While I agree that Singapore might have to depend incrementally more on immigration to compensate for the impact of an ageing population and falling fertility rate, I find Ms Corinna Lim’s suggestion that Singapore should “de-emphasise the need to maintain its current racial composition” an oversimplification of a complex issue (Review immigration policy, S’pore’s Plan B for a plunging fertility rate, March 6).
In support of her call for Singapore to offer citizenship and permanent residency to a wider range of immigrants based on their potential contribution regardless of ethnicity, the Aware executive director highlighted attributes such as embracing diversity, becoming a more inclusive society and promoting cross-cultural understanding.
While I agree these are desirable attributes, we must also be mindful of the potentially harmful unintended consequences if we allow future immigrant inflows to progressively alter Singapore’s long-prevailing ethnic mix of the citizen population, which as at June 2023 comprised 75.6 per cent Chinese, 15.1 per cent Malays, 7.6 per cent Indians and 1.7 per cent Others.
Therefore, we must examine several critical issues raised by Ms Lim’s suggestion. This is particularly important because the delicate racial balance, if altered sufficiently, is likely to be irreversible and Singapore and its citizens will have to live with the consequences.
Will we unwittingly undermine our social cohesion, racial and religious harmony and the uniquely Singaporean multicultural and multilingual identity which is our nation’s pride and competitive strength?
How can we ensure that we will be able to avert or manage any potential backlash from unhappy native Singaporeans, who might use their votes to disrupt our political stability?
Will our hard-earned success and reputation be jeopardised or threatened by potential political and social upheavals?
Perhaps, we should learn from the experiences of countries such as Britain, Sweden, France, Germany and Italy, which have been facing violent backlash and protests from their native citizens as their population profiles have been materially transformed by decades of inflows of immigrants of different ethnic, religious, linguistic and cultural backgrounds.
These countries have discovered that their immigrant citizens have been unable or unwilling to assimilate into mainstream society and are living a separate existence, causing an uneasy divide between them and native citizens.
The predicaments faced by these countries show we should be retaining our immigration policies. We certainly should not be solving one problem and creating an even bigger insurmountable one.
Ang Ah Lay
