Comments, opinions and an occasional ramble
It’s not just the jobs
The all-time favourite complaint about a liberal immigration policy is that foreign talents deprive “local” Singaporeans of their jobs. Actually, I think there’s another big problem brought about a liberal immigration policy in Singapore and that the preservation of the current political hegemony enjoyed by the PAP (of course, I don’t think the PAP would think it’s a problem).
It is my observation that people who migrate to Singapore love the PAP. Many of these migrants come from countries where the government is rife with corruption, low security levels and poor general infrastructure. For these people, Singapore is like paradise on earth.
For this people, it is probably not worth quibbling about ideals such as liberal democracy. These are not pragmatic things. Good paying jobs and stable living environment are more important. I do think that most recent immigrants are pragmatic people who do not mind exchanging some personal “rights” to live in “paradise”.
And, Singapore is aiming at an eventual 6.5 million population, which is a huge jump from the current 4 million. Bulk of the increase would be due to immigration. And I am sure the immigrants will not want to rock the boat. They will be staunch PAP supporters, just as many of the generation before me are.
Even if the PAP is having flagging support from those of my generation, it doesn’t really matter. Elections is about numbers. We have a declining birth rate. Even if my generation and those after my generation are not staunch supporters of the PAP, our numbers will be dwarfed by the immigrants.
For those who think the Internet will bring about political change, I don’t mean to be a wet blanket. It’s just that reality bites, and it bites hard.
| Print article | This entry was posted by Aaron Ng on 31/10/2007 at 9:33 am, and is filed under Perspective. Follow any responses to this post through RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site. |
about 2 years ago
Aaron,
Interesting post but might it be too simplistic to assume such a linear relationship between high immigration rates and political support for the PAP?
The relationship between new immigrants and PAP’s political power appears to be an easy equation along the lines you have argued. For example, one of the NMPs who is a new immigrant appears to be one of the most pro government NMP amongst his peers.
Yet history provides us with a much more complex view between immigrations and political power. Second wave immigrants from Ireland coming to the United States did not necessary back candidates who were Irish in elections. Fast Forwarding more than a hundred year, a new Indian-American candidate was elected as a conservative republican in Louisiana, bucking the conventions that an ethnic minority/new immigrant would support the Democrats. In addition, even new immigrants to the United States do not always support the party that have pro-immigration policies. According to the Pew Hispanic Center report in 2002, I quote:
“More than six in ten Latinos who plan to become U.S. citizens are not aligned with either Democrats or Republicans: 35% report that they are Independents; 10% say something else, and 18% say they do not know their party affiliation.”
Moreover,new immigrants from less developed countries n the United Kingdom do not always support the Labor government.
In addition, should we not consider the origins of these new immigrants, and how their democratic experiences can teach Singaporeans? For example, when the Burmese recently expressed their views on what happened in Burma, were they not courageous enough to sign petitions and wear T-shirts to express their outrage despite the government wanting to channel them to “approved” channels?
It might be really unfair to paint new Chinese, Vietnamese or Indian immigrants to Singapore as politically apathetic. My experience talking to them suggests the complete opposite – more of them know about Singapore politics and society than Singaporeans themselves! They are able to think in a less naive fashion, perhaps as a result of their nuanced thinking in their in your words, “corruption, low security levels and poor general infrastructure” countries. More importantly, I think new immigrants enrich Singapore politics by providing fresh insights and innovative ideas into our society, just as immigrants are doing to politics in the United States. At the very least, they help us to clarify what it means to be a Singaporean.
Lastly, would restricting immigration limit PAP’s hegemony in Singapore by changing the minds of the constructed notions of being a “Singaporean”? Even if we stop immigration tomorrow, are Singaporeans going to suddenly switch to supporting alternatives because of less immigrants? How in any way is political allegiance contingent on immigration levels?
about 2 years ago
Wayne,
I totally agree with you that I have painted a very linear model. I didn’t mean to imply a linear model but rather, it’s a pessimistic view. I don’t disagree that new immigrants are politically aware, but I do have my reservations as to whether that awareness will translate into action. This is of course based on the assumption that they came here in the first place because they are agreeable to the political status quo and that it’s not in their interest to disrupt this status quo. Your views are as valid as mine, if not more. Our divergence is probably due to differences in assumption and I think only time can tell which perspective is correct. Thanks for bringing out the other side of the story for balance, though.
about 2 years ago
hey, i remember something i heard from one sociology lecturer who touched on this topic. singapore may be bringing in foreign talent, but singapore citizens fear this affects their job prospects. this is not really the case. but still, the fear is there.
i think it’s not about subverting the government or what. what matters is making sure this is a “singaporeans first” country.
some say that we should channel the resources pumped into foreigners back to singaporeans. but ultimately, we need foreign talent to develop local capabilities, to an extent. (capabilities also include making babies)
about 2 years ago
Everyone,
I posted this these some time back. There is no point doing country comparisons on very narrow aspects…we are better than some countries when it comes to jobs, lose out on cars & housing etc etc.
