TODAYonline

'Open your hearts'

Singaporeans urged to welcome new immigrants as numbers hit new high

Tan Hui Leng
huileng@mediacorp.com.sg

SINGAPORE welcomed 63,600 Permanent Residents (PRs) and 17,300 new citizens last year — in total, nearly 15,000 more than the average combined number of PRs and new citizenships granted each year since immigration criteria were broadened in 2004.

By comparison, just 760 more babies were born last year than the year before, a figure "far" from raising Singapore's total fertility rate to replacement level.

As such, said Deputy Prime Minister Wong Kan Seng in rebutting suggestions that the rate of immigration was too fast and unrealistic, depending on homegrown citizens to meet our manpower needs was not enough.

Case in point: Last year, when 236,000 jobs were created, many companies, such as those in finance and business, had to turn to foreigners to meet the shortfall even as locals filled most of the jobs.

"A number of business and investment opportunities have passed us by, simply because we are facing such an acute shortage of manpower and office space. Once lost, these businesses and opportunities may not come back," said Mr Wong.

He was responding to concerns raised by seven parliamentarians about the influx of immigrants and the problems of integration.

On worries about whether the country could cope with a larger population, Mr Wong clarified that contrary to popular belief, there was no 6.5 million "population target" — this figure was a planning parameter.

He added the assurance that with "creative planning and technology", the island could accommodate larger numbers "without compromising the quality of our living environment".

But even as he stressed that Singaporeans must remain the core of the population — unlike some Middle Eastern countries where non-resident foreigners outnumber the indigenous residents — Mr Wong urged Singaporeans to open their "doors, minds and hearts" to new immigrants, who are key to the country's long-term prosperity.

With the intense global competition, he noted: "Whether we like it or not, those who are capable and talented will go to places with better opportunities and where they feel welcomed.

"If Singapore does not welcome them, they will simply look elsewhere and they will then compete against us."

Former Malaysian and new Singaporean Maria Chin, who has been living here since 2001, has generally had no problems fitting in. Nevertheless, she told Today, some Singaporeans have voiced their disdain for foreigners to her, not knowing she was an immigrant.

"They seem to think that foreigners are taking away their jobs and that they have a motive for joining grassroots work," said the 44-year-old purchasing officer who is herself the assistant treasurer of a Residents' Committee in Sembawang.

There are some 900 PRs who volunteer as grassroots leaders islandwide — many, like Mdm Chin, who interact with new immigrants and encourage them to embrace the local culture and community.

But Mr Wong acknowledged that integration would take time, even as it should be encouraged "in schools, at the workplace, in the neighbourhood and the larger community".

Steps are already being taken. The Education Ministry recently set up a unit to enhance the integration process in schools. Accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers has been cited for programmes to familiarise foreign staff with the local culture.

And the People's Association will soon introduce a host family programme, where foreigners are paired with local families.

The Government is also not neglecting overseas Singaporeans. Following the success of the inaugural Singapore Day in New York last April, at which 6,000 Singaporeans turned up, the second such event will be held in Melbourne this October.