Exploring this becomes more pertinent at a time when social mobility is slowing
By Zuraidah Ibrahim, The Sunday Times, 3 Mar 2013
Among the questions at the heart of the recent, wrenching debate on the Population White Paper was what it means to be a Singaporean.
There is a tension between the idea that Singaporeans must be bonafide born-and-bred or at the very least have gone through some rite of passage here like school or national service, and the more expansive view that citizenship is fluid and newer arrivals should be given the chance to become full members of this society.
Those who hold the latter position point out that we are all descendants of immigrants. Despite this fact, immigration provokes deep anxiety among many Singaporeans. This is rarely due to any animosity towards foreigners at a personal, one-to-one level. The unease is over the sheer numbers.
Whether it is when taking the train or bus at certain hours, or walking through parts of the city at lunchtime, Singaporeans can feel overwhelmed and hemmed in. This identity crisis is over and above the tangible, practical costs of living in a city whose infrastructure is under strain and where competition for jobs and affordable homes has been intense.
Even if we accept at the policy level that Singapore needs large numbers of workers and professionals from abroad, a sense of our nationhood being under threat emerges whenever Singaporeans talk among ourselves about the impact of recent immigration.
Beneath that anxiety is not so much a fear of difference as such. After all, we are used to sharing space with countrymen from different language, ethnic and religious groups. Perhaps, it is instead the suspicion that many new immigrants lack an equivalent commitment to want to belong. Granted, assimilation takes time, but they may not even want to try.
This, too, is nothing new. Every generation of Singaporeans has included those who chose to return to their motherlands, or to emigrate to new homes in Australia, Canada and elsewhere. Indeed, in the mid-1990s, Singapore was seized by a great emigration debate over "stayers" and "quitters". However, even at its peak, there was never a sense that Singaporean "quitters" were numerous enough to change the society they left behind.
It has been much harder for Singaporeans to accept the many foreign-born residents who make clear that this place is just one of several options in their life plans. New citizens have been known to be candid about saying that while Singapore is fine for now, if their children get to study and live in the United States, they do not rule out moving there either. Multiplied manifold, such attitudes risk changing the culture of Singapore, from home to hotel.
Will the tenor of the conversation on foreigners change? Probably not for a long time, and especially not if many of them with such attitudes continue to be in the face of the average Singaporean, feeding his sense of anxiety and insecurity. Making life more comfortable through better transport and housing options will alleviate the practical problems associated with a growing population, but it will not relieve Singaporeans of the current struggle over identity.
This issue becomes more pertinent with Singaporeans themselves divided, between heartlanders dependent on opportunities here, and those at the upper end who can uproot and move to other cities. As babyboomers exit the workforce, more may ponder whether to stretch their retirement savings by settling somewhere with a lower cost of living. From the individual economic standpoint, such decisions may make sense but there may be a collective cost to Singaporeans' sense of home.
Also unresolved is how a more contested and plural politics will fit into our sense of Singaporeanness. Opponents of the Government have been pushing home the idea that there is no contradiction between being critical of the People's Action Party and being a loyal Singaporean. Singing the National Anthem and reciting the Pledge are now part and parcel of dissent. Singaporeans are sensitive to any perception that the Government values foreigners who don't know a thing about Singapore society more than born-and-bred Singaporeans who care enough about this place to stand up for what they believe.
Exploring what it means to be a Singaporean is also more pertinent at a time when society is fragmenting into different classes and social mobility is slowing. Singapore policymakers have always feared a culture of entitlement that might creep in with excessive handouts. But at the other end of the spectrum, precisely because social spending will have to rise, there may be a creeping sense of entitlement of another kind - those who believe that they have made it on their own steam feel entitled that their children deserve a decisive head start, and not worry about less privileged children.
There is yet another sense of entitlement that besieges many other societies too. Political scientist Engin F. Isin wrote about the rise of the "neurotic citizen", a person driven by fear, insecurity and the unrealistic belief that the government can fix it all. That citizen, he said, is so afflicted by a sense of entitlement that he believes it is a matter of justice that nothing adverse should ever happen to him. "The neurotic citizen is thrown into chronic discontent."
These are issues that will be with us for a while yet. Of course, it is important not to exaggerate this sense of angst. Many Singaporeans, with good reason, do not feel the place is broken. There is full employment and a government that is not blind to people's problems - as evidenced by last week's Budget statement. Young people continue to strive to educate and equip themselves, not having lost hope in the future.
Separate from these pragmatic issues, though, Singaporeans must deal with their current identity conundrum. Increasingly, we are being confronted by this question of our place in this society. We would need to make up our minds about what it is we want to protect and build.
I have my own small list: Our multiracial fabric must be preserved at all costs and, with it, freedom of religion and association; an abiding conviction that if you work hard, you can make a decent life for yourself; the disadvantaged will never be left behind and we will carry them along; that those who hold different political beliefs and views from you, unless they espouse violence, deserve their place at the table; that we are not a small-hearted, small-minded people; and that in all of us is a quiet but true acceptance of difference.
After all, only when we are sure of who we are can we expect immigrants to adapt to their new homes.
What does being a Singaporean mean to you?
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