The best way to see how good one country is vs another is to look a relative migration. Where are our immigrants coming from? Vietnam, Burma, Malaysia, China, India. Where are our people emigrating going to? Australia, USA, England, Germany, NZ…etc. Just like water flow from high to low point, people will move from a bad place to a better place.
What Aaron said is correct. When immigrants choose to settle in Singapore, it is because Singapore is better than their home country by a big margin. Why else would they choose to come here? Since Singapore is much better they will almost vote for the PAP by default.
If you force an American to be a Singapore citizen, he won’t be too happy with the govt.
So to see how Singapore can improve simply look at where our citizens are emigrating to. To see who is worse than us, see where people are coming from.
The PAP pride itself that people want to come to Singapore but how many British, Americans, Finnish people are rushing to come here?
about 2 years ago
I kinda of agree with ‘Lucky Tan’.
Some time back, I was conducting an interview with a Chinese, who can speak and write fantastic English.
My first question to her was…. why Singapore?
Her reply,” In fact, Singapore was the last country on my mind… I tried Australia, UK, States, New Zealand and even Canada but they declined my application. So I decided to try for Singapore and I got it.”
So the conclusion I got was ………. Singapore its the easiest place to get PR status?
My humble thoughts
about 2 years ago
Ah Aaron, have you tried talking to those people?
You forget 1) many of these countries are by far more liberal than Singapore in the political arena compared to Singapore. Do you really want to compare the state of democracy in India to Singapore? Singapore is far from being a shining bastion of democracy to these people. 2) the kind of migrants Singapore want are mobile, white-collared university educated professionals. They tend to be on the liberal side of politics. 3) If you look around, the countries they come are in the process of further liberalizing. Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia… they may not be Sweden or Denmark but they don’t intend to stay like this forever. 4) Generally, infrastructure is improving rapidly back in where they come from.
In short, the status quo won’t last and there are many exciting things happening back in their home countries, both politically and economically. Those who can see it want a piece of that pie. Even *I* want a piece of that pie
.
Another note: I don’t know about immigrants in general, but most foreign students I know do not consider their own countries as–
experiencing corruption, having low security levels or poor general infrastructure. It’s the Singaporeans who have this exaggerated caricature of what that their countries are like; they get really confused, amused and/or offended when Singaporeans say things like that regarding their country.
As an aside, most of the foreign students I know have never been robbed before or had their houses burgled and they don’t know anyone who has. OTOH, I personally know someone who had been robbed and assaulted at knife-point in HER flat in Singapore before. Crime happens, yes, but below a certain level it’s just something that happens to other people you don’t know.
about 2 years ago
size matter lah. good good manage so what? grow so many people hor, sian lah. no can breathe, everybody fart here and there, smelly mah.
but garbermen ambitious leh. pressure people upgrade and work long long. wait cannot tahan, become mental how leh?
time to revive regional center again lah. now hor, not only grow many people, but car also want to grow. how can like that so small size.
since they want grow so many people and cars, maybe time to decentralize or mobilize companies and workers to regional centers as many as possible lor.
that way, erp wont grow to $50 per entry so soon and the older generation can still enjoy a bit of paradise before they realize we actually a colony of parasai lah.
about 2 years ago
Indeed, we shine when compared to many of our neighbours. But you don’t have to travel halfway around the world to see and experience much better quality of life and a more reasonable cost of living.
Now that the ST Forum carries mild criticism of some aspects of life in Singapore, it seems like we are behind the 8 ball in some ways. Top down management without proper follow up and supervision is the bane here like many other places – and this is exacerbated with a sense of superiority (I can’t imagine why).
about 2 years ago
In part, this is also due to inherent weaknesses in the democracy model, the involvement of foreign immigration isn’t even necessary. Democracy is about representing the majority, and the incumbent will not hesistate to exploit this to their advantage. If all it takes is to take care of the interests of 60% of the electorate in order to garner their votes, the other 40% can be completely ignored.