In a speech in 1999, former Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew said that Singlish is a “handicap we must not wish on Singaporeans”.  

“Singaporeans who can speak good English should help to create a good environment for speaking English, rather than advocate, as some do, the use of Singlish,” he claimed. He viewed Singlish as more suited for lower socio-economic classes and discouraged more educated people who had the privilege of being able to code-switch between Singlish and Standard English, from continuing to promote it. He believed that by promoting Singlish, such as through popularising it in TV shows, it would gradually become more socially acceptable. This disadvantages less educated people, as it makes them believe that they can get by with only Singlish.  

Nowadays, most people vehemently disagree, despite the government’s Speak Good English movement, which once promoted this viewpoint too. This has led to widespread criticism for the movement’s initial rejection of Singlish as just a form of broken English. Many people likened it to the Speak Mandarin Campaign, another campaign that received backlash for undermining local languages, in this case the Chinese dialects. That has now changed, with the new chairman of the movement Jason Leow steering it to instead begin with acknowledging the role of Singlish as a cultural marker.  

I think this is a step in the right direction as the language has considerable heritage and history. Take for example the word “gostan”, meaning to reverse, which is surprisingly a shortened form of the nautical term “go astern” from English, a reflection of our history as a British colony.  

The drawback of advocating for the use of Singlish that Lee Kuan Yew mentioned is also becoming less of a problem. Singapore has consistently performed well in English proficiency tests compared to most countries worldwide, due to how it has largely replaced ethnic languages like Chinese, Malay and Tamil as a first language for many Singaporeans. Therefore, the proportion of people who have no trouble using Singlish in casual contexts, while not letting it affect their ability to use standard English in formal settings is increasing. 

However, there is no issue with the government promoting standard English through campaigns. While we assume that Singaporeans can code-switch and use standard English in formal contexts when the situation demands it, the reality is that this may not be true for everyone. Language learning is easiest in the foundational years of early childhood, where exposure to standard English makes it far easier to adapt in the future. More importantly, the overuse of Singlish could lead to some people only being able to speak a mixture of Singlish and their mother tongue, thinking that English being their first language means they should not struggle with speaking standard English. It remains true that not all Singaporeans are able to code-switch proficiently. 

There is a case to be made that the use of Singlish could decline in the near future resulting in the erosion of our cultural identity, and youths consuming more foreign English media could be evidence in favour of this possibility. Some have pointed out that youths today tend to use Singlish less than older generations, yet according to surveys, they have the greatest pride for the language, surpassing that of older Singaporeans who grew up with it. I think it is safe to say that even without any additional support, Singlish will continue to thrive though it will also evolve along the way. After all, it is only natural that as younger generations become more distant from the original roots of Singlish, such as dialects like Hokkien, the language will change while retaining its cultural identity. 

Finally, there is still demand among Singaporeans for resources to improve their English. The Speak Good English Movement has published a guidebook on the common mistakes Singaporeans make, which has had 10 thousand copies distributed relatively quickly. The movement should continue to shed light on standard English in Singapore while not dismissing the value of Singlish in building our shared identity.  We should instead aim for the middle ground between promoting Singlish in favour of standard English as well as vice versa.