National language has four official languages: English (Singapore English), Chinese, Malay and Tamil. Although English is the primary language of business, government, and education, Malay is designated as the national language. This is due to the geographical and historical ties to Malaysia as well as the recognition of ethnic Malays (about 14% of the population) as the indigenous people of Singapore. Traditionally, the lingua franca among the different ethnic groups in Singapore was Bazaar Malay, a Malay-based creole. Since independence, the government has been promoting English as the main language of Singapore. The bilingual education policy requires students to study two languages:
Lateral communication errors in vertical information flows. In an organization, lateral communication is communication between different individuals/departments at the same organizational level. The term lateral communication can be used interchangeably with horizontal communication. In his text entitled "Organizational Communication", Michael J. Papa defines horizontal communication as "the flow of messages across functional areas at a given level of an organization". People at the same level "communicate directly without going through several levels of organization". Given this elasticity, members of an organization have an easier time with "problem-solving, information sharing across different work groups, and task coordination between departments or project teams". The