By by Augustine Low
New citizens are given the red carpet welcome. They now carry the Singapore passport and belong to the country they consider the land of milk and honey.
What’s not to be happy about?
New citizens enjoy facilities and infrastructure that born and bred citizens spent decades toiling and paying taxes for.
They can try and can get along with born and bred citizens or they can choose to confine themselves to their enclave of like-minded new citizens who prefer like-minded activities.
And should they happen be among those identified as “foreign talents”, they are surely entitled to be a little swell-headed. To be singled out as a foreign talent, imported to help grow the country’s economy, that’s a very big deal.
Who’s to argue that they are indeed not better off than many born and bred citizens?
We were told in Parliament recently that last year, Singapore granted 23,100 new citizenships, with 1,300 going to children born overseas to Singaporean parents.
On average, 3,400 new citizens go through national service each year, Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen said in Parliament last August. So it is clear that the majority of male new citizens do not have to go through a rite of passage born and bred male citizens go through.
Safe to say, new citizens have it good in this country.
To whom do they owe their allegiance?
Unless they are stupid or ignorant, they know that there are many critics of the government’s welcoming embrace of foreigners. They also know that on this issue, the Opposition has raised many questions.
Is there any chance that new citizens will give their support and vote to the Opposition?
Conventional wisdom says no chance in hell.
Singapore’s low fertility rate can turn out to be a blessing for the People’s Action Party (PAP). It gives them the excuse and the opportunity to welcome more new citizens each year.
At the rate of 23,000 new citizens a year, there will be hundreds of thousands in 10, 20, 30 years. The numbers keep rising.
New citizens are a godsend to the PAP. New citizens will always have the back of the PAP.