National Language Class

In this painting, a group of Chinese students learning Malay are huddled around a single table in a small and dimly lit classroom. The students and their teacher occupy most of the painting, making them the inarguable focal point of the work. Behind the teacher is a blackboard with elementary Malay phrases written on it. One of the phrases reads “Siapa nama kamu?” which means “What is your name?” One of Chua Mia Tee’s most iconic images, National Language Class is charged with nationalist sentiment and captures an important stage of Singapore’s history. Painted in 1959, it commemorates Singapore’s long-awaited attainment of independence from British rule. The need for national unity led the Ministry of Culture to designate Malay the new national language. Singapore art in the period following the end of the second World War was largely characterised by an emerging social realist art movement, dominated by a younger generation of artists like Chua Mia Tee. They were largely influenced by Leftist cultural ideology and entrusted art with a social responsibility, believing it would contribute to the betterment of society. Responding to the turbulent decade of the 1950s, these artists produced a group of significant works embodying aspirations for freedom and independence. National Language Class is a prominent example of such social realist works.