Tan Bah Bah – talking sense and nonsense

Desinicise Singapore, speak Bahasa and be more Asean, this is the heading of a ‘sense and nonsense’ post by Tan Bah Bah in theindependent. I am not sure whether he is saying he is talking sense or nonsense. The gist of his article is that Singapore must speak more Bahasa and be more like Asean. I am not sure if Asean means more Bahasa from Singapore’s frog in the well perspective or a baba’s perspective. Out of the 10 countries in Asean, only 3 countries speak Bahasa, ie Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei. There are Vietnam, Thailand, Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia and the Philippines that have their own national languages and are proud of their own languages and cultures. Would they want to speak more Bahasa to be more Asean, presuming that Bahasa is Asean?
 
Historically, the development of civilization is about survival of the fittest. When the Mongols and Manchus conquered and ruled over China, they tried to impose their culture and language on the Chinese. They failed and eventually embraced the Chinese culture and language. What is the moral of these two stories?
When the Europeans invaded and conquered North America, they did not try to be more Red Indians and to speak more Red Indian language. They made their languages, especially English the lingua franca of the USA. OK, this story is quite different as they terminated and ‘genocided’ the Red Indians to near extinction and became irrelevant as a civilization.
 
The rest of the world, especially the third world less developed countries, embraced English with gusto. Singapore is an exception as the migrants have very shallow roots and are very willing to discard their own culture and language, especially the babas, to take on a different personality and identity. The fact that China and the Chinese Civilisation were in eclipse, conquered and devastated by the West, with China becoming a bankrupt and pariah country, helped these babas to want to dissociate themselves from being Chinese more willingly, just like duckweeds. Duckweeds have short roots and would change their roots quite easily.
 
The English language triumphed and became the major commercial and national language in Singapore and also in India and many other countries. There is no denying that the Europeans, represented by the English Empire and the English language, were superior, modern and advanced in areas of science and technology, the arts, medicine, in govt etc etc. A useful and progressive language would always be attractive to the progressive who want to learn a foreign language. But many newly independent countries proud of their own nationalities and cultures, chose to abandon the English language to promote the use of their own languages. That is why within Asean, every state has its own national language while English is still promoted in some way as an international language of commerce.
 
Would the rest of the Asean countries be willing to want to learn a third language like the Bahasa for greater Asean identity? Would they be willing to put in the effort and would they be able to cope with this additional task of learning another language that is less functional and not really a commercial regional language, definitely not an international language? Singaporeans, the Chinese and especially the babas, could not even cope with learning the Chinese language that is culturally and intrinsically Chinese, but they could cope with Bahasa just to be more Asean from the perspective of a frog in a well?
 
By the way, Singapore has been trying to be more Asean at least in the choice of a national dress. Ong Teng Chuan tried to introduce the orchid shirt but it faded away. Singapore’s national dress is the national dress of Asean. Wherever our leaders go, they will wear the national dress of that particular Asean country. When they visit Malaysia and Indonesia, they will wear batik. When they visit the Philippines, Vietnam, Myanmar, Thailand etc, they would choose their respective national dress. This is Singapore’s first step to desinicise and become more Asean.
 
Is Tan Bah Bah’s proposal making sense or is he talking nonsense?