An era of revival? A study of hakka associations’ responses to the Singapore government’s anti-dialect policies

• Main Author: Chong, Jing Yee
• Other Authors: Ngoei Wen-Qing
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2018
• Subjects: DRNTU::Humanities
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/73567
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Following the PAP-government’s inauguration in 1959, state-regulation in Singapore became increasingly tailored towards nation-building. To this end, dialect identities were perceived by the PAP-government as a challenge to its definitions of a Singaporean national identity. This led to the implementation of numerous anti-dialect policies which sought to undercut the influence of dialect identities in Singapore. The 1980s, however, marked a period of change, with the PAP-government’s increased emphasis on retaining Singaporeans’ cultural heritage under its “return-to-roots” policy. This thesis analyses the post-war history of anti-dialect policies in Singapore, and argues that Hakka Associations, far from simply accepting the PAP-government’s assimilationist anti-dialect policies, pursued a multi-tiered approach of simultaneous resistance and non-acquiescence in a bid for cultural survival. Their proclamations of successes should not be taken at face value, however, with evidences suggesting that existing attempts by Hakka Associations to revitalize themselves in the post-1980s era were largely (if not completely) unsuccessful in creating an environment conducive for the propagation of Hakka identity. In effect, Hakka attempts at revitalization are a story of declension, with their high-water mark having passed decades ago.