Ex-NMP Anthea Ong on Dear You controversy: Perhaps we have been underestimating Teochew all along - Singapore News

SINGAPORE: In a Facebook post on Sunday (June 21), former Nominated Member of Parliament (NMP) Anthea Ong weighed in on the controversy surrounding the Chinese film Dear You, which was shown in Mandarin in Singapore, although it’s a Teochew-language drama.

According to Ms Ong, the hue and cry raised over the film’s showing was not about the movie in itself, but suggests that a review, and even an update, of Singapore’s language policies may be needed.

“Dear You, how powerful are you? Singapore has spent nearly half a century promoting Mandarin. Entire generations have grown up speaking Mandarin and English. Yet somehow, a 90-minute Teochew film appears capable of threatening decades of language policy. Is there a national security risk?” she wrote.

While acknowledging that policy-making is about precedents, rather than a single film, Ms Ong argued that if similar conditions arise time and again, then a review of policy may be in order. 

She also touched on the Speak Mandarin Campaign in Singapore, adding that it served an important purpose. However, Singapore today faces other, and perhaps even broader issues such as ageing, loneliness, cultural heritage, belonging, and connections between generations, and language and dialects can play a role in addressing these challenges.

“We do not live single-issue lives anymore. Neither can our policies. Perhaps, our dialect-inspired national values of kiasu and kiasi might be at play here,” added Ms Ong, who went on to ask if saying no to showing the film in its original language is to protect something valuable or because of worries about what might happen if it is shown in Teochew.

“One comes from purpose, the other comes from fear,” she noted, adding, “After all, if a single Teochew film can unravel decades of language policy, perhaps we have been underestimating Teochew all along.”

She ended her post with personal anecdotes about her family speaking Hokkien despite the campaign to promote Mandarin but added that her Hokkien impressed the big towkays during her banking career. /TISG

Read also: WP MP Kenneth Tiong: Why are we making Singaporeans go to JB to watch Dear You in Mandarin?

- Advertisement -