In 1979, he launched the “Promote Mandarin” campaign to replace dialects, the common means of communication among the Chinese at the time. That was three years after he had made his first official visit to China.

Even in those days he had a strong impression of the Asian giant.

Today, three decades later, as many Americans and Europeans seeking opportunities in its booming cities rush to learn Mandarin, Lee’s piece of language engineering stands his people in good stead.

Statistics showed more than 60% of Chinese Singaporeans aged 15 to 24 spoke Mandarin most at home, and 18% spoke dialect. It has given the new generation a headstart in China.

It has proven a boon to the thousands who are working as professionals or managers for multi-national corporations or have set up business in China, many of them as a result of their Mandarin capability.

This is, of course, part of Singapore’s bilingual education in which all citizens are taught English but with the races taking their mother tongues as mandatory second language.

However, Lee had another reason to push Singaporean Chinese to learn Mandarin, and the other races to retain their mother tongues.

Bilingualism was essential, he believed, to retain ethnic roots and Asian values as ballast against society becoming too Westernised.

It was imperative for the Chinese, like the other races, to keep their customs and traditions.

Some Singaporeans are now calling for a return of dialects, at least on radio and TV, without reducing the status of Mandarin for ethnic Chinese.

For Lee, eradicating dialects had been a necessity for a Mandarin-speaking society. He believed it was too difficult for people to be proficient in a second language, if they had to labour with dialects, too.

Singaporeans who had objected to the ban on dialects disagree, saying that dialects were a natural part of growing up and requires no study.

A recent online question “Do you agree that MediaCorp should implement dialect programmes?” polled a 90% affirmative answer.

The calls stem partly from a belief that Mandarin is already rooted enough to allow the dialects to be used over TV, radio and the movies. A whole generation of youths has grown up not knowing dialects.

But the senior citizens are another story. Many of those above 60 years of age who speak only dialects find TV and the movies a foreign media. Many are unable to converse with their grandchildren.

At the hospitals, I have often encountered young doctors unable to communicate with their sick elderly patients - despite both being ethnic Chinese. Young Chinese receptionists face the same problem.

The management has had to roster some dialect-speaking nurses to be on a given shift to make sure doctors and patients understand each other.

During the SARS epidemic, the government was compelled to allow dialects to be used over radio and TV so that senior citizens could follow emergency measures.

Increasingly, politicians from both the ruling People’s Action Party and the opposition are also using dialects to win hearts and minds from a large section of voters.

The Workers’ Party Member of Parliament (Paya Lebar), Low Thia Khiang, had won partly because he campaigned in Teochew, the dialect of many constituents. The ruling party was forced to follow suit, ban or no ban.

The ban was also put aside when radio began several years ago to broadcast designated news in several dialects to let the elderly citizens keep abreast of current affairs. They have been unhappy over non-dialect TV and radio, their only means of entertainment.

When Lee forbade their use, he probably realised the policy had its downside too, a long-term loss among Singaporeans to communicate with dialect-speaking Chinese in South-East Asia.

Some Chinese say dialects should not be allowed to die if Singaporean Chinese were to retain their “Chineseness” over the long term.

These are people who regard Mandarin as a foreign, exam subject, rather than their own family language capable of promoting Chinese culture.

Whether this is true or not is debatable. But what is not is that many youths are losing their traditional values and adapting to a Western lifestyle.

A growing minority has stopped observing family reunion dinners or visiting relatives on Lunar New Year (some even wear black, regarded as inauspicious), but are opting to go abroad for holidays, which was unthinkable a generation ago.

The same declining interest is evident in other festivals like Lantern and Chingay, which are observed by the state.

Some, who feel that dialects can help the Chinese community retain its traditions, suggested over the Internet to start with lifting the ban on some TV and radio shows.

Singapore’s two Chinese TV channels should be allowed to air Hokkien and Cantonese shows, said forum participant fountain82. (One cable channel is already showing Cantonese shows.)

“I really doubt the government’s intention to encourage the Chinese to keep their traditions when dialect shows are dubbed in Mandarin. I feel Singaporeans should have a choice in what they should watch,” he added.

Another stated his belief that these dialects “will definitely bring in life to our society”.

Places like Hong Kong and Taiwan use their own dialects although Mandarin is their main language for common use.

“It’s the element of dialects in their everyday life that makes these places so attractive to tourists,” he said.

o Seah Chiang Nee is a veteran journalist and editor of the information website littlespeck.com

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