The buzzword lately is “integration, integration and
integration”. Not a single day pass without the state media harping
on the magical word which is spreading like a bug to afflict all
aspects of life in Singapore. Even the classroom is not spared.
A few days ago, a Symposium on Integration in Schools was held
to study ways of promoting social interaction and integration
between Singaporeans and foreign students in Singapore schools.
A week earlier, a “Water Festival” was held by Bukit Batok
grassroots organizations to celebrate the New Year of the Burmese,
Thai and Cambodian community in Singapore.
PAP MP Grace Fu who was the Guest-of-Honor at the event,
said:
“We are a cosmopolitan society, and we celebrate a lot of
festivals that do not originate here. I told the grassroots to look
at activities that will drive the crowd here because if people all
stay in their flats, integration cannot take place.”
Yes, the key word is still “integration”.
Singaporeans are having “integration” forced down their throats
literally by the PAP and the state media which continues to churn
out “integration” propaganda day after day faithfully.
The question is: how many Singaporeans are genuinely interested
in “integration”?
Saved for the grassroots leaders who are coerced to lend their
support to such “integration” events, not many Singaporeans appear
to be aware of the activities being held in their neighborhood to
promote “bonding” between them and the immigrants.
Integration is a natural process which will take time to
materialize and cannot be accelerated artificially by such
half-hearted superficial attempts.
In the United States for example, it was found that immigrants
generally take at least three generations to become fully
naturalized U.S. citizens.
It is impossible to expect the newcomers to become Singaporeans
overnight, especially when so many of them are allowed into
Singapore within a short a period of time.
As there is already a significant number of their compatriots in
Singapore, they tend to congregate within their respective
communities and have few incentives to reach out to
Singaporeans.
Furthermore, some immigrants do not even understand or speak
English, the lingua franca which unites the various races in
Singapore.
How can one ever integrate into an English-speaking nation
without speaking the language in the first place?
The onus is on the new immigrants to integrate into Singapore
society and if they do not bother to put in the effort, no amount
of money spent on integration by the PAP will help.
Had the PAP got its immigration policy right in the first place,
there will be no need to spend so much money to promote
“integration” now.
With public disgruntlement rising against the relentless influx
of foreigners, the atmosphere is not quite appropriate for the PAP
to implement its “integration” policies on the ground.
The state media only selects rare examples to highlight how the
immigrants are “integrating” into Singapore society which is not
exatly reflective of the reality.
Singaporeans are already suffering from the recklessness of the
PAP’s misguided policies. They should not have “integration” forced
down their throats down to cover up for the PAP’s ineptitude.
We did not ask for so many foreigners to be brought into
Singapore. Why must we “integrate” with them? Shouldn’t the
immigrants be the ones to integrate into our
society instead?
While Singaporeans are forced to live with the increasing number
of foreigners in their country, it is their choice to decide if
they want to socialize with them.
If the integration efforts turn out to be an abject failure, the
fault lies with the PAP alone for not formulating its policies well
and not Singaporeans.
At the end of the day, Singapore belongs to every Singaporean
and not just the PAP. Being citizens of this country, we have the
right to decide its fate, including the number and type of
immigrants we should accept.