Foreigners in Singapore: a boon or a bane?
[Ed.'s notes: Olivia, our Y.O! blogger, gives us a youth perspective on the impact of foreigners on Singapore. Do we really need foreigners? Or can they actually help Singapore achieve new heights?]
Whilst many of us youth in Singapore may have already had considerable interaction with at least some foreigners amongst us, it is likely that many of us have not took time out to critically consider their contributions to our society. Are they really, according to some Singaporeans, simply here to procure our scarce job opportunities? Does their existence on our island-country benefit us in any way?
Well, in fact the answer is pretty clear. Yes and no. It is an undeniable fact that the foreigners who have forgone their own countries for greener pastures like ours, are here to look for jobs. However, it is certainly most unapt to label them as “the-ones-snatching-our-rice-bowls”. If you are one to have such an opinion, then you ought to be asking yourself the following questions: With increasing affluence in Singapore, would most Singaporeans be willing to take up menial work? Is hard work and knowledge enough to bring our economy forward in the Creative Economy of tomorrow?
The picture should be clear by now that foreigners do open up more avenues for us. Women are able to relieve some of their family burdens to look for more satisfying jobs. A boost of creative and out-of-the-box thinking can now ensure that Singapore grows from strength to strength amongst the superpowers and emerging economies of the world.
There is a simple reason behind the government’s persistence and belief in the power of foreign talent. As civic-minded Singaporeans, we should always be mindful of the greater benefits to the public and not have myopic views on national issues. As long as the foreigner numbers are capped at an appropriate percentage, we should be looking forward to a bright future ahead.
Contributed by Ong Xiu Hui Olivia, 18
Y.O! blogger
Thoughts expressed in the post are those of the author. NLB does not necessarily share or endorse the views of contributing writers. Minimal editing has been done to present the contribution in its original form as much as possible.
Agree or disagree with Olivia? Leave your comments or submit y.o!ur say to showteens@nlb.gov.sg
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This entry was posted on Friday, April 18th, 2008 at 2:54 pm and is filed under y.o!ur say. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
June 28th, 2009 at 3:54 pm
are you sure the foreigners are taking up menial work?
the issue is with the foreign students in our local universities and polytechnics. they are taking up job places of Singaporeans, especially so in the engineering and IT sector.
if this is not “snatching rice bowls”, i don’t know what to say. never mind that if you don’t accept that, let me bring you to the second point:
foreigners depress local wages.
you cant deny that. they come here in great numbers, and good old “supply and demand” theory will tell u that our local wages becomes cheaper.
employers can save on management costs by hiring foreigners, since most of them do not have their home and parents here, the latter are more than happy to accept a $500 pay cut.
what is an appropriate percentage?
my definition is that during times of crisis when these foreigners have all left Singapore, our economy and infrastructure can continue to function.
with foreigners ratio reaching 40%, do you think our country can continue functioning with 60% of the local workers?
an appropriate percentage would be 10% maximum, therefore we will need to remove 1 million out of 2 million foreigners here.
April 26th, 2010 at 4:16 pm
please understand that if menial work was being paid at a reasonable amount to afford for a family and have a home, do you think the regular singaporean would be shunning from it ?