Singapore is a nation of immigrants but its opposition parties
are tapping into growing anti-foreigner sentiment among voters to
win more parliamentary seats in general elections on May 7.
Foreigners are accused of stealing jobs, depressing wages and
straining housing, transport, schools, hospitals and other public
services, putting the ruling party on the defensive for easing
immigration rules in recent years.
The People's Action Party (PAP), in power since 1959, is widely
expected to secure a comfortable majority but its opponents are
hoping to win far more than the two seats they held in the recently
dissolved 84-member parliament.
"Now every time I take the train, it feels like I'm in a
different country," 24-year-old opposition candidate Nicole Seah of
the National Solidarity Party told a public
rally on Thursday to boisterous cheers.
"It is like taking a holiday. I don't even need to bring my
passport!" added Seah, an advertising professional who is the
youngest candidate in the polls.
Singapore's population numbered 4.03 million in 2000, with
760,000 foreigners and the rest citizens and permanent residents,
according to government statistics.
Last year, the population soared to 5.08 million with foreigners
hitting an all-time high of 1.3 million.
Singapore has long had a steady intake of foreigners but the
government markedly liberalised the admission of immigrants during
the economic boom from 2004-2007.
With a birth rate far below what is needed to maintain
population levels, Singaporeans were told they needed "foreign
talent" and young immigrant families to keep the island
economically competitive in the long term.
Sentiment began to worsen when the global economy collapsed in
2008-2009, and not even the record 14.5 percent economic growth in
2010 was enough to assuage Singaporeans' fears of being swamped by
foreigners.
"They never asked us whether we wanted a huge increase in our
population," another opposition candidate, Vincent Wijeysingha of
the Singapore Democratic Party, said at a
rally on Thursday.
"They never asked us if we expected such large numbers of people
working for such low salaries so that your salaries will also be
pulled down," he added.
It's an ironic turn of events for a city-state founded on cheap
immigrant labour during British colonial rule, with most families
tracing their roots to China, India, Malaysia
and Indonesia.
Reform Party secretary general Kenneth
Jeyaretnam said the poorest Singaporeans were the most
affected by the presence of cheaper foreign labour.
"The incomes of the poorest 20 percent of the population have
probably fallen by between 10 and 20 percent and this is all due to
the fact that we have an open-door immigration policy with no
minimum wage," said Jeyaretnam, who was a London-based financial
executive before plunging into politics.
Eugene Tan, an assistant professor of law at the Singapore
Management University, said it was not surprising that opposition
parties were milking the immigration issue.
"It works up people very, very easily and it is something that
you encounter on a daily basis," he told AFP.
Kelvin Low, an assistant professor in the department of
sociology at the National University of Singapore, said the
anti-immigration card was not unique to Singapore in the age of
globalisation.
"These are populist strategies undertaken to attract the
attention of voters," he said.
In reaction to the backlash, the government slowed the intake of
foreigners and reduced their social benefits, such as hospital and
school fee subsidies, while insisting that Singapore can never
survive without them.
"By allowing in a controlled number of foreign workers, far from
disadvantaging our own people, we have created more good jobs for
Singaporeans and more opportunities in our economy," Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said before the campaign
began.