Should Singlish be discouraged in Singapore?

Should Singlish be discouraged in Singapore? I do not think so. I believe Singlish reflects the culture and way of life of Singaporeans through its absorption of words from many languages such as the Chinese dialects, Malay, and to a smaller extent the Indian and European languages other than English. As we can see, Singlish reflects our multi-cultural society. Also, it is a common language that all Singaporeans share and are comfortable with, promoting to some extent cohesiveness within society.

Singlish is said to hinder the proper learning of English in Singaporean schools, and thus is discouraged. However, I believe that Singlish in schools is inevitable since it is the main form of verbal communication between teachers and students. Also, many Singaporeans are able to easily code-switch between Singlish and English to suit the occasion, and thus there is no need to discourage Singlish in Singapore.

However, Singlish should still be discouraged in Singapore in certain situations such as job interviews and other formal occasions since it is inappropriate for the situation to converse in Singlish and leave behind an unsavoury impression.