SINGAPORE -Dialects have the human touch and can promote intimacy, said Health Minister Ong Ye Kung on Monday. Even if they may not have much commercial value, they can help bind people emotionally.

Mr Ong was speaking in Hokkien and Mandarin to more than 800 guests at the 100th anniversary dinner of the Singapore Ann Kway Association at the Shangri-La Hotel ballroom.

On his daughter’s interest in learning Hokkien from his wife, the minister said: ”She said learning Hokkien is important. There are about 7,000 languages in the world, and we cannot afford to lose Hokkien.”

Mr Ong observed that her daughter has also started speaking the dialect with her grandmother. “It may not have much commercial value, but dialects do have the effect of bringing people closer,” he added.

Mr Yeo Hoon Chong, chairman of the clan association, which has more than 2,000 members, said that the association had set up 32 village schools in the early days to provide education for children here. Today, not many young people wish to join the clan association. “We see many students who struggle with learning Chinese,” he said in Hokkien. “I propose that Chinese clan associations like Ann Kway set up Chinese tuition classes.”

Explaining how people of different ages have benefited from joining clan associations, he said: “While the older generation looks forward to visiting their ancestral village in China, middle-aged members wish to find their roots through the clan association.

“Meanwhile, the younger generation can look for business opportunities, and I encourage them to do so with the rapid development of our (clan’s) ancestral home town (in Anxi County, China).