Many suggestions to stem erosion RETIRED Chong Hwa Girls High School principal Sheng Peck Choo, 87, broke down when asked to comment on Chinese youngsters' desire to be white or Japanese. "It cannot be right...," said the woman who came here from China 60 years ago, recalling how she worked to expand the former private Chinese-medium school and build its science laboratories. She was one of 10 Chinese intellectuals, poets, educators and academics interviewed by Insight for their reactions to the controversial finding. Some of their views coincide with those published in the Lianhe Zaobao; others said that the finding should be taken with a pinch of salt. A few took a philosophical stance. Despite some reservations over the methodology of the survey, almost all agreed that there had been an erosion of ethnic identity among the Chinese. But they differed on what should be done. Like Madam Sheng, Madam M.C. Sim, another retired Chinese school principal, 62, warned that the ethnic issue has reached a critical stage. She said she had been watching the decline of Chinese-language standards here closely. Scoring good grades did not mean very much, she said. "In the old days, students read Chinese literature voraciously on their own. Very few do that anymore, and I do not know what we can do.'' Dr K.K. Phua, CEO of World Scientific Publishing, said: "Frankly, having roots is important. It shows our education system is troubled." Poet and journalist Lim Aik Hwa added: "If we do not act, our roots will all rot away and become lost for good." Nanyang Technological University historian Lee Guan Kin sees a correlation between a vibrant ethnic identity and national vitality. It is not a viable option for a Singaporean to think about becoming a world citizen, she argued. "If you are all hollow inside, you do not have a sound basis for enriching yourself with the best of other cultures. Take the Japanese, who are so good at learning from other cultures; they also have a strong cultural core of their own." Without ethnic cultures, she said that Singapore could only draw from the popular culture from the West, which did not offer enough cultural base. Several, however, felt that people were making too big a deal of the survey. Writer and lyricist Liang Wern Fook, 36, said: "Birth is not a choice, and it is not a question I would ponder. Why take the survey so seriously?" Mr Chia Hwee Pheng, 43, a quality control manager who writes short stories, noted that details of the study had yet to be released: "The context in which Dr Chang raised the questions could have influenced the answers." Professor Wong Yoon Wah of the National University of Singapore's Department of Chinese Studies thought that the survey question was about racial choice, not cultural choice. He does not believe the survey results translate to a Chinese cultural crisis here. "The youths may see themselves strongly as Singaporeans, and feel little affinity with the Chinese in China." Dr Gwee Yee Hean, former Singapore University and Nantah professor and retired CEO of Industrial Commercial Bank, 70, dismissed the survey results altogether: "If asked this question, I might say I want to be reborn a girl!" He admitted there was no doubt that Singaporeans were very Westernised in language. But he cautioned against calling modern culture Western. "I picture Singapore in a big circle -- a common, world culture dominated by science and technology, which is at this time dominated by the English medium, to which Arabs, Indians and Chinese have all contributed. Our own small circle of ethnic cultures needs to shrink in order for us to fit in the big circle. But I feel it remains vibrant and meaningful." All those interviewed said that more emphasis should be placed on developing Chinese-language education and promoting other ethnic cultures. Dr Phua suggested making a comparative study of Israel and Singapore. "The Jewish people take their cultures and traditions very seriously. The Jews in America may no longer speak Hebrew, but that did not interfere with their ethnic identity. We could learn something useful." Mr Lim Aik Hwa urged "a total rethink of our base-line". Others proposed measured steps. Dr Gwee noted that "to learn a language, you must find something interesting in it". Dr Liang stressed the importance of making Chinese culture "approachable". "I often get e-mail from fans who liked the lyrics I wrote for some songs. Many know little about Chinese culture, yet through the lyrics of a song, they can become interested in Chinese history." There is broad agreement that the ethnic identity issue cannot be resolved in haste, and that it will be unproductive to blame the young or keep on extolling the virtues of the 5000-year-old Chinese civilisation. The issue, as Dr Lee Guan Kin saw it, was to find out how "to localise Chinese culture to suit our needs here".