Singaporean Diction

I don't know about poor little Ms Singapore/World, Ris Low (a pretty face who's been ripped apart on Youtube for her bad diction) but I do find the English language complicated sometimes.

Not trying to boast (yes, ok, just a little) but although I used to score As in my English and General Paper exams, I still struggle with good pronounciation and diction.
Bad grammar aside (therefore, I am not talking about Singlish), I am referring to the way words are articulated. There should be no confusion about Singlish and bad diction.
Most of our island's men-in-white (a.k.a. main political party) speak blandly in monotones but that does not mean they speak bad English. They are speaking grammatically correct English with a Singapore accent.

Put it simply, I am able to put on my fake British or American accent easily. I do this when I am speaking during necessary interaction with foreign 'Ang Mohs' who cannot seem to understand if I don't. If I use these accents with locals, they think I'm trying to show off. So I don't. So most of the time, I speak bland English and Singlish so much so that people think I have horrible English. Sigh.

Anyway, my point is I not only switch accents, I switch from Standard English to Singlish. Therefore, at any one time when I speak, I am actually making an unconscious choice to switch. Hey, it's quite a skill we Singaporeans have got going on there.

The danger is when we get too comfortable speaking Singlish in our shortcut manners of expression to our kids. We get so used to it that THEY get used to it too and some, like Ris, just don't have the ability to master good grammar or good diction, much less have the ability to switch.

When I was younger, I struggled to pronounce these words correctly :

VETERINARIAN (quick, say that quickly!)
VETERINARY (say that quickly too)
ITINERARY
HIPPOPOTAMUS (Mike used to laugh and laugh at the way I'd say this)
CZECHOSLOVAKIA

I still struggle with the vet word. When people ask me what my brother or his wife do....I just say they are 'Vets'. Hee hee.

There are plenty more added to my list now.......

Once, pertaining to my job, I joined a group of guests to go on a tour conducted by one of our defence forces. Individuals manning their equipment had to speak about the functions of their equipment.
After the tour, we had a meeting to evaluate the tour. Many of the 'Ang Mohs' said they could not understand what was spoken during the tour. One 'Ang Moh' stood up and said that in the first place, Singaporeans DO NOT speak English. They speak another language altogether.
I was burning with fury when he said that. But I looked around the whole room filled with foreigners and thought better than to speak up and out against what he said. Yes, I felt defensive but really, I myself, could NOT understand what those soldiers were saying!!! So Malu!!!

So, we may laugh at poor Ris Low or we may get fed up with the Government for trying to improve our English standards but if we islanders don't do something to speak well now, there will come a time when no one else in the world understands what Singaporeans are saying. As it is, they already don't.