Investigation into Request to Remove Bilingual Signboards at NTU Food Court

The following question stood in the name of Mr Kok Heng Leun –

12 To ask the Minister for Education (Higher Education and Skills) what is the outcome of the investigation into the request from NTU to food court operators to replace bilingual signboards with English-only signages.

13 Mr Ang Wei Neng asked the Minister for Education (Higher Education and Skills) with regard to the perceived bias against the use of Chinese characters on the signboard of food stalls at a local university, what are the lessons and steps to prevent a similar occurrence in local tertiary educational institutions.

Asst Prof Mahdev Mohan (Nominated Member): On behalf of Mr Kok, Question No 12, please.

Mr Speaker: Yes, please.

The Minister for Education (Higher Education and Skills) (Mr Ong Ye Kung): In all our Autonomous Universities (AUs), there is no issue with display of bilingual signboards, as long as one of the languages used is English, which is the common working language. What happened at the Nanyang Technology University (NTU) was, therefore, not in line with the longstanding policy across the AUs.

NTU has investigated the recent incident and found that one of its staff had misinterpreted NTU's language use policy and inserted a requirement that stallholders display English-only signage. This was neither approved nor condoned by NTU and its management. The investigation also concluded that the staff had no ill-intent and a stern warning was issued to this staff member.

NTU is also working on the panel's recommendations to brief all staff managing its food and beverage and retail outlets on the university's policy on language use, to ensure that it is well understood and also strengthen their ability to balance the NTU community's diverse cultural needs, through training.

NTU has since also informed all on-campus vendors that non-English languages are permitted on the signboards and notices, as long as English is also used. For the vendors which have changed to only English signboards, NTU will cover the expenses to revert to the original signboards.

Mr Speaker: Mr Ang Wei Neng.

Mr Ang Wei Neng (Jurong): (In Mandarin): [Please refer to Vernacular Speech.] I would like to thank the Minister for the clarification. According to the newspaper report, it seems that as early as one year ago, NTU has started to ban Chinese characters on the signboard at their food court even though the stalls are selling Chinese food. During the Chinese New Year, NTU also prohibits playing of Chinese New Year songs. Therefore, I would like to ask the Minister whether the particular NTU staff was the only one responsible for this episode or was he just the scapegoat. We know Rome was not built in a day. Similarly, this situation did not appear to arise within a short timeframe. I would like to ask the Minister whether this is a systemic problem or just a standalone case caused by the mistake of a particular staff.

Mr Ong Ye Kung: (In Mandarin): [Please refer to Vernacular Speech.] Mr Speaker, I think what Mr Ang is trying to refer to is actually the study of Chinese and Chinese culture. Otherwise, he would not have said if this was the tip of the iceberg. Indeed, this is a significant and longstanding issue. If the House were to debate this issue, it may take a few days. I have read the investigation report provided by NTU, and I believe that it is, indeed, an administrative error by one staff. NTU takes this very seriously and has since informed all the vendors of the mistake. This issue is considered concluded already.