Foreign talent, and integrating permanent residents and new
citizens into the society.
These are just some of the key concerns on population raised this
year.
S Ramesh finds out more about challenge of national integration in
2010.
Singapore's population currently stands at nearly five million,
including one million foreigners.
This raised eyebrows.
But the country's leaders say Singapore cannot do away with
foreigners.
Deputy Secretary of the National Trades Union Congress, Halimah
Yacob
"That kind of a policy will bring our economy to a standstill,
particularly in those areas where it is difficult to get
Singaporeans to work and in those areas where there continues to be
a knowledge and skills gap in the workforce."
A root cause of the problem - Singaporeans are not producing enough
babies.
Nominated Member of Parliament, Associate Professor Paulin
Straughan.
"If we do not augment the population with visitors from outside, we
will experience a shrinking of population in Singapore. In a nation
state which depends so much on manpower, that is a scary thought.
So right now we are in a happy position where Singapore continues
to be an attractive destination for immigrants from all walks of
life."
The influx has also raised many concerns on the ground.
Dr Amy Khor is the Chairperson of the government's feedback unit,
REACH.
"The worry at the individual and ground level really is about
locals seeing new immigrants coming, applying for the same jobs,
same schools and housing and they fear crowding out, they fear the
competition. And we got to continue to assure them that be it in
terms of sharpening the differences between PRs and citizens as
well as appealing to them to have open hearts and open minds to
understand that even for new citizens they have actually taken a
big step forward, given up their birth rights in their own country
to set up home here"
So in September 2009, the Prime Minister said the Government will,
over time, sharpen the differentiation between citizens, PRs and
foreigners to reflect the responsibilities and privileges of
citizenship.
The latest announcement from the Education Ministry is that it will
put in place measures to differentiate between Singapore Citizens
and PRs at the Primary One Registration Exercise from 2010
onwards.
For those sinking their roots in Singapore, a key challenge is to
integrate them with the locals.
It's a long-term initiative and a work-in-progress.
In the final analysis, what's important is to assure Singaporeans
that the immigration policy is for the benefit of the people, with
Singaporeans always coming first.