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Many people these days doesn't even know the meaning of the words in our national anthem.. It's quite amazing.

http://www.straitstimes.com/STForum/Story/...ory_818161.html MONDAY'S article ('Sung with national pride') about the significance of national anthems - or their irrelevance - spurred my thoughts about our National Anthem. In all honesty, I almost forgot its title when I tried to recall it; assuming it was Mari Kita (Let Us) because these are the first words, before I remembered that it is Majulah Singapura (Onward Singapore). Sadly, beyond the title, I have no clue what the rest of the anthem means, despite having sung it every single day from primary school to junior college. My second problem is that the anthem is in Malay. If the purpose of a national anthem is to forge national identity and rally citizens towards a common vision or goal, why choose a language that four-fifths of Singaporeans today neither speak nor understand? Should our National Anthem be updated? The view that doing so would open a Pandora's box of unwelcome controversy framed along sensitive racial lines misses the point. The problem is not that most Singaporeans do not understand Malay, but that we do not understand what our National Anthem means. More effort must be made in schools to teach the anthem to students. I remember being cursorily taught its meaning in primary school, with its translation tucked away in an obscure page of a social studies text. If efforts are not made to impress the meaning and significance of the National Anthem, then generations of students will continue to sing Majulah Singapura every morning without understanding its importance or worth. Grace Zhang (Miss)

Hi all, Pardon my ignorance, is there an official record somewhere that explained why our national anthem is or must be in Malay? I'm sure many sing for the sake of singing and may not really understand the full meaning of the lyrics as time goes by. Many also can't sing it properly too . So what is the rationale? Please advise us. Thank you very much. Regards,

MP on HP

Just curious, anyone knows why the President doesn't sing the national anthem during NDP? Is he above the flag and anthem?

Was shock when heard over the radio this morning while on the way to work....... Our 1st SG idol sand the national anthem wrongly before the starts of the F1 race and it was telecast live to 100 million viewers worldwide...... He did apologised later but....... he had been singing the national anthem since Pri 1 and still can get it wrong. Furthermore, singing is his trade mark......