Singapore is an immigrant nation, with high levels of diversity within her population. With all the diverse races, cultures and languages present in Singapore, it is almost impossible to assimilate everything to form an authentic Singapore identity. To ensure and enforce a level of peace and stability, we were forced to tolerate other cultures so that there would not be the occurrence of other ethnic riots after 1965. However, it was not to be. There was the Little India riot in 2013 which was started by a conflict between 2 people of clearly different races.
As a result of many cultures that Singapore has obtained the country was divided into several ethnic areas such as Kampong Glam, Little India, and Chinatown. People in Singapore have a diverse religion depending on their own backgrounds and beliefs. The religions in Singapore are Buddhist, Christians, Catholics, Muslim, Hindus and some are Atheist/free-thinkers. The country does not have an official religion but they maintain the values of Confucianism. Singapore was known as one of the global food capital because of the delicious food that the country has to offer especially in terms of sea foods.
The ICS results also showed that they considered the local neighborhood to be economically vibrant. As per the aspect of rightly defined diversity, every respondent is proud and cherish the image of Singapore as the global city. They love the way that it is so diverse in all of the local district and the identity of Singapore is that of a mixture of socio-cultural groups. “I like it here because of the diversity and the global city atmosphere” (RS22, F, U.K.) and “We love the diversify environment here, both eastern and western are joining together to form Singapore” (RS2, M, China). In the issue of language assistance, it is apparent to us that they are doing very well in Singapore, the information is mainly provided in three to four language, the native also very good with English, Malay and Chinese.
Singapore is being known for its multi-racial society as well as having a ‘rojak’ of languages. There are four official languages in Singapore: English, Malay, Mandarin, and Tamil. English is the lingua franca of Singapore while Malay, Mandarin, and Tamil act as the mother tongue for the different ethnic group. This paper analyses the multilingualism of Singaporeans by focusing on the three main ethnic groups in Singapore, namely Chinese, Malays, and Indians. Multilingualism, in this paper, refers to the ability to converse and write in two or more languages.
Personal Experiences in Singapore In the process of analyzing Singapore, I have noted several things. It is dominated by several ethnic groups that include Chinese, Malays, Indians, people from Europe and UK, Germany, France and other countries of the world. It is thus a multicultural society with the interaction of varying aspects of the cultures. I noted that the numerous immigrants in Singapore affected the social life. Singapore is a pluralistic society hence people from different cultures interact.
Positive points Social integration: Singapore is a multi-racial and multi religious society. Therefore, there is need to manage the diversity to ensure that people live in harmony as a core strength of Singapore despite the difference in the religion, culture and race. Providing good, affordable new homes: Public housing has been top priority for Singapore. Now more than 85 % Singaporeans live in public housing provider by government and this percentage is highest in all over the world. Government is planning to build up to 70,000 new homes by 2030, 20,000 of these are already in the pipeline, remaining of 50,000 will be in the new towns, redeveloping old housing areas and vacant land.
It is composed by 75% of Chinese, 15% of Malays, 8% Indians and 2% occidental expatriates. There are 4 official languages: English, Malay, Chinese and Tamil. Many religions are also present such as Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam and Christianity. It is famous for its street food culture and many parks and forest; the latest name of Singapore was “The City in a Garden”. Finally, the factor that directly defines the country is the harsh regulations
Singapore is considered nowadays a cosmopolitan melting pot of ethniticies. Chinese, Malays and Indians, descendants of immigrants who arrived in the island throughout its history, are the majority of the population. But Singapore 's Standard English began to evolve
A. & Harrison, J. A. (2013). The Influence of Cross-cultural Differences on Job Interview Decisions.
Almost all the Singaporeans are bilingual due to the bilingual policies that the government has implemented. Through the policies, Singapore had been transformed into an English knowing society. It was emphasized that besides being the bridging language among the different races in Singapore, English is also significant to the nation building process and the economic development. However, what about our Mother Tongue? Why do we need to learn our Mother Tongue and how will it be beneficial to us?