Singapore plays with fire
Arthur Waldron
Commentary Magazine
11 Jan 08http://www.commentarymagazine.com/blogs/index.php/waldron/1853
I had a strong sense of trouble lurking beneath the surface when a
Singaporean colleague recently wrote me about the growing numbers
of Chinese from the People's Republic who are coming to Singapore.
The reason: to fill jobs left vacant as native born Singaporeans
continue to emigrate at what is perhaps the second highest rate in
the world (an estimated 26.11 per thousand, second only to East
Timor.)
Singapore is a small but strategically situated country of great
prosperity (per capita income is over $20,000). It's surrounded by
perhaps 300 million mostly Muslim Malays and Indonesians. The
Chinese and the Muslim peoples have never gotten on very well. The
danger for Singapore is that the Malaysians and Indonesians could
come to perceive Singapore as a cat's paw for China. That would
lead to disaster for the island stateyet it appears to be the
direction in which Singapore is moving.
Instead of permitting immigration from Malaysia and Indonesia,
Singapore appears to be seeking guest workers from China. This is
already causing ill-feeling inside Singapore, as the Singaporeans
have only the remotest connections with China. A colleague recently
emailed me:
...[a close friend] told me that the number of PRC's/ex-PRC's in
Singapore is quite large and is still on the rise. This is creating
tension and resentment among the native-born Singaporeans because
the PRC's cannot speak English, are taking away jobs, and are
behaving arrogantly towards native Singaporeans.
For example, my friend and his wife had trouble ordering food in a
[food court] coffee-shop because none of the PRC stall-owners
understood English or even Singaporean-accented Mandarin. One might
assume that my friend's wife wouldn't have any inherent bias
against PRC's because she is [educated in the Singapore
Chinese-language stream]. Additionally, while my friend was having
dinner at a restaurant with his PRC neighbours, one of them stood
up in the restaurant and started haranguing a waiter. This PRC
gentleman then went on to sneer at the waiter (in front of everyone
at the restaurant) for being a native-born Singaporean...
If PRC Chinese become a significant presence in Singapore, then
that country's ties with its immediate neighbors, always delicate,
will be inflamed. Furthermore, friends such as the United States
will have to think twice about sharing intelligence and
technology.
Most Singaporean émigrés leave because of the stifling atmosphere
of the country and the political and intellectual lock-step
enforced by the government. A looming internal problem would be
solved, and a potential external disaster avoided, if that
government would begin to democratize, and to allow its people to
develop their talentsin Singapore, not abroad.
Dr Arthur Waldron is the Lauder Professor of International
Relations in the Department of History at the University of
Pennsylvania. He is also the Vice President of International
Assessment and Strategy Center.
