DEBATE RAGES ON: To be or not to be CHINESE The controversy over the desire of many Chinese youths to be Caucasian or Japanese has simmered down in the English-language media. But the debate over the controversial survey finding is still going on in the Chinese press and the Chinese community. KAO CHEN reports on the views being expressed. IF YOU think the controversy over the "blonde is better" ethnic issue has died down, think again. In a recent survey by National University of Singapore sociologist Chang Han Yin, a quarter of Chinese Singaporean youths confessed that they would rather be white or Japanese in their next life (see box). The echoes of the discussion on this finding may have faded from The Straits Times Forum pages, but the debate is still raging in the leading Chinese language daily, Lianhe Zaobao, and the issue is still the subject of much weeping and gnashing of teeth in the Chinese community (see other story). Anyone who read the 27 commentaries and columns on the issue published in the newspaper between Dec 14 last year and Jan 6 would have felt the deep-seated anxieties of the Chinese community about its ethnic and cultural identity. He would have been privy to a wrenching soul-searching exercise and a vigorous debate among the newspaper's readers and journalists on why the young said they felt the way they did and on what could be done about it. By comparison, the reactions of the 10 English-educated readers whose views were printed in The Straits Times Forum pages were wide ranging, if not contradictory at times. While some expressed concern over the perceived decline of ethnic identity among young Chinese, others warned against taking ethnic pride too far. They pointed out that it could lead to the horrors of racism experienced in Nazi Germany and, more recently, in the former Yugoslavia. Not a few cast doubts on the NUS survey saying that its findings should not be taken too seriously as they were based only on hypothetical questions. ST columnist Han Fook Kwang wrote that the findings might be thought-provoking but did not warrant any action. Another columnist, Mr Bob Ng, felt that the youths will "mature...and rediscover the richness of their culture". Unlike the conflicting reactions of their English-speaking counterparts, Zaobao readers, commentators and journalists were close to unanimous in declaring the implications of the survey results as "serious". Although some questioned the way the survey's questions were constructed, many thought that there was an urgent need to grapple with the issue. Voicing a sentiment which was to recur throughout the debate, educator Foo Mao Lian linked ethnic identity to cultural and national identity. The wish to be Caucasian or Japanese in the next life, he warned, could imply a desire to emigrate to greener pastures when the going became tough here. "A fragile cultural identity means a fragile national identity", he said. Lianhe Zaobao columnist Chong Wing Hong added that the survey was really about choice, saying: "It is not so much about a wish for the next life but the desires for this life." This meant that the "attitudes of the young will have a decisive influence on the future of any nation". But the writers did not blame the young people for their views, saying that their choice was but a reflection of the education system here, and their values, the values of their families and the larger environment. SO WHY do so many Chinese Singaporean youths want to change the colour of their skin? The survey did not give any reasons, but the writers in Zaobao traced the cause to the decline of Chinese language standards here and a social environment that regarded the language as low-class and unsophisticated. Reflecting a commonly-held view, Mr Foo pointed the finger at the insufficient focus on Chinese language in the schools and the strong cultural influence from the West and Japan. Veteran educator Lau Wai Har attributed the problem to "lost cultural roots" because of an education system and a social environment that undervalued Chinese culture. Reader Xi Guikai agreed, noting that the youths had very little exposure to Chinese culture, "especially compared to their over-exposure to the popular culture of the West and Japan". He said: "Their education is in English, which is often spoken at home. The Chinese youths must take Chinese as a second language, but the books have been simplified repeatedly. What chance is there of them forming emotional ties to the language and culture?" While he did not doubt the positive role played by the bilingual language policy in Singapore's economic miracle, he felt that the price was a weakened ethnic identity. As an additional reason, reader Liang Angui put it down to what he called "divergent values", saying that "the pressurised lifestyle and abundant rules here have probably made the youths long for the more carefree lifestyles of the West". According to reader Liang Dingyao, the fault lay with the "materialistic orientation" of society for making some of the Chinese here "eager to forget their roots", and equating Chinese language and culture with "backwardness and inferiority". Joining the debate, Zaobao columnist Giam Meng Tuck pointed to another indicator -- the growing use of English names and English shop signs as Chinese shop signs were viewed as retail poison. But his view was that in time to come, the youths would mature and regain their ethnic confidence. IN TWO commentaries on the symbiotic relationship between ethnic identity, cultural identity and Singapore's national identity, Mr Foo argued strongly that a weakened ethnic