A singing competition in Singapore has stirred up controversy due to its Mandarin proviso, stating that the sponsors require all candidates to speak and perform songs in fluent Mandarin.

Though it places no restrictions on nationality or race, the singing competition, which is based on the international reality singing competition "The Voice," is open only to competitors who are fluent in Mandarin and able to perform in that language, according to the competition’s official website.

The language restriction has led to many Singaporeans to boycott the show. The production company behind the show, mm2 Entertainment, has also been bombarded with criticism. Many have said the biased language restriction discriminates against Singaporeans who are not ethnically Chinese, arguing that it disrespects the reality of Singapore as a multilingual country.

“I’m tired of the fact that [the Chinese] don’t see that it’s not just a matter of learning Mandarin to join the contest but the fact that I’m not considered significant enough for the show ... I’m tired of having to remind others that I exist too, that my language is not the same as yours,” Alfian bin Sa’at, a renowned Singaporean writer, commented on his Facebook page.

In response to the controversy, mm2 Entertainment told The Strait Times, a Singaporean newspaper, that it decided to acquire the format license in Mandarin based on commercial viability. The company added that the contestants have to converse with the judges, who have not yet been revealed, primarily in Mandarin.

Singapore counts Malay, Mandarin, Tamil and English among its official languages. The three non-English languages were chosen to correspond with major ethnic groups present in Singapore.

“I don’t think the public should read too much into the incident, as it’s simply a choice determined by the market. Though many of them can speak fluent English, Singaporean singers are not so popular in the Western entertainment market. The Chinese market, on the other hand, is vast and lucrative, attracting many young Singaporean singers to start their careers there,” said Zhang Yifeng, a Beijing-based music producer.

“Multilingualism is a new reality in our modern era. Though English remains the lingua franca of the island, Chinese has regained its status in Singapore due to China’s economic rise in the 21st century," said Lin Ye, a Beijing-based sociolinguistics researcher. "Though prioritizing one language over the other is a common linguistic phenomenon, the company should still take Singapore’s multilingual and multicultural setting into consideration when making linguistic choices,” Lin continued.