Yours Toothfully by Dr Chan Joon Yee

The recent “protests” against MOE’s proposal to “lower the weightage” of “Mother Tongue” in PSLE results was a knock on the head for adminstrators who think that every Chinese/Malay family sees the learning of Chinese/Malay as an unnecessary burden for their children. Many children actually do well for MT in their PSLE. There are some who don’t do too well overall because they are pulled down by low MT scores. Changing the rules may lead to a very different group of top students - perhaps those who speak Mandarin with a Sentosa accent.

During a parents’ briefing by my son’s school principal, the highly charismatic gentleman advised Malay parents not to let their children take Chinese as “Mother Tongue”. He argued that they could not provide the “environment” at home for their kids to learn the language properly.

But what about Chinese familes? Not even pure Chinese families can always provide the right environment for learning Chinese. Even if we argue that they have no excuse for that (since they are Chinese), what about the non-Chinese and not so Chinese Asian familes where the members have to communicate in English out of necessity?

It’s an obvious phenomenon that we are seeing more and more mixed and foreign families in Singapore. We have many mothers of Singaporean children who are Thais, Vietnamese, Filipinos, Burmese and we only have 4 official languages to choose from. What does Mr Principal want them to do if they can’t provide a conducive “environment” for Chinese, Malay or Tamil? Shouldn’t concessions be targeted at these children rather than those who have no excuse not to do well in MT because they live in Sentosa?

But some caution is in order. While supporting MT will ensure a healthy and representative number of heartlanders amongst the top students in Singapore, it will open doors for recent immigrants whose “Mother Tongues” are more motherly than ours. Other immigrant societies lay the ground rules in no uncertain terms.

John Howard:

‘We speak mainly ENGLISH, not Spanish, Lebanese, Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Russian, or any other language. Therefore, if you wish to become part of our society . Learn the language!’

We are certainly not so strict about such things over here. In fact, we are often told the benefits of “speaking the language”, the necessity of welcoming immigrants. And we even changed our Nee Soon to Yishun.

Well, I do know how to pronounce Yishun and Hougang the “correct” way, but I insist on saying “yee shoon” and “hao gang”. I speak the language better than most Chinese Singaporeans, but in my line of work, this often means more arguments, more complaints, more sarcasm and even thuggish behaviour.

What’s wrong with shops and restaurants like these? Well, in case our decision makers fail to realise, there is a certain unwritten exclusitivity in these establishments. They do a great job of making you feel alien if you’re not mainland Chinese. And that’s in our own home country, Singapore. It’s an irony that you’ll receive a much warmer reception in China. Our decision makers may dream of Li Jiawei or Feng Tianwei playing host to a group of Singaporean Indian friends inside one of these restaurants, but not in my wildest dreams do I see them giving their Chinese Singaporean friends a treat here.

And out on the streets, we see more litter, more shouting, more crowding, pushing, haggling, excuses for not paying and other inconsiderate behaviour. How I wish I operate a service that automatically deducts fees from bank accounts and answers the phone with “We’re sorry, our Chinese-speaking customer service officers are all engaged. Please call back in 10 years.”

I have nothing against the language, the people and the culture. In fact, I use Mandarin and write in Chinese all the time. I just feel that too many of them are seeing our open doors as an invitation to colonise the place. Of course those running our public transport and other utilities (and automated answering machines) will gain tremendously from an influx of immigrants. What about dentists? What do we stand to gain, just staring at the impressive numbers in the news while we squeeze on the MRT with loud messages being passed down like announcements for the arrival of the Empress Dowager in the Forbidden City.

Yeah, they made this their home all right. Is there anything wrong? Well, it gets a bit irritating to some when they expect to find someone who speaks their Mother Tongue everywhere they go, they refuse to speak English and kick up a fuss when someone who looks Chinese can’t understand them.

我是会说华语。可是来自菲律宾,印度,和本地非华族公民的员工都听不懂。我还得帮你翻译。你会说英
语干吗要大家迁就你?

(This refers to China workers who insist on speaking Mandarin even when working in a multi-cultural workplace. Some even show annoyance when Indonesian Chinese customers they encounter don’t speak their language)

We have often been reminded of the need to embrace immigrants. It’s only very recently that we hear voices from the top asking us to “keep a balance between strengthening, maintaining the core and keeping Singapore recognisable, and bringing in new people and transforming Singapore to prepare for tomorrow”.

