Wong Kan Seng: We should remember that immigrant children will one day be like us
http://www.temasekreview.com/2010/0...t-immigrant-children-will-one-day-be-like-us/
Concerned at the rising tensions between native Singaporeans and foreigners, the “nation-building” press has been called into action again to sway public opinion back to the side of its political master.
In an extensive interview with the Straits Times, Home Affairs Minister Wong Kan Seng made a spirited defence of the PAP’s much maligned liberal immigration and pro-foreigner policies by using his life-story as an example.
Mr Wong recalled that his parents were poor immigrants from China too and life in the early years were tough for his family.
They eventually settled in Singapore and his parents became registered as Singapore citizens enabling them to vote in the 1959 elections which swept the PAP into power for the next fifty years.
Mr Wong pointed out that many of his classmates had parents born overseas and that not many Singaporeans can claim to have been here for more than five generations.
“Now, we feel foreigners who come here are intruding into our space. But we forget that that’s what our parents did before – intruding into the space of those who were here before them.We should remember that immigrant children will one day be like us,” he was quoted as saying in the Straits Times.
In 2003, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong announced his ambitious plan to increase Singapore’s population to 6.5 million people by 2030.
All of sudden, the floodgates were flunged open without proper screening and QC control, leading to Singapore being swarmed by foreigners from all over the world.
Foreigners now make up 36 percent of Singapore’s population, up from 14 percent in 1990. Of the remaining 64 percent who are citizens, an increasing number are born overseas.
A recent Wall Street Journal reported that the relentless influx of foreigners into Singapore over the years has depressed the wages of ordinary Singaporeans, increased the cost of living, especially that of public housing and led to an overall decline in the standards of living.
The Labor Report 2009 released this Monday showed that the wages of Singaporeans had declined by 3.2 percent last year while the price of resale HDB flats had grown by 8.2 percent with median Cash-over-Valuation doubling from $12,000 to $24,000 in the last quarter alone.
The Economist Unit ranked Singapore as the 53th best nation in the world to live in, below the likes of Croatia, Romania and Slovenia.
It is most disingenuous of Mr Wong to used the situation in the 1950s to justify Singapore’s immigration policies.
Singapore’s population was only slightly over a million people then and there was sufficient space and resources to accommodate more.
Besides, more than half the population were poor immigrants from China and India who did not expect much in life.
Today, Singapore is a developed country and the majority of its people regard themselves as Singapore citizens and not Chinese or Indian immigrants.
Singaporeans now expect much more from their country than their parents and grandparents.
It is the duty of the elected government of the day to take care of its own citizens first before welcoming more immigrants.
The root cause of public discontent against foreigners lie in the lack of social welfare benefits to the locals who are expected to compete directly with the cheaper foreign workers on an equal footing.
Furthermore, local-born Singapore males have to serve two years of National Service while the new citizens need not do so which will remain a sore point of contention.
Unless the PAP do more to level the playing field between citizens and foreigners, the simmering tension between the two groups is likely to grow in the near future.
http://www.temasekreview.com/2010/0...t-immigrant-children-will-one-day-be-like-us/
Concerned at the rising tensions between native Singaporeans and foreigners, the “nation-building” press has been called into action again to sway public opinion back to the side of its political master.
In an extensive interview with the Straits Times, Home Affairs Minister Wong Kan Seng made a spirited defence of the PAP’s much maligned liberal immigration and pro-foreigner policies by using his life-story as an example.
Mr Wong recalled that his parents were poor immigrants from China too and life in the early years were tough for his family.
They eventually settled in Singapore and his parents became registered as Singapore citizens enabling them to vote in the 1959 elections which swept the PAP into power for the next fifty years.
Mr Wong pointed out that many of his classmates had parents born overseas and that not many Singaporeans can claim to have been here for more than five generations.
“Now, we feel foreigners who come here are intruding into our space. But we forget that that’s what our parents did before – intruding into the space of those who were here before them.We should remember that immigrant children will one day be like us,” he was quoted as saying in the Straits Times.
In 2003, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong announced his ambitious plan to increase Singapore’s population to 6.5 million people by 2030.
All of sudden, the floodgates were flunged open without proper screening and QC control, leading to Singapore being swarmed by foreigners from all over the world.
Foreigners now make up 36 percent of Singapore’s population, up from 14 percent in 1990. Of the remaining 64 percent who are citizens, an increasing number are born overseas.
A recent Wall Street Journal reported that the relentless influx of foreigners into Singapore over the years has depressed the wages of ordinary Singaporeans, increased the cost of living, especially that of public housing and led to an overall decline in the standards of living.
The Labor Report 2009 released this Monday showed that the wages of Singaporeans had declined by 3.2 percent last year while the price of resale HDB flats had grown by 8.2 percent with median Cash-over-Valuation doubling from $12,000 to $24,000 in the last quarter alone.
The Economist Unit ranked Singapore as the 53th best nation in the world to live in, below the likes of Croatia, Romania and Slovenia.
It is most disingenuous of Mr Wong to used the situation in the 1950s to justify Singapore’s immigration policies.
Singapore’s population was only slightly over a million people then and there was sufficient space and resources to accommodate more.
Besides, more than half the population were poor immigrants from China and India who did not expect much in life.
Today, Singapore is a developed country and the majority of its people regard themselves as Singapore citizens and not Chinese or Indian immigrants.
Singaporeans now expect much more from their country than their parents and grandparents.
It is the duty of the elected government of the day to take care of its own citizens first before welcoming more immigrants.
The root cause of public discontent against foreigners lie in the lack of social welfare benefits to the locals who are expected to compete directly with the cheaper foreign workers on an equal footing.
Furthermore, local-born Singapore males have to serve two years of National Service while the new citizens need not do so which will remain a sore point of contention.
Unless the PAP do more to level the playing field between citizens and foreigners, the simmering tension between the two groups is likely to grow in the near future.
