And not forgetting my dear fellow discerning Singaporeans.

I think you guys (Miss Khartini Khalid, Vikram, Mr Teo Ser Luck, P65 bloggers and writers and young PAP members ) are missing the ‘context and purpose’ of my reasoning of the perceived non-partisanship of this new blogging platform similar to its’ previous incarnation as a P65 blog by Members of Parliament.

This response is in reference to Miss Khartini Khalid’s letter ‘P65 bloggers keen to engage in meaningful debate – no party line to toe’ which was published in new media in the ST Forum Online.

1. Dear Miss Khartini Khalid, you wrote ‘Some of us, like Mr Vikram Nair, are members of Young PAP, as he has written in a post on the blog. Others are not.’

Who are the writers and contributors of this blog other than Vikram who are the ‘some of us’ members of the Young PAP?

Who are the writers and contributors of this blog who are the ‘others are not’ members of the Young PAP?

2. Dear Miss Khartini Khalid , more than 5 million Singaporeans read in the traditional national media that this is a non-partisan blog totally unrelated to the PAP. It was printed in all Singaporean media that “none of the [the writers] are affiliated to the Young PAP”.

Mr Teo Ser Luck said in August 12 2009 that ‘We have our own Young PAP website for the politically inclined… The p65 blog is to allow other young people to share their views, which are non-partisan, neutral and can be constructive criticism of policies.’

Why aren’t the Young PAP members of this blog contributing articles to the Young PAP website?

Why isn’t Vikram who is a Young PAP member posting on the Young PAP website instead of the perceived ‘non-partisan’ blog like the ‘the p65.sg site’?

3. Dear Miss Khartini Khalid, you wrote ‘There are websites where people support the Government and websites where people condemn the Government. Some express their views with reason and facts, while others use cyberspace as a vehicle to vent their frustration.’

Are you implying that those that condemn the government use cyberspace as a vehicle to vent their frustration?
Have you read the hundreds if not thousands of blogs and websites since the 1990’s that have been advocating constructive criticism of Singapore.

These people love Singapore just as much as you and have every right under the constitution to air their feelings. There have been a lot of solutions out there in cyberspace by ordinary Singaporeans to tackle our current social and economic woes. Unfortunately, it is traditional national media and the PAP which dismisses these ‘views with reason and facts’ as ‘condemnations’.

My warmest wishes.

But nevertheless, I’ll still try not to lose what little I know of the language. Still can understand somewhat, but the speaking part is not good at all. More importantly for me right now, some of the cousins must start compiling all the recipes from the older folk before there’s no one left to hand them down! My ayam buah keluak!! :O

Adrian – I’m peranakan myself and yes my family, esp mom’s uses Malay to speak with one another. I can understand your ‘plight’ being half past six for the language bit, so I’ve been trying hard to speak with my mom whenever we can, hahaha I used not too bad as a child, perhaps that’s because my grams was still alive then, so in order to communicate with her, I had to use it – so its never too late, you can start today )

In fact, I’m half-Peranakan, and most of the uncles and aunties on my dad’s side actually speak Malay to one another, yet my Malay is abysmally half-past-six, and without doubt the worst among all my cousins. That is actually a real regret for me, that I never really learnt it unlike all my cousins. So for you guys to want to take up Mandarin, I really take my hat off and salute you guys!

Actually in the past the advertisers in the papers used to say “Chinese only” (which refers actually to the race, even if what they need is actually Mandarin speaking people). I think it’ll not only be racist to say that but employers would also be foolish cos there are also Chinese people here who can’t speak Mandarin well so they won’t be serving the language need then! Nowadays employers at least say “Mandarin speaking people” which is more of a needs base.

I’ve heard some people saying that even though they say “Mandarin speaking” some employers have rejected non-Chinese Mandarin speakers but who knows for sure if race is the real reason.

Next, it helps Singapore to develop from a bilingual society to a multilingual society and give an advantage for her people in doing businesses and traveling overseas. The common barriers of economic development are removed and he locals are able to tap into foreign markets considerably well.

However, this double-edged sword has its negative impacts.

It indirectly leads to the locals emigrating to China, India or Malaysia as they are able to communicate with the people over there. This may be true in times when these countries are doing much better than Singapore. If it really happens, it would be counter productive to the efforts put into social integration. By learning a third language, it only enhances the competency of the people and does not lead to social integration directly.

Communication is required in integration. However, the unity and commitment of being rooted to the country has to there. Otherwise, the efforts of integration would be wasted.