Wednesday 14 November 2007

To G1 or to G2, that is the question.

I’ve just become a father. It’s usually one of the biggest steps in a person’s life, becoming a parent, but lately, what has been troubling me (other than preparing the checklist of things you need to buy) is whether I should raise my daughter as a G1 or G2.

Oops. Maybe I need to backtrack a little.

About a month ago, an opinion piece in The Star from members of INSAP, the MCA’s think-tank, introduced the concept of 2 distinct groups of Malaysian Chinese, the G1 and G2. According to the article, the G1 are Chinese-speaking, Chinese-schooled and comprise about 85% of the Chinese population, while the G2 are English-speaking, English-schooled and comprise 15% of the same. The G1 subscribe to the notion of the three pillars of Chinese society – namely Chinese schools, Chinese associations and Chinese media, whereas the G2, well, they are the Christians, peranakans and “part of the Lions and Rotary Club set”.

The article was unusual in its candour, doubtless expressing a widespread stereotype latent amongst many Malaysian Chinese. From a demographic standpoint, it is interesting that one’s preferred language is being endorsed by the MCA as a form of social delineation.

G1, G2 or G1½?

Talk to Malaysian Chinese and you’ll often find that they are comfortable with BM and their dialect, but they then lean heavily towards either English or Mandarin/ Cantonese/ Hokkien. G1’s do read Chinese papers and want the government to leave them alone, while G2’s do read English papers and tend to vote Gerakan (their words, not mine!). This was the basis of INSAP’s argument for the delineation.

Stereotyping, however, is a blunt instrument, in the sense that it often hides as much as it reveals. A respondent to the commentary took issue with the G1/G2 profiling, claiming he had written 2 Chinese books, married a Chinese-speaking wife but was English-educated and spoke English at home, and therefore called himself a ‘G1½’.

Life in a G1½ household

I’m probably G1½ myself. I think and write in English. However, Mandarin is my ‘primal’ language since I was brought up speaking it in my home and I often slip into it unconsciously when speaking. In our ‘rojak’ society, it is almost impossible to be monolingual during the course of the day, anyway.

I also married a G1½. My wife speaks better Mandarin than I, and has a more natural aptitude given her family is Mandarin-speaking. Still, she studied the humanities in school and talking to her, you would not think she aced English Literature and History during her ‘A’ levels

Our household consumption is a hodge-podge of Eastern and Western brands. Chinese herbs sit beside our stash of Nurofen. Birds’ Nest from Eu Yan Sang. Illy Coffee. ‘Shin’ Korean noodles. The TV we tune in to runs the entire gamut of English and Chinese offerings available on Astro from Wah Lai Toi to the History Channel to Channel ‘E’.

Defying Stereotyping

Concentrating so much on the G1/G2 divide may lead one to miss the trends affecting our society, which is that there are more and more G1½’s every day. The younger generation is largely more clued in to what is needed to succeed in today’s world, and you will find effective trilingualism, or even quadrilingualism, amongst the best and brightest of the young. For instance, a foreign visitor that I entertained recently observed that the average Chinese executive speaks 4 languages during the day: a) BM to Malay colleagues; b) Mandarin to Chinese colleagues; c) English to the boss; and finally d) dialect (Hokkien/Cantonese etc.) at home with the family.

The smartest are able to weather this cacophony of languages in their head with ease. Usually, these are children of far-sighted parents who are compensating for an in-built bias – either they deliberately stressed Chinese education because they spoke English at home, or vice versa. INSAP’s dismissal of G2 parents sending children to Chinese schools simply because of a perceived higher quality of education misses this point, and misses also the increasing number of G1 parents sending their children to ‘international’ schools. Parents like these want to make sure that the best possible choices are available for their children when they grow up, and that means an inclusive, broad-minded and multilingual education. When it comes to marketing in Malaysia, there is no such divide: you’re either multilingual or you’re not in marketing.

I confess I would want my daughter to be like that. But then again, I’d also want her to critique Plato and Confucius with equanimity, to know how to spot a fake Louis Vuitton from 30 metres, and to know how to steam a ‘soon hock’ for her father when she grows up. All very reasonable, I think.

(reprinted from The Sun, 14th November 2007. e-Paper link here.)

*Update. INSAP's reply here. More on INSAP here.

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