Singapura’ would probably fit the bill too.. but I’ll stay away from jibes for now. Credit should be given to where it is due, and Singapore truly lived up to its motto. I mean the first one of course.

So I guess as a national anthem, Singaporeans would have every reason to feel proud singing it. If only they understood the words that is.

My surprise about Singaporeans not being able to speak Malay wasn’t so much about the ability itself, but rather that they were singing their own national anthem in words they themselves didn’t understand. Kind of like how a lot of Muslims in Malaysia learn how to read the Quran and Arabic words without really knowing the meaning of any of those words.

Of course, it was explained to me that Singaporeans (who aren’t Malay) would be thought the meaning of the anthem in the other official languages i.e. English, Mandarin and Tamil… so overall, they did understand what they were singing…… but still…. It doesn’t feel quite right to me that a citizen of a country would need a translation of his national anthem before he could understand it. It just isn’t right. Perhaps there was a historical reason why Malay was kept, I wouldn’t know. But it doesn’t seem like Singaporeans themselves know either. It becomes especially ironic when I, a Malaysian, could read or listen to it the very first time and understood perfectly what it said. It’s like your neighbor being able to read the sign board in your house that you yourself cannot read.

I don’t mean this as a jibe, nor any disrespect to Singaporeans. It is a country that continues to have my respect and admiration. Singaporeans and Malaysians have such common roots that sometimes when I’m here, I forget that I’m really overseas. Everything here feels just like home, but better in many ways.

But you really got to do something about your national anthem.