Sparks fly in Singapore

Sparks fly in Singapore:

Every Saturday in the run-up to Singapore’s national day on August 9 the government stages a test run that might as well be the real thing. An armada of gunboats fire shots from the river, fighter jets scream through the sky, dodging the city-state’s downtown high rises. Inside a stadium flanking the bay across from the dazzling Marina Bay Sands hotel and casino dancers and musicians twirl around a stage heavy with lighting.
When the full fireworks and laser light display are included the bill for this weekly practice is likely to come to millions of dollars – a small price to pay to boost national spirit at a time when Singapore is struggling with an influx of foreigners and the anti-foreign sentiment that comes with it.

Thanks to a liberal immigration policy that sought to bulk up a flagging population, Singapore has seen nearly a million outsiders move to the country over the past decade. Many of the newcomers are native Chinese, who Singaporeans blame for being ill mannered, rude and driving up prices of already expensive property.
Tensions have been bubbling, but the real trigger came in May, when a wealthy, young Chinese businessman plowed his Ferrari into a taxi, killing himself, the taxi driver and his passenger.
A recent New York Times article that was re-posted across the Internet, drew some strong responses.
“Integration with foreigners is being forced down our throats as we speak,” read a comment on a website dubbed “the voice of Singaporeans for Singapore. “We are classed together with PRs [permanent residents] …Soon the term “tanah aku” (my homeland) will disappear.”

The government has been taking measures to curb the flow of immigrants, announcing in mid-July new measures that would prevent low-income earners from bringing in their families.
The aim is to raise the caliber of foreigner who settles in the country, say officials. But the debate among Singaporeans wobbles. Some say low-skilled workers are needed to take the jobs that they don’t want to do. Indonesian maids are fine, and Indian construction workers. But it’s the Chinese that draw real ire. Many point to the Ferrari incident to show that even high-paying jobs are being snapped up by foreigners.

The challenge, however, is that Singapore’s ties to China run deep, and much of the population is already ethnic Chinese. During a recent visit my Indonesian friends working in Singapore said they often felt left out because they didn’t know Mandarin – the default language for office gossip.
Singaporean friends of mixed Malay or Indian origin say they often feel unwelcome in their own country. Discriminatory laws that single out these minority groups have created a different set of social tensions and stoked painful stereotypes about them being lazy or uneducated.

There are those who reject any such divisions, and many Singaporeans have a diverse group of friends that includes minorities and foreigners.
But the vitriol is rising, and for a country founded on stability there is nothing more worrisome.