Immigrants_of_Singapore

Recently, “immigration” has become one of the most controversial topic among locals, be it online or on media like newspaper. Huge influx of immigrants and foreign workers from the past few years have resulted in a serious impact on the life of Singaporean, mainly economically and competition for resources becomes more intense. More and more Singaporeans raise concerns regarding the issue and are unsecured as they feel they are “second-citizen” in their own land. The immigrants consists of mainly workers who, in pursuit of a better life and a way of supporting their families in poverty, come to Singapore and willing to do anything to earn money, including working long hours, thus bringing down the entire payment and employment rate for Singaporeans. One very extreme and sentimental comment would be “because of the foreign workers, who are so cheap, the terms of employment for Singaporean are so terrible.”(ChannelNewAsia 2010) However, I feel that we could be more rational about this if we look on the bright side, the immigrants, not only bring along their unique culture but also directly boosting Singapore’s economy, the airlines’ flights increase, by living in Singapore, they contribute to the economy by spending money to buy necessity and patronizing restaurants or kopitam. The policy has overall benefitted the country as a whole, when Singapore companies can expand their businesses in other countries. For example, we have seen news announcing collaboration between China and Singapore. Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong just came back from China, Hunan, paving way for Singapore firms and expecting to join hand with Hunan in fields such as Education, science&technology, industry and urbanization.(ChannelNewsAsia2010) From personal view, I think that the policy of accepting more immigrants has overall positive affects in a sense that embracing national wide workers and students is a sign of showing welcome and a crucial process in turning Singapore to a more globalized city. Though many people voice their unhappiness and showing obvious hostility, there are also a significant number of people who manage to adapt or upgrade themselves in order to stay competence. This process of changing is inevitable because the government is unlikely to alter this policy such as bar the immigrants from coming. Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong is quoted as saying “in politics, trying to make everybody happy is ‘impossible’.” (ChannelNewsAsia).Being a democratic society does not mean issuing policies base solely on the opinions of its people as the leader will have to weigh and assess different factors before making the final decision. The government already made its position clear on this issue as from Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in this year’s National Day Rally, he appealed to the people of Singapore that foreign workers should not be looked down upon, as he stated Singaporeans are descendents of early immigrants too and that Singapore would not be what it is today without the immigrants’ painstaking efforts. Of course, he assured the welfare of Singaporeans will always be the top priority of the country. The problem can be solved as the Government promises to slow the rate of assimilating immigrants and stricter on the criteria of issuing PRs and Citizenship. The immigrants, on the other hand, have to play their part too in taking initiatives of contributing to the society and integrating into it with the precondition that they take the Singapore as home. The hot topic of immigration consequently led to the second issue which also happened lately. The Government encourages or rather invites more PRs to convert to citizens, if they refuse to do so, their PR status will not be renewed. (ChannelNewsAisa). The people who are more likely to get invited are those who have been here for 3 to 5 years or have benefitted from the society’s policy, such as education subsides. Through this move, the government is able to recognize those who is really sincere and keen to become part of Singapore instead of the old criteria base on the applicant’s wage and how long they have been here. This policy is very innovative and effective, in the sense that it becomes a push factor for the PRs to stop hesitating and take up citizenship. They must not necessarily be here for like 10 or 20 years to become a citizen, they should be welcomed to join in even if they only become PRs for a few years. Although such move may be perceived by some as “unreasonable” or rather forcing them, it is indeed an opportunity to make decisions for them and prevent them from enjoying privileges from Government in Singapore and in their homeland. However, most of the immigrants, who only came to Singapore at the age ranging between 17 to 40, were not meant to “sink root” in Singapore as they were still loyal to their homeland, thus, some people simply accept such invitation for the sake of getting privileges otherwise they would bear much more costs than they are paying now. But if standing on their point of view, they should not be blamed as money is essential in a materialistic society and it is understanding although motivating them with money is a bit different from the government’s original purpose, which is rather hoping them to lead a life in Singapore and so do their next generations. In addition, I think such act faces problem like integration. Due to different races, religious, histories and even the language spoken, when dealing with locals, immigrants will treat them as “foreign” too, thus unable to communicate and being true to one and another and this leads the immigrants to stick to their own circle of friends who come from the same country and will never fully achieve integration. Activities can be organized within community and invite the residents and the immigrants to mingle and they will definitely find out that they share much more common interest or even life values despite the fact that they are raised in different countries. Immigrants should be encouraged to take the first step and make friends here instead of staying in their comfort zone. The third issue that is being talked about here will be the inflation of HDB price. The sudden increase in the value of states partially caused by the PRs, who are willing to buy the house at any price the owner states shortly after gotten their status. The other reason is the effect of external force and the improved economy of Singapore. When people’s wealth increases, they can then afford more expensive houses. The prices of HDB has risen incredibly and in a amazing speed, some can even rise in a few days or overnight, evidence can be found in the load of estate advertisement slip that can be found in the mailbox almost every day. For example, the estates in Aljunied has increased 15% between 2008 to now with the increase in cash-over-valuation (COV) prices too. This scares away many buyers and I think it is rather unfair, as I believe everybody should have a permanent roof over their head, instead of renting rooms and worrying when the landlord will raise the rent However, it is a relief to hear that the Government decided to step in lately and control or “cool” down the market prices. These measures include banning the owner from owing both private property and HDB flat, for HDB flat is meant to serve the sole purpose of home to its inhabitants. PRs will have to sell their overseas property within six months of buying a HDB flat.(ChannelNewsAsia) Such measure will calm the buyer down and make them think twice before buying in Singapore, depending on where they want to base permanently, thus sifting out the people who are really in need of a house and not to use it as investment purpose. In conclusion, any measure taken by government has its pros and coins. It is comparative easy to implement new practices in Singapore, if comparing to countries like China and US. Any change is immediately felt and the government is able to manipulate what changes it should make as there have been quite a number of new policies issued or altered in order to tackle the problems mentioned above. Refernce: CHANNELNEWSASIA “Malaysians think twice about settling in Singapore in wake of recent property measurs.” Retrieved from http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/1080711/1/.html On 16 September 2010 CHANNELNEWSASIA “HDB prices likely to rise if selected for lift upgrading” Retrieved from http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/442336/1/.html On 16 September 2010