“Logically, the decision is obvious. Emotionally, the choice is painful.”

When Singapore’s founding Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew launched the “Promote the Use of Mandarin” campaign (now known as the “Speak Mandarin Campaign”) in 1979, he told parents to “actively encourage [their] children to speak Mandarin in place of dialect”.

But how did this affect intergenerational bonds? In a recent article, “Success and Flourishing in Singapore: The Impact of Laws and Policies on the Ethos and Character of a People”, Assoc. Prof. (Dr) Tan Seow Hon argues that the Speak Mandarin Campaign had a negative impact on intergenerational bonds and on flourishing as a whole.

Success and Flourishing

In her article, Dr Tan challenges Singapore’s view on success and how laws and policies have impacted society’s measure of an individual’s success. She argues that living unthinkingly in pursuit of a narrow conception of success because others do so is the counterfeit of living an examined and flourishing life. And that law funnels people, and there is a need to redirect people towards flourishing.

Dr Tan explained how success has featured prominently in national discourse and narrative, with emphasis on the flourishing of the economy in the global arena rather than an individual. Success is outcome-driven and externally defined, where the focus is on grades, income, and status, measured by social metrics. Instruments that once led to a flourishing life, like relationships, leisure, and education, now become tools for networking, better productivity, and employability driven by success. This leads one to be discouraged from examining life, creates fear of failure, emptiness, and dissatisfaction, and encourages materialism over development.

Human flourishing, on the other hand, as she defines it, is rooted in Neo-Aristotelian thought and, in particular, John Finnis; flourishing is living a fully human and meaningful life. It is not merely a feeling of happiness but living with intentionality, pursuing what is truly good for humanity, developing character and virtue, and engaging in an examined life. She writes that law and policies influence human flourishing, that it is a proper object of the law, and thus law should foster a moral ecology encouraging virtue and character development. The law signals moral norms and restricts harmful behaviour. “Good laws can be conducive to virtuous living; poor laws can contribute to character vices and entrench prejudices”. The law also shapes a society’s ethos.

Material and Academic Success

Currently, the laws and policies in Singapore emphasise material and academic success, which hinders this pursuit of flourishing.

Dr Tan highlighted how the historical Singaporean Dream, which focuses on the 5Cs – Cash, Credit Card, Cars, Condominium, Country Club – has been the measure of success for a long time. Historically, Singapore’s rapid nation-building, lack of natural resources, and geopolitical vulnerability shaped the laws and policies we see today, focusing on industriousness, efficiency, and human capital.

She argues that law and policies can be reoriented to support a broader, more intrinsic concept of human flourishing, where the narrow success metrics are not prized but growth, curiosity, and moral development become the ideal. Education is a tool for building the national economy, focused on meritocracy and scholarships. Although initially meant to help students steward their talents well and reject nepotism and corruption, she argued that the system slowly became associated with elitism, as it led to socioeconomic stratification.

Those who do well can substantially advantage their children with the provision of better resources. Making programs like the Gifted Education Program and Direct School Admission risk reinforcing inequalities rather than promoting equal opportunity on top of the already high-stakes exams that fuel demands, stress, and comparison. Education becomes more instrumental than for nurturing and flourishing individuals.

Effects of the Speak Mandarin Campaign and the Decline of Dialects

As economic growth is prioritised over human flourishing, linguistic policies were made to advance economic achievement, while sacrificing other interests.

The Speak Mandarin Campaign sought to facilitate communication among dialect groups and indirectly boost Singapore’s global competitiveness. However, it led to intergenerational bonds and cultural transmission suffering, mirroring her critique of policies devolving holistic human flourishing.

Elderly people, especially monolingual dialect speakers, faced isolation; they could no longer communicate with their grandchildren and the community, enjoy entertainment, or read the newspaper. Policies failed to mitigate the cost borne by this group of individuals, further reinforcing her argument that narrow conceptions of success can harm the intrinsic human goods – relationship, culture, and sociability.

This weakening of the family bonds because of language barriers disrupts the transmission of cultural values, traditions, and shared life experiences, which are key to human flourishing.

Dr Tan uses this illustration to show how flourishing is not just material and economic growth, but the ability to engage in meaningful life experiences. The pressure of a solely market- and academically-driven society often results in poor relational and cultural well-being. Arguing that human flourishing is holistic, involving not just economic success but also relationships, meaning, health, and moral development, which are essential human goods. This comes through communities, like family and close relationships.

Laws and policies have not always allowed for such human flourishing in these areas, as they see people as capital. Family is a key site where love, sociability, and values are nurtured and transmitted. With the rapid decline of dialect, it further damages this ethos of family and damages a core domain in human flourishing, family, the first relationships of a human.

Conclusion

Intergenerational relationships are key for the transmission of values, formation of identity, and belonging. Families thrive on communication and shared experiences as spaces to cultivate these things in mutual care and love. Losing dialect would mean losing a sense of culture, identity, memory, and a shared language. It weakens value transmission and cultural continuity while creating future emotional and relational distance, feeding into society’s already individualistic tendencies.

These policies focus on economic goals, but failed to take into account how communities and families are indispensable, not optional, and communication is essential to well-being. The Speak Mandarin Campaign sacrificed the elderly’s flourishing and the development of intergenerational bonds. Dr Tan’s paper argues that individuals have intrinsic worth regardless of productivity or utility, and flourishing includes play, knowledge, aesthetic enjoyment, and relationships. Cutting of dialect creates losses for the elderly and their families in one or more of these areas.

Human flourishing involves the exchange of love and care, and this self-giving relationship is first taught by the family. When communication breaks, love cannot be expressed in its fullest form, and relationships become functional, distant, or obligatory. The sub-benefits of culture and value preservation also get lost in translation.