Bulan ini, Jun, ialah Bulan Bahasa. Beberapa tahun yang lalu, badan-badan Melayu Singapura telah mentengahkan satu usul untuk melestarikan dan meninggikan martabat Bahasa Melayu - bahasa ibunda orang-orang Melayu. Usulan ini diajukan kerana ramai orang-orang Melayu Singapura pada masakini sudah sungguh terbiasa menggunakan Bahasa Inggeris untuk bualan seharian mereka. Pemerintah juga telah memberikan sokongan padu.
Bukan setakat supaya orang Melayu bercakap dalam bahasa ibunda, masyarakat Melayu juga dianjurkan supaya berbual dengan menggunakan sebutan baku. Pelbagai aktivi (kegiatan) - forum, ceramah, bengkel, perdebatan dan sebagainya - telah diadakan. Dengan menggunakan bahasa ibunda, diharapkan Bahasa Melayu akan tetap mengembang mekar dan tidak akan terkubur. Ia juga diharapkan orang Melayu akan merasa bangga dengan bahasa sendiri supaya dapat menguatkan jatidiri Melayu, lantas maruah bangsa tidak menjadi korban.
Bahasa Melayu adalah bahasa yang sungguh indah - bahasa yang penuh dengan sopan santun, bahasa yang dialas dengan kekata halus bagi menghormati si pendengar, bahasa yang mengharuskan peradaban. Pepatah Melayu, 'Bahasa Jiwa Bangsa', mencerminkan akhlak orang Melayu yang peramah, beradab, bersopan-santun, menghormati, merendah diri, dan bermaruah . Tetapi, sedih sekali, yang menggunakan bahasa yang indah ini tidak sebegitu indah perangai. Telinga ini sudah jemu, mual dan bosan mendengar kekata yang tidak sopan, yang lucah. Langsung tidak ada rasa segan silu, apatah lagi menghormati.
Sungguhpun berbahasa Melayu tetapi tidak mencerminkan peradaban yang sepadan, apakah bahasa Melayu akan tetap mengembang mekar dan tidak terkubur juga? Berbahasa dalam bahasa ibunda adakah ia akan menguatkan jatidiri Melayu? Adakah Melayu itu bukan Melayu jika berbahasa bukan dengan bahasa ibunda?
Walaupun 'Bahasa Jiwa Bangsa', akhlak yang beradab dan bersopan itulah yang menentukan martabat bangsa, sekali gus menjamin tidak hilangnya bangsa itu dimuka bumi ini. Ia juga yang akan menyedarkan dan menguatkan jatidiri Melayu kita. Maruah bangsa tetap terjaga dan kekal.
'Tak Melayu hilang di dunia."
May 9, 2011 was the day Singaporeans went to the polls. It was the island republic's 11th general election. Singapore first general election was held in April 1968, three years after gaining independence from Malaysia. For the past forty(40) odd years, eversince Singapore's independence in 1965, the People's Action Party has won every general elections.
On May 9, 2011, the People's Action Party, was returned to power albeit on a smaller percentage, about sixty(60) percent. An Opposition party, the Workers' Party created history - it captured a Group Representative Constituency - Aljunied. It also managed to retain the single seat ward - Hougang - which the Workers' Party won almost twenty(20) years ago. The Party has come a long way since the leadership of the charismatic late JB Jeyaratnam. Another Opposition party, Singapore People's Party, lost it's Potong Pasir seat - after holding on for thirteen(13) years. It's chief, Mr Chiam See Tong took a gamble - in handing over the reins to his wife. The Party lost the seat on a very narrow margin. The People's Action Party won that seat. The 2011 General Election was a keenly contested election with eighty-two(82) out of a total of eighty-seven(87) seats being contested. Six(6) seats went to the Opposition - the Workers' Party.
Singapore has seen history being created - the General Election 2011 was a watershed. Singaporeans (born and raised in Singapore) have found their voice. About forty(40) percent of the population - mainly constituents of Aljunied - voted for the Workers' Party. This forty(40) percent vote is something that the People's Action Party should not just brushed aside. Is this forty(40) percent swing in favour of the opposition be taken as a maturity of the voters? Or, just emotions of the moment at play here? The People's Action Party has to go back to the 'drawing board' - what caused this forty(40) percent swing. Should the People's Action Party view the forty(40) percent as a pain in the back that will eventually go away, or, a torn in the flesh that should be seriously looked at? The equation now is such that the ruling party has to hear out the ground - the common man in-the-street. The days of the 'Bogeyman'(should Singaporeans vote for the Opposition, that will be end of Singapore) - a favourite spook amongst the old members of the People's Action Party - has long since past. It looks like Members of Parliament from the Opposition parties will be a part and parcel of the political scene in Singapore.
The political landscape of Singapore has changed. But, is this change permanent, or just a fluke? The 'litmus paper test' - real change - lies in the next General Election, i.e., five(5) years from now, in the year 2016.
