SINGAPORE (AFP) - – Construction workers from Bangladesh, hotel
staff from the Philippines, waitresses from China, shipyard welders
from Myanmar, technology professionals from India -- Singapore has
them all.
For years the rich but worker-starved city-state, built by
mainly Chinese immigrants, had rolled out the welcome mat for
foreigners, whose numbers rose drastically during the economic boom
from 2004-2007.
But with one in three of the five million people living on the
tiny island now a foreigner and citizens complaining about
competition for jobs, housing and medical care, the government is
taking a fresh look at its open-door policy
With the grumbling getting louder and general elections expected
to be called before they are due in 2012, the government has
unveiled measures to reduce reliance on foreigners and assure
citizens they remain the priority.
"There are social and physical limits to how many more we can
absorb," Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam told parliament in
February.
He said the government will make it costlier for companies to
hire foreigners by raising the levies they must pay for every
non-Singaporean or non-resident they hire.
The government also earmarked 5.5 billion Singapore dollars (3.9
billion US) over the next five years to upgrade Singaporean
workers' skills to boost their productivity, make them more
competitive and raise incomes.
It imposed measures to cool down rising home prices, also blamed
on foreigners buying into the property market, and pledged it will
further tighten the process of accepting permanent residents and
new citizens.
Of Singapore's population of nearly five million last year,
533,200 were permanent residents and 1.25 million were foreigners
on employment passes, along with their families, official
statistics show.
"I think it is shaping up to be one of the hottest issues in
Singapore today," political commentator Seah Chiang Nee told
AFP.
Economist Song Seng Wun of CIMB-GK Research said that apart from
helping local companies rise up the value chain, the new measures
will also address potential election issues.
Singapore's last elections, held in 2006, saw the ruling
People's Action Party returned to power for six years, continuing
its uninterrupted rule over the island since 1959.
"The government has to be seen doing something in areas that are
potential flashpoints," Song said.
Disenchantment over foreign workers gained momentum during a
severe economic slump that began in the third quarter of 2008, when
trade-reliant Singapore became the first Asian economy to slip into
recession.
Drastic job and salary cuts were implemented, affecting many
white-collar workers.
In coffee shops, Internet forums, letters to newspapers and
sessions with members of parliament, citizens became more vocal
about the rapidly growing numbers of foreigners in their ranks.
The most common complaint is that Singaporeans are losing jobs
to foreigners who are willing to accept much lower salaries.
"Foreigners are a damn pain in the butt. I seriously wonder if
they are here to work or just snatch jobs from our locals," said
one posting on the popular online forum sammyboy.com.
"The country is fast becoming an unfamiliar place to many
Singaporeans. The sense of national pride is disappearing by the
day," said a posting by Nur Muhammad on The Online Citizen.
Seah, who runs the political website www.littlespeck.com, said
much of the resentment comes from Singaporeans who have to compete
directly with foreign engineers, accountants, hotel managers and IT
professionals.
"Most Singaporeans do not feel angry against low-skilled foreign
workers... It is more aimed at those who come in as white collar
workers and get the jobs that Singaporeans can do," he said.
Citizens have also complained about having to share space in
crowded trains with a large number of foreigners, or compete with
them for places in government schools and public housing.
Foreign labourers are accused of loitering, spitting in public
and leaving litter behind. Another sore point for locals is dealing
with waitresses and sales people who can hardly understand
English.
Some employers have argued they do not hire Singaporeans for
certain jobs because locals are choosy and often lack the natural
social and communication skills in service professions like manning
hotel front desks.
In some ways, Singapore is a victim of its own success.
A campaign in the 1970s for families to have only two children
was so effective that the country is now well below the 60,000
babies needed per year just to naturally replace the resident
population.
Efforts to reverse the trend have failed as increasingly
affluent couples marry at a later age and opt for just one child or
none at all.
Officials, economists and business executives admit that with
Singaporeans procreating less, the country will need foreign
workers in the long term, while making sure citizens' interests are
addressed.
Singapore's founding leader Lee Kuan Yew, who advises the
cabinet of his son Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, said in January
that "we've grown in the last five years by just importing
labour."
"Now, the people feel uncomfortable, there are too many
foreigners," Lee said.
"The answer is simple: We check the flow of foreigners, raise
your productivity, do the job better, so that instead of two
workers, eventually you'll do it with one worker, like the Japanese
do."
Source: AFP, 14 March 2010
http://sg.news.yahoo.com/afp/20100314/tbs-singapore-economy-society-immigratio-0b9af05.html
