Opinion | High time for a Hongkongers-first policy
Zuraidah Ibrahim says local officials wringing their hands over people’s discontent with ‘mainlandisation’ would do better to start addressing their grievances – first by meeting their practical needs in housing and jobs
Imagine seeing your city invaded by outsiders whose accent grates on you because it sounds so alien. After arriving at a certain quality of life, imagine suddenly facing neighbours who talk too loudly and think nothing of cutting queues.
Your child spends all her time on tuition and schoolwork, but is still beaten by a foreign kid who didn’t know a word of English when he arrived. And his parent seems to be beating you to the best jobs. You feel like a second-class citizen in your own city.
Hong Kong? No, that’s Singapore.
Such were the prevailing sentiments among Singaporeans in the late 2000s. The government, with its eyes on economic growth, had opened the doors widely to immigrants, mainly from China but also from South Asia and elsewhere. As a result, 40 per cent of the population came to be made up of non-citizens – one of the highest proportions in the world.
Immigration was the No 1 issue in the 2011 general election and the ruling party fared worse than in any other post-independence poll.
READ MORE: As Singapore prepares for election, immigration remains key issue
