March 20, 2010 by admin
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Written by Our Correspondent
Concerned at the rising tensions between native Singaporeans and
foreigners, the “nation-building” press has been called into action
again to sway public opinion back to the side of its political
master.
In an extensive interview with the Straits Times, Home Affairs
Minister Wong Kan Seng made a spirited defence of the PAP’s much
maligned liberal immigration and pro-foreigner policies by using
his life-story as an example.
Mr Wong recalled that his parents were poor immigrants from
China too and life in the early years were tough for his
family.
They eventually settled in Singapore and his parents became
registered as Singapore citizens enabling them to vote in the 1959
elections which swept the PAP into power for the next fifty
years.
Mr Wong pointed out that many of his classmates had parents born
overseas and that not many Singaporeans can claim to have been here
for more than five generations.
“Now, we feel foreigners who come here are intruding into
our space. But we forget that that’s what our parents did before –
intruding into the space of those who were here before them.We
should remember that immigrant children will one day be like
us,” he was quoted as saying in the Straits Times.
In 2003, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong announced his ambitious
plan to increase Singapore’s population to 6.5 million people by
2030.
All of sudden, the floodgates were flunged open without proper
screening and QC control, leading to Singapore being swarmed by
foreigners from all over the world.
Foreigners now make up 36 percent of Singapore’s population, up
from 14 percent in 1990. Of the remaining 64 percent who are
citizens, an increasing number are born overseas.
A recent Wall Street Journal reported that the relentless influx
of foreigners into Singapore over the years has depressed the wages
of ordinary Singaporeans, increased the cost of living, especially
that of public housing and led to an overall decline in the
standards of living.
The Labor Report 2009 released this Monday showed that the wages
of Singaporeans had declined by 3.2 percent last year while the
price of resale HDB flats had grown by 8.2 percent with median
Cash-over-Valuation doubling from $12,000 to $24,000 in the last
quarter alone.
The Economist Unit ranked Singapore as the 53th best nation in
the world to live in, below the likes of Croatia, Romania and
Slovenia.
It is most disingenuous of Mr Wong to used the situation in the
1950s to justify Singapore’s immigration policies.
Singapore’s population was only slightly over a million people
then and there was sufficient space and resources to accommodate
more.
Besides, more than half the population were poor immigrants from
China and India who did not expect much in life.
Today, Singapore is a developed country and the majority of its
people regard themselves as Singapore citizens and not Chinese or
Indian immigrants.
Singaporeans now expect much more from their country than their
parents and grandparents.
It is the duty of the elected government of the day to take care
of its own citizens first before welcoming more immigrants.
The root cause of public discontent against foreigners lie in
the lack of social welfare benefits to the locals who are expected
to compete directly with the cheaper foreign workers on an equal
footing.
Furthermore, local-born Singapore males have to serve two years
of National Service while the new citizens need not do so which
will remain a sore point of contention.
Unless the PAP do more to level the playing field between
citizens and foreigners, the simmering tension between the two
groups is likely to grow in the near future.
- Temasek Review