In Singapore, Hokkien Has a New Lease of/on Life

choi

张彦, 新加坡华人重拾祖先的语言. 纽约时报中文网, Aug 28, 2017
https://cn.nytimes.com/asia-paci ... e-hokkien-mandarin/

, which is translated from

Ian Johnson, In Singapore, Chinese dialects Revive After Decades of Restrictions; Easing a ban in what was once 'a linguistic tropical rain forest.' New York Times, Aug 27, 2017.

Quote:

(a) "Starting with a series of measures in the late 1970s, the leaders of this city-state effectively banned Chinese dialects, the mother tongues of about three-quarters of its citizens, in favor of Mandarin, China’s official language.

"A few years later, even Mandarin usage was cut back in favor of the global language of commerce, English.

(b) "For the first time since the late 1970s, a television series was recently broadcast in Hokkien, which in the 1970s was the first language of about 40 percent of Singaporeans.

(c) "Lee Kuan Yew * * * was a self-taught linguist. A product of the English-speaking elite who rarely spoke Chinese dialects, including Mandarin

(d) "As the [Singaporean] government considered which of Singapore’s many languages to focus on, Mandarin Chinese and English were the logical choices. China, although more than a thousand miles away, was the ancestral homeland of most Singaporeans and was embarking on economic reforms that captivated Mr Lee [Kuan Yew]. English [has been] the language of Singapore's elite since the British [Stamford Raffles, of and for British East India Co] established a trading port here in 1819 * * * Then [1970s], as now, roughly 7 percent of Singaporeans came from southern India and most spoke Tamil. Another 15 percent spoke Malay. The ethnic Chinese, who then as now make up 75 percent of the population, had immigrated over the centuries from several mostly southern Chinese provinces, especially Fujian (where Hokkien is spoken) and Guangdong (home to Cantonese, Teochew, and Hakka). Only 2 percent spoke Mandarin.

"Although called 'dialects' by the government, some of these Chinese tongues are at least as different as the various Romance languages. The government’s policy was something like ordering Spaniards, French and Italians to abandon the languages they grew up with in favor of Portuguese.

(e) in Singapore: "Today, almost all instruction is in English except for a class in the student’s native tongue

Note:
(a) " The Tok and Teo families"
(i) cn.nytimes.com: 卓家和张家
(ii)
(A) Zhuo  卓
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhuo
(Cheuk in Cantonese, and Toh in Teochew 潮州話 or 潮汕話 and Hokkien)
(B) 卓
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/卓
(Min Nan (POJ [白話字] ): toh / tok)
(iii) Zhang (surname)  张/章
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhang_(surname)
(table: "Teo, Teoh (Hokkien, Teochew)" )

(b) grandmother “LAW Ngoh Kiaw”

Luo (surname)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luo_(surname)

(c) "Lee Xuan Jin, 18, who started a Facebook page dedicated to preserving Hokkien."
(i) cn.nytimes.com: 现年18岁、建了一个致力于保护闽南语的Facebook页面的李轩金（Lee Xuan Jin，音）
(ii) It is actually 李宣進. See 卓育興, Singapore Hokkien Language and Culture Society 新加坡闽南语文化学会. 2017.
http://archive.is/YpfjK#selection-545.0-545.59

Quote:

"福建人（閩南人）是新加坡華人社群當中最大的民系。

"台灣閩南語（台語/台灣話）已經是標準閩南語（閩台片）的代表

"這裡難得有李宣進小弟提出“新加坡閩南語復興運動”，隨著臉書社團會員的聚集，說不定以後如果人手足夠的話（希望李宣進、莊嘉營等），可以將這個社團轉變為正式註冊的文化社團，在新加坡推動閩南語文化。

I understand Singapore uses simplified Chinese, so am clueless about why this website, as well as 李宣進’s, uses traditional Chinese.
(d) "Lee Hui Min, a writer whose best-known work, 'Growing Up in the Era of Lee Kuan Yew' "

(i) from the Web: "李慧敏，生于70后，英国广播公司特约撰稿人、自由写作人。中国南京大学中文系本科、南洋理工大学拉惹勒南国际关系学院硕士毕业"
(A) 李慧敏 is a woman.
(B) She received MSc in International Relations from "S Rajaratnam School of International Studies," Nanyang Technological University
(ii) 李慧敏, 成长在李光耀时代; 从个人的成长经历与生活感悟思考李光耀的治国之道与政策. 玲子传媒 Lingzi Media Pte Ltd, 2014 (in simplified Chinese only).
(A) The English title of course does not appear in the book: Growing Up in the Era of Lee Kuan Yew; A Singapore story by a Singaporean
(B) Pte Ltd stands for Private company limited by shares
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Private_company_limited_by_shares