It is short-sighted to treat permanent residents (PRs) as expendable commodities.
Under past policies, many foreigners became PRs to meet short-term goals. This resulted in a large mixed bag that included people who did not even bother to come here and others who used the system to their own benefit. This left many Singaporeans with a bad feeling about PRs.
The best of PRs are not “foreigners”. The resident PR is gainfully employed (often in jobs Singaporeans shun), pays the same taxes, contributes to the Central Provident Fund, and his children do national service.
Hong Kong’s approach to permanent residence is instructive.
There, foreigners can apply for permanent residence only after seven years of living there. This weeds out those who are simultaneously applying for residency in other countries.
Many PRs in Hong Kong are very different from the locals. Yet the Hong Kongers accept them as “one of their own”.
As a result of successfully integrating PRs into society, customer service levels are high, the quality of public debate is mature, and the robust character of an international city rubs off on the locals.
Singapore has to learn to become a more confident society, where the opinions of everyone count towards building a better country. To be wary of its own PRs is to be afraid of its own shadow.
Emmanuel Daniel
*Article first appeared in ST Forum (11 Sep).