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.
