Dilution of cultures, a prevalent issue in Singapore

A SHORT INTRODUCTION

Culture is part of our identity and it can be seen in our daily interactions, the food we eat, the language we say. It is therefore unique and needless to say, different from others.

Different. But can we say so in the face of globalisation?

Being the economic hub of Asia, Singapore is inevitably caught in the wave of globalisation. Globalisation refers to the acceleration and intensification of interactions across geographical space.

Globalisation has led to an increase of MNCs and foreign owned companies to set up businesses of all kinds in Singapore. These foreign owned businesses introduce new ideologies resulting in a dilution of culture and ultimately affect the identity of Singaporeans. This impact has been felt most in our food culture, coffee shop culture and traditional culture.

FOOD

With globalization, fast food chains are opening up in Singapore rapidly. This has caused the younger generation to prefer fast food to traditional local food. McDonald’s, the fast food chain that we have gotten so used to, opened its first outlet in Singapore in 1979. Today, it has over 110 outlets across Singapore. It serves up to 1.2 million customers every week which means 1 in 5 of the population has eaten McDonald’s once every week. This is an indication of the love of fast food of Singaporeans.

Mcdonald's, one of the fast food chain in Singapore
where the younger generation prefer to eat out

Furthermore, with many other fast food chain such as KFC, Wendy’s and Burger king, fast food outlets are becoming a place to eat out for many. The younger generation is attracted to fast food due to its wide range of food, affordability and convenience. These food chains outlets provide all meals from breakfast to dinner, children meals and even desserts and all meals cost less than 10 dollars.

Food has always been part of the identity of Singaporeans since Singapore is known as the food paradise. Traditional local food has different terms and meanings unique to the Singapore identity. Dialect is used in the names of food.

Hae Mee 

Char Kway Teow

Char Kway Teow (Char means fried, kway teow means flat rice flour noodles)

Hae Mee (Hae means prawn, mee means noodles)

Food such as fish or ‘Yu’ in Chinese sounds like the words both for wish and abundance and so fish is a must during Chinese New year. Furthermore, some foods are of multiethnic origin such as the fish head curry. It is created by Singapore's Malayalee community with some Chinese and Malay influences. 

Fish head curry

The different terms and significance of traditional local foods are unique to the food culture of Singapore that has evolved from the days of our ancestors with no similar food in any part of the world. When younger generation begin to draw away from these foods, they will begin to lose sight of the significance of these food and traditions and concurrently, lose their identity as a Singaporean and their ethnicity.

In the larger scale, preference of fast food will result in recipes and skills of traditional foods not being pass down to the future generation. This will ultimately cause these foods  to be forgotten. Evidence of this is not uncommon where all around us, we do hear complain from the older generations that the traditional local food do not taste as good as before.

COFFEE SHOPS

Singapore has adopted English as its first language and also educate its population with their respective mother tongue with the main purpose of not losing their culture identity. Well, while this has been done fairly well, terms we use in coffee shops are threatened.

With globalisation, there has been corporatization of locally owned coffee shops and introduction of foreign owned coffee shops. While English is used as the medium of communication in these chains, terms we used to use in coffee shops are forgotten. This is amplified when old coffee shops closed down due to the high rents and being unable to compete with large chain corporations.These old coffee shops lose out as these chain corporations appeals more to the younger generation due to its wide range of food, ambiance and an indication of a higher status. Starbucks, one of the most widely known coffeehouse chain, opened in Singapore in 1996 and it has since become an integral part of most Singaporeans with outlets in all parts of Singapore. 

Starbucks, a coffeehouse chain in Singapore

It sells different type of coffee from the normal brewed coffee to Latte, teas, toasts and sandwiches. Starbucks also offer nice ambiance of a living room set up, an indication of a higher status. These features of Starbucks and many other coffeehouse chains obviously win over the hearts of Singaporeans compared to plain old coffee shops.

Terms we use in coffee shops are now used less frequently and ultimately will be forgotten. These terms, solely used in Singapore, have been an integral part of the coffee shop culture and consist of a mixture of languages, dialects and symbols which are largely connected to the identity of Singapore.

