3 - The Politics of Immigration: Unpacking the Policies of the PAP Government and Opposition in Singapore

Summary

Introduction

In today's Singapore, immigration has become a highly politicized issue. This can be seen through a number of political “pathways”: the politics of depravation, the politics of race, the politics of authoritarianism and illiberal democracy, and – somewhat unforeseen – the politics of nationbuilding and national identity. These pathways came about primarily through the government's stance of adopting an open-door policy towards immigration. This was initiated without much fanfare – with the ruling People's Action Party (PAP) leaders announcing that the country needed and would benefit from an influx of “foreign talent.” Foreign talent became a euphemism for the trickle and eventual flood of immigrants entering Singapore, already one of most densely populated states in the world. The government argued consistently that there would be very obvious benefits for all Singaporeans in sharing the “little red dot” with incoming immigrants. This was despite the fact that the immigrants had little or no commonality with the bulk of Singaporeans or the “Singapore core” in terms of political experience, history, political culture, ethos, and most importantly, the sense of inter-racial, religious, and cultural harmony that had been meticulously put together since 1965 in creating “Singapore as a nation in being.”

Despite criticism and objections by various individuals and groups of Singaporeans, including some from the ruling party itself, the open-door policy continued uninhibited, justified now on the grounds that the country needed to sustain a population of 6.5 million people. The ruling party believed that the criticism and whatever little costs, political and otherwise, would be absorbed either through its constant expounding on the importance of attracting and retaining foreign talent or by simply ignoring the growing chorus of criticism by Singaporeans who were beginning to pay the price for the “march of PAP's folly on immigration.”

Between 2005 and 2009, there was a massive inflow of immigrants into Singapore, drastically changing the country's economic and social-cultural landscape. Mainly due to the negative fallout of this, the electorate and opposition parties have been increasingly vocal in raising objections to what was being undertaken by the ruling PAP; this led to what became known as the great immigration debate.