Singapore Needs Foreign Workers

Source : The Business Times, November 1, 2007

SOME Singaporeans want foreigners kept out of their neighbourhoods. It's hardly the first time that rants against foreigners - usually in private, when they occur - get a public airing. But to have the Prime Minister note that perhaps there is a growing 'unease' among some Singaporeans, and call for accommodation and understanding, says much about closed minds here.

Of course, Singaporeans aren't generally xenophobic. Neither is it only the more cosmopolitan, well-travelled Singaporeans with foreigner friends who aren't bigots about 'outsiders' in their midst. There are civic groups of Singaporeans who go out of their way to protect the interests of foreign domestic maids and other foreign workers.

And Singaporeans from all walks of life have responded when the plight of the needy and the calls for help tugged at the heartstrings, regardless of ethnicity or nationality. That said, the same cosmopolitan, professional (and pragmatic) Singaporean is apparently not above railing against foreigners for competing with locals for school places, university admissions, academic honours and, not least, jobs.

The citizens' privilege and priority - particularly in basic services and amenities -can and is to be expected. But if the right of entitlement spills over into a siege mentality about foreigners in their midst, it gets troubling.

Singaporeans who say they can put up with encountering the growing hordes of foreigners in the supermarkets, shopping malls or Botanic Gardens, but not in the void decks of their blocks of flats, come close. They should brace themselves: With the economy chugging along at near-8 per cent (likely higher) growth this year, and probably faring better than the current conservative 4-6 per cent official estimate in 2008, and with the labour market fully stretched out and unemployment back at record lows, they should expect to see even more foreigners in the foreseeable future.

Singaporeans in the heartlands may not be fully aware, but the Shenton Way set should know better: The main, if not quite only, reason why the Singapore economy has been able to grow so robustly in recent years - almost 8 per cent a year in the last three years - is a more liberal policy that has brought an influx of foreigners to town, across the skills spectrum. And whether Singapore lives up to its potential - which economists estimate has risen above trend range to 6-8 per cent growth over the next several years - hinges on, apart from a supportive growth environment, its ability to garner its share of foreign talent and skills.

The bankers and scientists that Singapore needs have no lack of choice. And if the building projects downtown stall for labour shortage, Singaporeans won't have to worry and whine about workers (aren't they housed in their own quarters?) mucking up their void decks.