Examples are

Kopi Kosong: coffee with no sugar (kosong is zero in Malay, kopi is coffee in Malay)

Kopi C: coffee with sugar and lighter evaporated milk instead of condensed milk (the C stand for Carnation, the long time famous brand for most kopitiams)

Kopi Kosong

Kopi C
 (observe the difference in colour)

These terms largely connected to the fact that Singapore is a multiracial country where the locals are able to speak languages of other races. As old coffee shops close down and younger generation prefer coffeehouse chains, these terms will be less likely to be passed down. When these terms are no longer used, we will lose sight of our identity as Singaporeans.

TRADITIONAL COSTUMES

The different culture in Singapore has their unique traditional costumes. The Chinese have the cheongsam, Malays have the baju kurung and Indians have the sari. These traditional costumes are what we identify ourselves with. 

Chinese Cheongsam

Malay Baju Kurung

Indian Sari
(Take notes of the difference among these traditional clothes)

However, traditional costumes are losing out. Foreign shops introduce new fashion trends to the locals, especially to the younger generation, causing traditional costumes to be look down upon and considered as obsolete. There has been a trend of wearing jeans and T-shirts among the younger generation. The affordability and having different combination for self-expression makes these clothing more attractive to the younger population. Examples are that very few people wear traditional Chinese costumes during Chinese festivals and very few couples follow the tradition of wearing red during their wedding.

Clothing has been an important part of the different cultures. The traditional costumes of these cultures are unique in their own ways with historical values and different significance and symbols, closely connected to the culture. For instances, the Chinese associate certain colours with specific seasons: green represents spring while red symbolizes summer. In traditional Chinese wedding ceremony, red is worn by both the bride and groom and only the colour red is allowed as it symbolises good luck, happiness and joy.

When the younger generation do not feel proud but feel uncomfortable or awkward to wear their traditional costumes, they will not have a sense of belonging and no longer associate themselves to their culture. This is a dilution of culture and that the younger generation has lost their identity.

SOLUTIONS

Limiting the foreign owned shops from setting up business in Singapore is impossible given that we are part of a globalised world and Singaporeans should not be deprived of foreign products. What can be done is to balance out between foreign products and our culture to minimise the dilution of culture among Singaporeans.

With technology becoming an integral part of our lives, an application can be created specifically for shops selling traditional local foods. The application will provide users the location and the direction to get there. The aim of this is to spread the awareness of the presence of these shops to the younger generation and encourage them to dine at these places. Given that the younger population avoid these foods due to the hot and stuffy environment of the shops, the application may not be able to attract more people to eat traditional local food.

Recipes of the traditional local food can be pass down by having classes to teach those who are interested to learn to cook the traditional dishes. This is a way to source for potential chef who are willing to learn the skills to continue the legacy of delicious traditional local food. However, there is a problem of which recipe to pass down given that there are many different recipes available and not all chefs are willing to pass down the recipe to an outsider.

Coffee shops face an uphill battle against the coffeehouse chains. Old coffee shops are usually located in the undeveloped areas of Singapore. Given a growing population of more than 5 million currently and the lack of land, land developers may need to demolish the old coffee shops to build new buildings to accommodate more people. Thus, the government can consider retaining the coffee shops that are still untouched and include them as part of the heritage of Singapore. This will add value to these coffee shops and coffee shops will not be affected by the increase in rent to prevent any coffee shops to close down. But what are the chances of locals eating in coffee shops when food chains are comfortable and cosy?

Locals can be encouraged to wear traditional costumes during celebration of special festivals such as Chinese New Year to enhance sense of pride and identity among the people when participating in community celebrations. This will reignite the pride of people of their culture and act as a reminder for them to wear their traditional costumes. The low demand over the years has made traditional costumes expensive and being not mandatory may not be able to push the younger generations to make the effort to wear these traditional costumes.

Conclusion

With these foreign chains, Singapore culture has been diluted and it is becoming to look like any city in the world. The distinctness that Singapore used to enjoy has been reduced to a global culture where only big brands dominate. Singapore’s short history is not an excuse for us to adopt the global culture but instead act as a reminder for us to forge our own unique culture soon. Ultimately, the fate of Singapore’s culture lies in the hands of the younger generation. What the government and older generation can do is to encourage the younger generation to take pride in their culture and pass it down. Change by the younger generation is therefore necessary to continue the legacy our ancestors left behind and to take the identity of Singapore into a whole new level. Singapore’s identity can only be forged when the younger generation keep their sight on their culture and allow it to coexist with the rising global culture. If our culture is lost, what then is the identity of each and every Singaporeans?