The following is a comment posted on TOC by “Sg-PR” under the article, “Singapore’s declining birth rate” (Comment no. 25).
Singaporeans should stop blaming others and start taking responsibility for the prosperity of their country.
It’s really quite fascinating what Singaporeans believe the problem to be when it comes to foreigners and increasing the fertility rate. The ignorance displayed is amusing at the very least.
Firstly, PRs do NOT have it easy in this country. A lot of people come here because yes, the prospects here are better than in their home country but quite a number are people whose jobs have required them to transfer here for a long time or permanently. They work here and are required to contribute just as much to the country as every Singaporean citizen and yet they do not get the same benefits as Singaporeans. Education is still more expensive, healthcare is more expensive, they are denied many scholarships all because they are not Singaporeans.
Yet they do not complain not because they are happy of just leading a better life, but because they understand that there is a price to pay to enjoy the benefits of a country when you are not a citizen of that country.
Not every PR here has a rosy job or earns millions.
There are a significant number who are just normal middle-class people. Not all of them come here to just reap the benefits of the country and leave in the old age. Even if they do, it actually helps the Singaporean economy to have a greater working population but a smaller ageing population.
Secondly, Singaporeans seem to have a very stereotypical view on why foreigners or PRs are here. For heavens sakes open your eyes and think for more than a minute. For all its flaws the Singaporean government DOES take care of its people and its people are usually the main beneficiaries of any policy they come about. If there are more foreigners or PRs taking jobs here, it simply means that the Singaporeans are not taking up those jobs. Why would any government encourage foreigners to come and settle and work in a country if they have their own people to do the job and make the country prosper??
So obviously the case is that Singaporeans are not able to meet the market demand that the country needs to prosper and thus you need others to come in and help you do the job.
If you think because of this the education and the employment prospects of being in Singapore are more difficult for a Singaporean then just think. Singapore works on a meritocratic basis. One of its major strengths is that it treats people equally regardless of what your background is. So if foreigners do well in getting jobs and in school, it just means that Singaporeans are not working hard enough. Singaporeans do NOT have the drive and passion to succeed and excel like the foreigners do. DO NOT blame the foreigners or the government just because you can’t be bothered to work hard enough to get what you want. This is not a welfare state where the government will take care of you even if you don’t help yourself. Work for it and there is no reason why you should [not] be able to reap the benefits.
I can vouch for this personally being in a university and having both foreigners and Singaporeans as my very good friends. Singaporeans just DO NOT have the drive to achieve something like the foreigners have. So stop complaining that the presence of foreigners excelling everywhere and making it difficult for Singaporeans is not your fault. Simply put, it is.
Thirdly, Singaporeans should change their perception of PRs here. They are not ignorant about Singapore, they are not indifferent towards Singapore and they are not money- minded blood suckers just out here to make some money and go back. Coz like you mentioned, if they really are that good and they just cared about money they would have gone to [the] US. The fact that they are here and working in this country for this country means that they do have some form of vested interest here. Stop having such a bad opinion about them. They are no different from your other Singaporean friends who settle in other countries.
Fourthly, it’s funny how an article on increasing the population of Singapore turns into a foreigner-bashing session. The other major factor in the matter is that Singaporeans don’t even know the true cause of the problem their country is facing [and] the reason why the policies exist. People complain about over-population and lack of space in Singapore to do anything. But they don’t seem to understand that if Singaporeans don’t give birth to more children, this country is going to become an immigrant country. If you don’t have enough locals to sustain your economy and prosperity then obviously you WILL have to start depending on other people for that. If the fertility does not rise, the size of the Singaporean working population is going to drastically decrease while the ageing population will be large.
Singaporeans should stop blaming others and start taking responsibility for the prosperity of their country. If you don’t want foreigners to be here then make sure there is NO NEED for foreigners to sustain and prosper your economy. Make sure you have enough people and passion to do it yourself.
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