Singapore committed to keeping Tamil as an official language: Min

The Singapore government is resolute in its commitment to Tamil as an official language, Cabinet Minister S Iswaran has said, citing examples of it being used in parliament and as a subject in schools.

Iswaran’s remarks appeared in an interview published in ‘The Tamil Community and the Making of Modern Singapore’ – a book on the South Indian community – launched by Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan on Sunday.

“The govt’s policy position and support for Tamil is clear. The rest is in the hands of the community, especially our youths, to embrace the language, use it in everyday life and make it a living language,” Iswaran said.

“The ‘Tamil Language Festival’ is one way to achieve this by engaging and involving the younger generation and wider community in this effort to celebrate and promote Tamil language and culture,” Iswaran, the minister in charge of Trade Relations as well as Communications and Information, said.

The book has been co-authored by NRIs Soundara Nayaki Vairavan, editor of ‘Online Voice’ with five other books to her credit, and AP Raman, a veteran local journalist .

Tamil is one of Singapore’s four official languages used in parliament, in schools as mother’s tongue subject and supported by print and broadcast media as well as in all other officials events. It is also printed on currency notes along with English, Chinese and Malay.