For a start, let’s change our Yishun back to Nee Soon. Let’s also make sure all the China-Chinese restuarants in Geylang and Chinatown have menus in the 4 official languages of Singapore.

August was supposed to be one of our driest months, but the skies seemed to be trying to embarrass the meteorologists this year. And more than a little embarrassed, are the meteorologists in Taiwan who failed to forecast the intensity of typhoon Morakot. The political storm the tragedy stirred up is no less devastating and for better or worse, His Holiness is in the news again.

Back home, a big FDI (World Dental Federation and not foreign direct investment in this case) convention was held at Suntec City. Our Chief Dental Officer, Prof Patrick Tseng, announced to points-desperate dentists who attended the convention that our decision makers have signed a mutual agreement earlier this year to allow dentists from Asean countries to practise in other member countries, subject to the qualification requirements in each country. This will be implemented in January next year.

The idea is so brilliant that I’m not sure if I could have possibly thought of it. An exchange of talent and currency between neighbouring ASEAN countries sounds just wonderful. Just imagine. Any dentist from the Philippines or Thailand can apply to work in Singapore. The dental school here will be flooded with applications and examination fees. More work. More staff. Bigger departments. Bigger budgets. It will give some of the lecturers here a chance to show their mettle. Hopefully the university would issue them with stab-proof vests as the examination candidates may not be as used to be stepped on like us.

The good news for me is, I probably won’t get anymore desperate Filipino dentists on tourist visas bothering me at Lucky Plaza. There is a channel open to them now.

And in apparent reciprocation, any dentist in Singapore can work in the Philippines too. It would be a great opportunity for me to work there and bring back some pesos which my wife and kids have not seen before. I know what you’re afraid of, but no, we shouldn’t be worried about our local dentists going after the peso or the baht and stop providing for the Singaporean public. The newsPAPer report also quoted the “dental community” saying that “Although this means that dentists here can also work in other Asean countries more easily, better earnings and facilities will help retain most of Singapore’s dentists.”

Well, yes. Why should we be afraid that our dentists would abandon Singapore to set up shop in a slum in Manila? Why would anyone set up a practice in Nakhon Nowhere, only to find out that nobody there has even heard of root canal treatment. But wait a minute. There is wisdom in the deal. Why not I sign a deal with Richard Branson. I can stay in his mansion in the Virgin Islands and he has full access to my HDB flat. Wouldn’t that be wonderful? If only Sir Richard could think the way that some people do.

After quoting the “dental community”, the newsPAPer article went on to quote Singapore Dental Association president Dr Lewis Lee. Dr Lee added that demand for dentists will always be there because of the growing population, medical tourism and the prevalence of dental diseases. So there should be no worry about competition or a glut of dentists.

No worry? Growing population? Medical tourism? Prevalence of dental diseases? Well, Dr Lee didn’t mention that population is not the only thing that is growing. Our rentals are also growing. Our hotels’ room rates are growing. Budget airlines are growing. Medical tourism in other low cost neighbouring countries where the dentists have higher morale is also growing.

Our newsPAPer reporter then went on to interview Dr Ng Chin Siau, who runs dental chain Q&M. Dr Ng reportedly said that the changes will give him more choices and acquire more specialists. That’s very good for Dr Ng. But what about the rest of us? The majority of dentists don’t run a chain of practices. Why didn’t our newsPAPer reporter speak to someone who is more representative of the majority? Because they are less willing to talk? Or are their opinions less important?

How does one know if there is a shortage or oversupply of dentists? From the complaints of long waiting time at public polyclinics? Or the lack of yesteryears’ crowds at neighbourhood clinics? In the 90s, I was seeing 25 patients at Hougang on a good day. In 2006 before I closed it down, I was only seeing 10 or less. It won’t take newPAPer reporters too much effort to check it with other HDB clinics with a history and come to a similar conclusion. Make no mistake about it. The supply of primary care dentists is reaching saturation point. It is no longer a lucrative profession.

According to MOH, there is one dentist for every 2500 Singaporeans. But every idiot knows that quantity is not equals to quality. I’ve had more than 3000 patients on record in Hougang. So what? It can’t beat the couple of hundred I have in Orchard. 500 good patients can beat 2500 or even 25000 alamaks. You don’t measure the supply of dentists and the demand for their services by looking at numbers, ratios and the long queues at polyclinics.