Hokkien drama draws mixed feelings from experts

By Prisca Lim

New Hokkien drama Jiak Ba Buay casts a renewed spotlight on the importance of dialects in Singapore.

But while linguists and media experts say the series emphasises the importance of oft-forgotten local parlances, they expressed mixed feelings about its authenticity.

The weekly half-hour drama series on Channel 8, which premiered on 9 Sep, spans 10 episodes and is directed by local filmmaker Royston Tan.

Produced by Mediacorp and the Ministry of Communications and Information (MCI), Jiak Ba Buay aims to explain the Pioneer Generation Package as well as help senior citizens understand healthcare policies in a simplified way.

Experts that the Nanyang Chronicle spoke to said the emergence of dialects in free-to-air mainstream media was cause for cheer, especially for the elderly.

Calling it “a big step forward for Singapore”, Associate Professor Francesco Paolo Cavallaro from the School of Humanities and Social Sciences (HSS) noted that dialects allow the older generation to express themselves fully.

He added that it is “never too late” to reintroduce dialects into mainstream society.

Professor Randy John LaPolla, also from HSS, said that the current generation of elderly citizens were alienated when dialects were restricted in Singapore.

In 1979, a Speak Mandarin Campaign was launched by then-Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew. Dialect programmes from television and radio stations were later phased out by 1981.

“All of a sudden, people were just cut off — like a curtain just came down overnight, cutting them off from their involvement in communities,” said Prof LaPolla.

He said learning dialects such as Hokkien first can make it easier to transition to Mandarin.

The Mother Tongue Based Multilingual Education programmes in some schools in the Philippines have shown that when students started learning their mother tongue first, they can pick up other languages faster, said Prof LaPolla.

Knowing languages also opens up more doors for those seeking to build careers.

Assoc Prof Cavallaro added that there is a significant number of Chinese communities across Asia that speak Hokkien and conversing in Hokkien can get Singaporean businessmen further than merely speaking Mandarin.

But while experts said that having dialects in Singapore is important, they had divided reponses towards the new drama.

Assoc Prof Liew Kai Khiun from the Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information said he was unsure there would be large viewership, given that Jiak Ba Buay airs at noon on a weekday.

He also described the drama as “more instructional and pedagogical, rather than entertaining”, and felt the nostalgic theme could appeal more to young people instead.

“The media should think about how to keep the elderly relevant to (today), instead of keeping them stuck in their times,” said Assoc Prof Liew, adding that the drama follows too closely to the realities of life, giving it a depressing tone and mood.

Prof LaPolla also described the manner in which Hokkien is enunciated and spoken in the drama as more “proper” and different from how people converse in Hokkien in real life.

But Assoc Prof Cavallaro described the drama as “overdue”.

“It is great to finally see a full show in Hokkien,” he said. “Some people who would have enjoyed a production like this have already passed away.”

It is a good sign the Government seems to be relaxing its stance on dialects, said Prof LaPolla, who hopes there will be more of such initiatives in the future.

Last year, the Government released a Hokkien video to explain the Pioneer Generation Package on free-to-air TV and radio channels.

In the last General Elections, some Members of Parliament, such as Teo Ser Luck and Chee Hong Tat, reached out to Singaporeans by speaking in dialect at their rallies.

But in a joint statement with the MCI on 1 Sep, Mediacorp said that the amount of dialect content on free-to-air television programmes still remains unchanged.

Assoc Prof Liew said loosening restrictions on dialects will be beneficial, as the linguistic purity of languages tends to be overemphasised in Singapore.

“To attain media success, programmes need to appeal to local audiences by speaking to the heart of its viewers,” said Assoc Prof Liew. This can be done by making dialogue more conversational instead, he added.

He said: “The mainstream media should be given the leeway to try out different arrangements.”
What bodes well is that Singaporeans have shown that they do have an interest in learning languages, said Prof LaPolla.

An informal poll conducted by NTU’s Centre for Modern Language found that students’ top three choices for new language modules were Cantonese, Russian and Hokkien, in order of preference, Assoc Prof Cavallaro added.

Still, Prof LaPolla predicted that dialects are unlikely to be as widely spoken in Singapore as they used to be.

He said: “There will be no going back to over 90 per cent of people speaking Hokkien in Singapore.”