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Of "Real" Singaporeans, Foreign Talent and Workers
If you ask me, Singapore's society as a whole is maturing, social graces are by and large more visibly present nowadays. Hardly any inconsiderate fool talks loudly in a cinema, seldom do we see people spitting in the street, and smokers have been resigned to their fate of being banished to smoking in jungles 2,000km away from any built up area. (Just kidding on the last, of course.)
This I'm talking about, is referring to the "real" Singaporeans. At the risk of sounding xenophobic myself, I define "real Singaporeans" as those born and bred here, with parents that were born and bred here in our sunny island.
My reasoning for this is simple: Only people born and bred here with parents of the same status will fully embody the Singaporean-ness in them. This is in no small part due to the nurture factor of a person's upbringing. If one is not nurtured in a "100% Singaporean" upbringing, he or she is likely to have "foreign elements" present in his/her character. I shall not delve into further detail here.
There have been quite a few articles of late (spanning over the past year) over foreign talent (FT) and also on our dear foreign workers (FWs) - a general term for those who take up the "less desirable" jobs.
Having FT and FWs are no doubt essential to our economy, and also the cosmopolitan mix of our country. Firstly, Singapore has an ageing population, not unlike other developed countries, and possibly also a brain drain, especially with modern China being the next "USA in the early 1900s". The Singapore government has no doubt foreseen this problem long ago and relaxed our immigration policies in the past decade to welcome with open arms all available talent from all corners of the globe.
Can We Take More?
According to the official census count, our population increased 36,300 to almost 5 million over the course of 6 months, a 1.1% increase, and we are ranked one of the most densely populated territories in the world. Net live births was 22,604, which means about 14,000* "new" citizens (NCs) were integrated into our society since 2008.
I write with concern on the apparent inability and inflexibility of some of these foreigners to integrate smoothly with our society as I know it. As the old saying goes, "when in Rome, do as the Romans do". With the influx of these "new citizens", as well as the other non-Singaporean residents (NSRs for short), some of them have imposed their own lifestyles back home in our environment.
What I've observed increasingly, and also featured in the most recent Sunday Times, is the "fight" between car drivers and cyclists. I am all for cycling as a hobby, as a way to bond and also as a green way to get around, but apparently some of our dear foreign friends (nationalities of which I shall not mention) have taken things one step too far by riding as they would in their own home countries.
Examples of this kind of behaviour would include, riding out onto the middle of the lane and changing path without prior warning, not obeying traffic lights, going against the flow of traffic etc. And it doesn't help that Singapore's law apparently is skewed in favour of pedestrian and cyclist accident victims.
Other interesting elements are the increasing property prices, the crowded roads and the VERY crowded trains. (I shall not touch on the latter as I have discussed it before.) Property prices are shooting sky high, due to the scarcity of land and the ever-increasing population. Wasn't it not too long that our government proposed an eventual population of 6.5 million people on this island? I'm not entirely sure if the existing and future infrastructure can comfortably host this number of people.
How do we plug the gap?
Chatter inside popular forums reveal that there seems to be a rising tide of xenophobic attitudes towards our FT and FWs. Every time a newspaper reports about a foreigner's shocking behaviour, such as the incident some years back where the group of foreign workers who sprayed foam into a girl's eyes on a New Year's Eve party and then violated her, such xenophobic chatter increases. If this rises beyond a turning point, I am not sure if the very fragile fabric of multi-raciality, multi-religious, and multi-nationality of our society can withstand the onslaught of xenophobia.
Recent anecdotal stories have led me to believe that the authorities are tightening the immigration policies more, in view of the burgeoning population. I've just recently heard of a finance professional that got rejected for PR. This is truly astonishing given the prior seemingly lax attitude of our government towards recognizing "foreign talent", as well as the industry that particular individual was in.
However, I feel that more has to be done to encourage integration of existing NCs and NSRs into the Singapore culture. Whilst I do not expect every one in these two groups to be enthusiastic about the integration aspect, basic mannerisms (and quirks) of Singaporeans have to be learnt as compulsory "general knowledge" for their own good. This will better help them understand the Singaporean way of life, to protect our legacy for the children of the future, and finally to protect themselves.
Whilst the children of tomorrow are increasingly tuned to having foreign faces in their classes, it is my wish that we do not lose sight of who we are, and what we are made of. To be honest, I am proud of Singlish, as it is one of the uniquely Singaporean things. In fact, if one heads to Europe or any popular Singaporean holiday destination, the thing that gives a fellow Singaporean away is our accent. Oh yes, we do have an accent!
I shudder to think what will happen to this country if no proper care is taken to undertake the above.
*figure may be higher as census count is taken half-yearly.
Author's note:
This article may be offensive to those who have tried their level best to integrate into Singaporean society, but rest assured, I am not referring to you. I love my foreign friends, who have either chosen to take up PR and citizenship or not. It is not a matter of who, but more importantly, how many, and this forms the gist of the whole article.
