Central Agency for Good English - a potential letter to the forum

[reposting here – just taking the piss!]

I’m feeling inspired by some ridiculous suggestions to the forum page lately - such as banning camping at East Coast Park - and have thought of a silly suggestion of my own.

Since parliament is thinking of setting up a central procurement agency - seriously, have the people who came up with this idea ever procured stuff before? - I think it’s also time for the government to set up a “Central Agency for Good English” as well.

This suggestion arises from the many annoying and embarrassing errors that I see everyday, from the most recent “mock-up sample” plastered all over the train stations to the perennial “please revert”.

I therefore propose that the government provides an English guidance service. This is a natural extension of its “Speak Good English” campaign and will extend the promotion of the usage of accurate English to include the written form.

The central agency could have a pool of officers - selected through stringent criteria - to dish out advice, answer questions and provide proof-reading services to all government agencies. These services will also be extended to all organisations and members of the public for a small fee.

While the agency will no doubt incur a loss by providing these services, I believe that the country’s vast coffers are being applied towards a laudable goal. If Singapore intends to maintain its competitiveness in the world today, it will have to do much more in educating its people in what is good English.