IN THE face of a foreigner influx, a question that government
officials are not rushing to answer is: Who is a
Singaporean?
Strictly speaking, the Singaporean doesnt exist in many official
references, and has been displaced by ''the Singaporean
resident.''
The Singapore resident has become a special category that officials
generally use when talking about population and manpower.
Lumped together in this category are Singaporeans born and
naturalised and foreigners who have been offered permanent
residence (PR) before they apply for or are granted
citizenship.
For some time now, the Statistics Department in line with
Manpower and other Ministries has stopped classifying population
the way other countries do, i.e. between citizens and
foreigners.
Instead they are either 'Singaporean residents' or 'foreigners'
(those on work passes as professionals, workers and students plus
family members).
The word 'Singaporean' to refer to true-blue citizens is rarely,
if at all, used especially when talking about jobs.
So when the government announces that that the majority of new jobs
had gone to locals, it is referring to Singaporean residents,
which, of course, include foreign-born PRs.
Many people have been surprised to learn that there is no longer
any separate listing for Singaporean citizens.
It is not clear when the unannounced classification came into
effect, but reference to it apparently became widespread in the 90s
when immigration gathered steam.
The new distinction officially appeared for the first time in the
1980 Census, which listed Singapores population at 2.41mil and
Singaporean residents at 2.28mil.
That Census Report said that only 9% of the total population was
foreigners, 3.6% of them being Permanent Residents (PRs) and 5.5%
foreign workers. Singaporean citizens totalled 2.19mil or
91%.
Since then, a historical demographic shift has taken place. Last
week, the government announced that the population had topped 4.68
million, almost double that 27 years ago.
This is believed to be one of the fastest growth rates in the
world.
More importantly, the number of citizens is believed to have
dropped below three million, or roughly 63% of total population a
far cry from the 91% in 1980.
This was, of course, due to low birth rates and a high flow of
locals abroad.
For the first time, the number of foreigners who are working or
studying in Singapore has exceeded a million, evidence of a
stronger economy.
The programme to attract foreign PRs has gone into high gear.
During the last 10 years, a total of 360,000 PR were offered mostly
to people from Malaysia, China, India and a dozen other
countries.
In the past two years alone, there were more than 110,000. The
total number has never been announced but is believed to number
more than 700,000.
More will be admitted. Over the next five years, Singapore hopes to
add about 40,000 citizens and 200,000 PRs that could push the
population towards the five million mark by 2011.
As the figures rose so did public emotions about it. Feelings are
running high among Singaporeans who feel bitter about being eased
out of jobs and other opportunities.
But its not entirely one sided. The increase has been good for
businesses because it has fuelled a surge of consumerism,
contributing to higher sales and job creation.
The large foreign influx has helped push up property prices, and
the Sing dollar to a 10-year high, but has also propelled inflation
to a 12-year record.
But above all, it has arrested a serious population decline and
rejuvenated an ageing society.
But for a small city-state that is already one of the densest in
the world, the downside, too, has been formidable for the
masses.
It has helped to widen the wealth gap in Singapore and stirred a
desperate sense of being crowded out of jobs and space.
The first complaint is that the government has been too aggressive
in opening its doors to foreigners, a concept that is generally
accepted as a necessity.
The feeling is that the numbers and the speed could be
slower.
The hot economy actually pushed up manpower needs, said one
economist, but these could be met by having more foreign workers,
not PRs.
The second complaint is that in bending backward to attract
foreigners, the government is giving too much to them at the
expense of locals. For example, they are exempted from the two-year
national service that Singaporeans have to undergo.
Eventually, as the city heads towards a six million or seven
million population, tensions are likely to increase not to
mention pollution and over-crowdedness.
When the day arrives, the foreigners will outnumber Singaporeans.
That could upset Singapores racial and community harmony which has
been so carefully crafted for over 40 years.
A visit to online forums will sometimes reveal how bitter some
Singaporeans feel about the foreign challenge. No one can dismiss
the danger of trouble breaking out one day, a blogger warned.
