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.
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| 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 |
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| Malay Baju Kurung |
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| 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?
