PM Lee worried about the growing divide....
"Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on Wednesday identified two worrying trends he sees in Singapore, warning that they stand in the way of a cohesive community.
One is a possible growing divide between Singaporeans and new arrivals, whether new citizens, permanent residents or foreign workers." - Straits Times, 5 April 2012[Link]
Having been to many countries, I believe Singaporeans are among the most tolerant people in the world when it comes to immigration. When immigration was at a reasonable level, Singaporeans readily accepted people from various countries in our schools and workplace. Singaporeans welcome diversity and we are after all children of immigrants who came here many years ago.
Our positive feeling towards immigration turned negative in recent years because the PAP govt expanded the influx to a ridiculous level perhaps the among highest rate per capita in the world and many Singaporeans felt directly the negative effects of what the PAP has been doing - public transport became overcrowded, home prices escalated, structural unemployment became severe and wages of a large segment of the Singaporean workforce depressed. When the PAP govt implemented its policy, they were not very transparent and open about it. We were told the foreigners were here to create jobs for us. We were told they are here only to do jobs that Singaporeans did not want or are unable to take up. The PAP govt also implemented extensive scholarship schemes for foreigners that are not available to Singaporeans at the same scale and the actual numbers came to light only after persistent questioning by opposition MPs in parliament. In short, the PAP did what it wanted to do to meet various objectives, but did not seek the acceptance of Singaporeans for these policies.
It is hard to pin-point the day and time when certain thresholds were crossed but the extremely high foreign influx reached a point where people became suspicious and angry with these policies. Singaporeans in general do not harbor animosity and bitterness towards foreign individuals. - they are here to seek a better life for themselves and their families....and many Singaporeans would do the same if they were in their shoes. However, certain ungraceful behavior and ugly events involving foreigners can become outlets for the anger Singaporeans feel towards PAP policy. There is plenty of anger right now just waiting for something to happen to be let out. We cannot misinterpret the vitriol on the Internet as animosity towards foreigners because the underlying source of unhappiness is govt policies.
I cannot think of another nation of people who would take such a large foreign influx with less resistance than Singaporeans - just look at what happened in Hong Kong where people took to the streets many times over the govt immigration policies. We are good people who have been pushed too far to the edge by bad policies.
If PM Lee is worried about the divide, he should look not at Singaporeans but at the policies his govt has pursued in the last 10 years and how they have gone about doing it.
http://singaporemind.blogspot.com/2012/04/pm-lee-worried-about-growing-divide.html
