Singapore’s Prime Minister Urges Use Of Hip-Hop

Singapore’s Prime Minister has launched a nationwide campaign utilizing Hip-Hop to stop the spread of “Singlish,” a mixture of English and local dialects. Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said the mixing of the languages is a major issue, because it could leave Singaporeans unintelligible. Loong urged teachers to use pop songs and Hip-Hop music to […]

Singapore’s

Prime Minister has launched a nationwide campaign utilizing Hip-Hop to stop the

spread of “Singlish,” a mixture of English and local dialects.

Prime Minister Lee Hsien

Loong said the mixing of the languages is a major issue, because it could leave

Singaporeans unintelligible.

Loong urged teachers to

use pop songs and Hip-Hop music to teach proper English.

"Speak in a normal

Singapore tone, which is neutral and intelligible," Loong said. "But

speak in full sentences, with proper sentence structure."

According to published reports,

Loong’s administration started their campaign against the “Singlish”

dialect in 2000. The government blamed a popular TV character named Phua Chu

Kang for the rise in bad grammar among the population.

Loong has been

criticized in the past for various social engineering campaigns aimed at the

Singaporean population.