identity, as revealed by the survey, would lead to a weakened national identity. This would make a young nation like Singapore less able to weather the hard times, and make its citizens more likely to move on to greener pastures, he said. By way of an analogy, he asked, if a marriage is based only on the five Cs, would not divorce be unavoidable when the five Cs are no longer there? Declaring that the state of Chinese culture here had reached crisis point, he said: "If the survey question is not on ethnic but cultural identity, the percentage of youths not identifying with their Chinese ethnic roots would be even higher, not over 20 per cent but closer to 40 per cent!" Taking the same tack, Zaobao journalist Poh Say Teck wrote: "A weakened national identity cannot be ignored. If we do not act, one day, apart from our sovereignty, economy and our wealth, what is left for the ethnic communities here to fight for?" Dr Lau summed it up when she said that, with all the talk about the global village, "people forget that when your eyes are trained on the world, your roots should still stay firmly at home". NOTWITHSTANDING the angst and anxiety, there were a few readers who asked if the survey results were being taken much too seriously. Reader Giao Guoping noted that the participants of the survey were young and inexperienced. "Their views are still changing, it seems rather unnecessary to overplay the negative implications of the survey results." A student who participated in the survey wrote in to defend her wish to be a "blonde, blue-eyed babe" in her next life. Miss Lin Jiahui said: "It was purely based on curiosity, not because of ethnic identity!" Another writer, Wang Baoqing, chimed in: "Skin colour is not as important... The youths with dyed blonde hair are only being young and want a different look... "What you want to be and how other people regard you are different matters... In the end, you can only be what you are!" THERE was a debate within the debate as the writers advanced several approaches to resolve the issue. Zaobao columnist Lim Yin Ming said that the Chinese programmes in schools should be intensified with more cultural and historical lessons to help the young regain their cultural self esteem. But reader Chen Siming disagreed, saying that force-feeding will never work in today's global, Internet world. "Our best recourse is to first, make the contents of the language programme more interesting and appealing to the students," Chen argued. Another reader, Mr Wang Ronghui, was sceptical that the solution lay in more history lessons. "Chinese history is too big a subject, and much of it is filled with strife and corruption. It will not serve as a source of cultural self-confidence and dignity, unless scholars make it easier for people to absorb." He thought that more emphasis should be put on simply being "an upright man, who has neither the need to strut nor grovel". Lauding the idea, reader Sang Ye said: "Being a Chinese or not is, in the end, not as important as being a good man." Zaobao columnist Poh Say Teck recommended two alternative solutions: Either strengthen the school system's existing mother-tongue programmes, or consider changing the current bilingual educational system altogether, so that all students can choose a second language freely. He suggested the Malaysian school system as a possible model as it allowed Chinese-medium schools to exist, although Malay was taught as the national language in all schools. "Let the market forces decide, then the students and parents will be responsible for the choice they make, and resources can be focused on nurturing those who are studying their mother tongue by choice." Perhaps, Chinese language and culture suffered from an image problem here, said Mr Hu Yuebao, a doctoral candidate at the Nanyang Technological University's Chinese department. His solution: "It has to revamp its all-too-gloomy image and revitalise itself if it is to inject younger Chinese Singaporeans with a sense of confidence and pride." All in all, the reported reactions of the Chinese community in Zaobao did not really come as a surprise, as many would have said "I told you so". That Chinese youths would want to forsake their ethnic identity was a phenomenon they saw coming, they said, given the country's educational policies and fast-changing values. Still, to have their suspicions confirmed in black-and-white was to rekindle their anxieties over the Chinese community's roots and to spur it on a renewed quest for a solution. Their general mood was not one of chest-thumping stridency but one of deep disappointment with the state of Chinese culture and a grim determination to make a last-ditch effort to salvage what they can. Provoking survey ALMOST 12 per cent of young Chinese Singaporeans yearn to be Caucasian; another 10 per cent have a yen to be Japanese. This controversial finding was revealed on Dec 3 by National University of Singapore sociologist Chang Han Yin, an American-educated Chinese national who has lived here for nine years. The survey, designed to explore the young's values, polled 811 secondary-school, junior-college and university students, and 807 parents last year. By comparison, the Malays have the strongest ethnic identity, with more than 90 per cent of the young people expressing no desire to belong to any other race. About 15 per cent of young Indians prefer to be Caucasian. The survey also found that 94.9 per cent of the parents of the young Chinese want to remain Chinese, compared to 78.4 per cent of the young people themselves. The results of the full study have yet to be released.