Singapore still a work in progress

As Singapore celebrated its 45th National Day yesterday, public resentment continues to rise against the newcomers, threatening to rupture the social fabric of this multi-racial, overcrowded island, writes SEAH CHIANG NEE.

IS Singapore a country or just a global city? Non-legally speaking, of course!
As its five million residents marked the republic’s 45th National Day yesterday, the question remains very much alive in the wake of the huge influx of foreigners.
During the past 10 years, one million foreigners have arrived, which has helped to create a stronger economy, but also diluted the proportion of local-born Singaporeans.
This was on top of another one million arrivals in the previous decade, most of them temporarily.
Except for some 20,000 a year who became citizens, the two million arrivals since 1990 have formed a big shifting, transient population that comes and goes – not an ideal ingredient for nation-building.
Yesterday, many non-Singaporeans joined the locals to watch the parade and fireworks.
A few representatives from each major country took part in the march-past.
The country or city question has been popping up more often with the increase in the foreign presence.
The total foreign element of the population is 36% (and still counting) and locals are becoming increasingly worried about its potential impact on national identity.
A recent think tank survey found that the majority of Singaporeans, while understanding why foreigners are needed, believe the vast number of arrivals would weaken unity.
Almost two out of every three Singaporeans felt the policy would weaken Singaporeans’ feelings as “one nation, one people”, the Institute of Policy Studies (IPS), after interviewing about 2,000 people, said.
This was a huge jump from the 38% who felt the same way in an earlier survey done in 1998, a strong indication of spreading public concern.
However, the study found that loyalty and pride remained stable.
The dilution of the Singaporean population content is causing long-term concerns about its defence, which rests on the shoulders of young Singaporean males.
From age 18, they have to serve compulsory military training for two years before becoming part of a reservist army that will serve as front-line troops in the event of hostilities.
Foreigners are exempted from national service as are permanent residents; but their sons have to serve.
Even before the immigration wave hit its shores, the question of whether Singapore was a country or just a global city was occasionally cropping up.
The earlier anxiety was caused by the country’s limited size and vulnerability.
It also depended heavily on the outside world.
Last year, the controversy was rekindled by law minister K. Shanmugam, in a speech in the United States, when he was defending Singapore’s dominant one-party system.
Critics, he said, were unfairly judging Singapore’s political system as a country, rather than as a city like New York.
“This is where most people make a mistake,” he said.
“I have tried to explain that we are different.
“We are a city. We are not a country.”
It created a furore among young Singaporeans who were proud of their city state, especially a number of servicemen, past and present.
They were livid.
At about the same time, minister mentor Lee Kuan Yew also touched on the issue, but in a different context, when he said Singapore was still a work-in-progress when it came to nationhood.
“Are we a nation yet?
“I will not say we are. We’re in transition,” Lee said.

*Seah Chiang Nee is a former newspaper editor in Singapore. He now writes a weekly column for The Star in Malaysia.