16 Lubna Alsagoff
— English as well as the three languages seen as representing the largest
ethnic groups, namely, Malay for the Malays, Mandarin for the Chinese,
and Tamil for the Indians. The All-Party Report echoed the earlier Fenn-
Wu Report, commissioned under British rule that was to pave the way
for Singapore’s independent rule, in promoting cultural pluralism through
the principle of equal treatment of all four streams of education. This
meant that government funding would be available to schools whatever
their medium of instruction. Like the Fenn-Wu Report, the All-Party
Report also advocated a nationally oriented curriculum that would use a
common set of textbooks, written in the four official languages, to aid in
the development of a curriculum that would help foster national identity.
Most importantly, the All-Party Report recommended a bilingual education
policy, which would continue to be a cornerstone of Singapore’s education
policies. The policy recommended that all school children be schooled
in two languages — English and an ethnic mother tongue — in primary
school, and three languages — English, Malay and their ethnic mother
tongue — in secondary school. From the very start, English obviously
had a special place, despite the end of British colonization. In independent
Singapore, it remained an official language despite the lack of affiliation
to any ethnic group, and it was a key medium of instruction, either as the
primary medium of instruction, or a secondary one.
The recommendations of the All-Party Report in support of cultural
pluralism and the equal treatment of all languages were endorsed and
adopted by the first governing body during self-rule. Malay, however,
was given a special place over the other languages in its Constitution
as Singapore’s national language. Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore’s first prime
minister, argued that Malay was the most apt lingua franca for moral,
political and practical reasons. However, it was clear that the move to
adopt Malay as Singapore’s national language was in preparation for its
intended merger with the Federation of Malaya, which was the premise
upon which Singapore sought to gain full independence from British rule.
As Singapore aspired to be part of a united Malaysia, Malay far exceeded
English in political importance (Alsagoff 2008). However, even though the
Singapore government sought to gain favour with the Malayan government,
it stood firm on its language policy that recognized four official languages,
rather than just Malay, which was a likely contributor to the eventual
collapse of the merger with Malaya after only two short years. With the
eventual dissolution of the merger with Malaysia, the role of Malay, not