The following is my answer to a Quora question: “Why is Singapore’s ‘Majulah Singapura’ sung in Malay, considering the Malays are an ethnic minority, instead of in English, Singapore’s lingua franca, or Mandarin, considering the great majority of Singaporeans are ethnic Chinese?”
The national language of Singapore is Malay. That is why the national anthem is in Malay, and why military commands during parades are in Malay. This is a recognition of our heritage. Singapore is art of the Malay Archipelago, and the Malays and related groups were among the first here.
The pledge is in English, because English is the language of
business and instruction for most of us, and this is in recognition of the fact
that we were once a British colony. Mandarin
is one of the official languages, along with Tamil. Chinese and ethnic Tamils comprise a large
segment of the population.
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