Originally Posted by Rraymond Dubai and Singapore are totally different. 1 Dubai has 75 % foreigners who are totally different from locals in race and religion. 2 The economy is almost totally dependent on foreigners. The plum posts are given to Ang Mohs and locals. The locals are totally sleeping and useless. Without petrol dollars and help from other emirates, Dubai will just come to a standstill and collapse because no foreigners will come. The Indians and Filipinos will just go home and Dubai will become ghost towns. 3 Dubai segregates foreigners from locals and the gulf between the two peoples will never be bridged. 4 The beautiful shopping malls are white elephants. Singapore is different in every aspect. There is a policy to bridge foreigners and Singaporeans. Foreigners are invited to take up citizenship. Most foreigners are similar to Singaporeans. The superficial culture may be different but the deeper culture is the same. IN a single generation, differences will be smoothen over. This will be speedier if locals are able to feel secure financially and more flats are built and unhappiness properly managed.

Posted by: Poppyseed

1) The only difference is number. In Dubai 75% are foreigners and in Singapore 36%. Dubai may be extreme but for a country don’t you think it is a bit excessive? One out of three is foreigner?

2) Didn’t our PAP say we need foreigners to beef up the growth rate? And it is the growth number they are going after. At what point we are going to say enough is enough? I do not see your comparison has any relevancy to what we are talking here. I agree Singapore needs foreign talents and to retain them. But the point is Singapore does not need to behave like Santa Clause and hands out easy PR and citizenship.

3) I would say that is based on your own assumption.

4) Yes, Singapore has policy to bridge and that came after years of noises from people, realising many Singaporeans are unhappy too many people letting in in a very short time. By the way the integration program is only officially launch somewhere mid-2009.

Singapore has been giving PR like ice-cream to kids. My ex-colleague from China who worked for only 2-weeks seemed more concern about getting PR than anything else, as she was told it is easier to get PR in Singapore than other countries. So who are we attracting here? We attract good talent foreigners but unfortunately more low grade ones.

What do you expect Singaporean to behave when there is a surge of foreigners popping up in every neighbourhood? Should we open with wide arm and say “Welcome to Singapore and please make yourself at home. We shall tolerate and accommodate everything you do”. No citizens in the right mind would tolerate such liberal immigration policy in any country (perhaps in Dubai where it is ruled by Royal family), and the party would most likely be thrown out in the next election.

So I suppose based on your assumption we have to wait for a generation to smooth things out, rather than to solve the immediate issues like escalating costs of living, job security, health care, and the unhappiness of surging population that has changed the facets of Singapore in a very short period of time.

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