A Multi-National Singapore

To me, news on the 2011 General Election in Singapore read like a watershed for the ruling PAP party. Substantial votes and support among Singaporeans were lost to the opposition. In the weeks that ran up to the Election, sentiments ran high. There was much chatter on the internet offering view points and arguments about the government. As a Singaporean living overseas, I have always been proud of my motherland, which has in recent years, risen up to be an economical power house and a world famous location. But somehow some of my friends back home do not share my sentiments. Among friends, there seems to be a deep discontent of the current situation in Singapore.

Right on top of their list of grievances is the foreigner situation. A friend of mine complained about how the influx of ‘Foreign Talents’ (FTs) has taken away jobs from many Singaporeans. FTs are not as good as Singaporeans but get better pay, he’d moan. Another friend has equipped FT to ‘Foreign Trash’, instead of ‘Foreign Talent’. Friends working in the IS line, complain about losing jobs to India Indians. There were also complaints about the poor service handled out by all those foreign staff in restaurants and shops. At first I thought my friends were just exaggerating. They must be paranoid. After all, Singapore has always prided herself to be foreigner-friendly and one of the most livable cities in the world. All Singaporeans were taught to be sensitive and understanding towards people of all races, religion and languages from a very young age. Surely we are not a bunch of ‘foreigner-bashing’ xenophobes?!

I thought I should see for myself. On my recent trip back to Singapore, I noticed that many changes had taken place to my country while I was away. To be sure, each time I made a trip back home in the 10 years that I had been overseas, I had noticed many changes. I had visited Singapore regularly in the last decade so I was not surprised by the physical changes that make Singapore look so much different from the one I knew so long ago. There are the casino resorts, the Flyer, the Universal Studio, the rising skyline, the increased numbers of MRT lines, the LRT, the explosion of taxis and cars, to name a few. In the past, my trips back home were always short ones which involved visiting places of interest with my kids, and staying at hotels. I was more of a tourist than a local. This time round however, my trip was longer than usual and I had stayed with my sister. So, I had first hand experience of living like a local Singaporean. Walking around the housing estates, eating at Kopitiams, taking the MRT, shopping at local markets, I cannot help but noticed the unmistakable increase in the number of foreigners. There were foreigners everywhere! I don’t mean tourists, but residents. I found foreigners on the trains, in HDB estates, at hawker centers, and even working in shops and restaurants. A few days spent living with my sister and taking the public transport, and I started to wonder out loud, ‘Where are the Singaporeans?’
Maybe my fellow Singaporeans are right about the foreigner’s issue. The Prime Minister of Singapore, in addressing the nation during the National Day Rally, did acknowledge that Singapore, going forward, will put Singaporeans first above foreigners. But then, maybe my eyes are playing tricks on me. Just how many is many? I did a search at the Singapore Department of Statistics Website and plucked some relevant numbers from their ‘Census of Population 2010 – Advance Census Release’ report. Let me warn you, the numbers almost blew me off my chair!

Out of a total population of 5.067 million (as at end June 2010), 1.305 million are classified as ‘Non-Residents’, which is about 25.8% of the total population. Add in ‘Permanent Residents’ (0.541 million), who are foreigners, then you have 36.3% of the total population who are foreigners. I went further – sieving out the native Singaporeans from the ‘Resident Population’ category. Assuming all Residents born in Singapore to be native Singaporeans, there are about 2.912 million ‘true’ Singapore Citizens (out of a total of 3.231 million Singapore Citizens listed), which then means that the other 0.319 million Singapore Citizens must have been imported and are therefore originally foreigners. I did not take into account the cases of Singaporeans born overseas because I do not have the number. Ignoring this number, we have about 57.4% of the total population who are true-breed native Singaporeans. A whopping 42.6% of the total population is made up of foreigners! No wonder!

In the last decade, the Resident Population of Singapore has grown 15%, from 3.273 million in 2000 to 3.771 million in 2010. However, the number of Singapore Residents born in Singapore only increased by 8.6%. On the other hand, the number of Singapore Residents born outside Singapore increased by a whopping 45.2% over the same period! Singapore Residents from the 3 categories: Malaysia, China/HongKong/Macau, India/Pakistan/Bangladesh/Sri Lanka comprise more than 80% of Residents born outside Singapore. Residents from Indonesia, USA & Canada, and Australia & New Zealand saw almost 100% increase, while Residents from European Countries, and Other Asian Countries have increased more than 2-folds and 4-folds respectively. The Non-Resident Population is even more dynamic, showing a 73% increase from a decade ago.

If we were to extrapolate these numbers for the next 10 years, Singapore would see a total population of 6.595 million, of which 3.162 million are Singapore Citizens born in Singapore, the rest being Resident and Non-Resident foreigners. Thus in 2020, less than half of the total population (47.9%) of Singapore would be native Singaporeans! We would become a minority! I can only hope that my calculation is wrong; that the foreigners whom we had imported in this decade would help to boost the birth rate of Singapore in the following decade, and therefore produce a larger proportion of first-generation native Singaporeans.

The divide among Singaporeans has grown more complex. It is no more about just the 4 major races, but now you have Singapore Chinese, China Chinese, Singapore Indians, India Indians; Singapore Filipinos, Singapore Malays, Malaysia Malays, Malaysia Chinese, Indonesia Chinese, Indonesia Malays, Singapore Caucasians, Singapore Americans, and all mix and matches in between. Perhaps the Singapore Identity has to be revamped. We are not just multi-racial, nor multi-cultural. We are multi-national. The Singapore’s Pledge – “….regardless of race, language or religion…..” - should be revised to add – “….regardless of race, language, religion or country of origin….” .

It looks like we have only ourselves to blame. Singaporeans are not producing enough Singaporeans to boost the demography of Singapore. Our leaders have to go in search of more Residents from elsewhere! So do our men! Statistics for the past 10 years show that the female Resident Population born in Malaysia, Greater China, Indonesia and Other Asian Countries far exceeds the male Resident Population born in those countries. This increase in the number of females is most seen in the age group from 25 ~ 44 years old. On the other hand, the female Resident Population born in Singapore (native Singaporeans) is slightly smaller than that of the male Resident Population born in Singapore. Can I deduce that our Singaporean men have been bringing over a large number of foreign wives? Not that they are to be blamed. I, for one, must admit that I am a culprit, guilty of marrying a foreigner and breeding foreign kids.

I am sorry Singapore, I have let you down.


I dedicate this piece of writing to all my native Singaporeans living in Singapore. This writing is by no means, anti-government or worse, anti-PAP. It shall not be used as a tool to incite hate or social disorder. I love my country and hope that one day, we as Singaporeans can find a new multi-national identity in which we can all be proud of.

Singapore Citizens and Permanent Residents are classified as Singapore Residents or the Resident Population. Singapore Permanent Residents refer to non-citizens who have been granted permanent residence in Singapore. The Non-Resident Population comprised foreigners who working, studying or living in Singapore but not granted permanent residence, excluding tourists and short-term visitors.
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About my name, Candilin

In recent years, I have come to realise that my name 'Candilin' has been used by others. Once in a while I run checks on my name on Google to see what it turns up with. Recently I find people with the same names. There is also an anti-fungi drug in my name!
As such I thought I should at least tell you where my name Candilin came from, in case you think I am a copier, instead of the originator.
When I was 12 years old (some 30 years ago!), I started using the nickname of Candy because at that time there was a famous Japanese anime called Candy Candy. But then I thought the name to be a little too common and wanting to be special, I tried to modify that name into something original. My first penpal was named Adeline, and I thought girls' name should end with a 'line' like hers. So I played with adding 'line' to Candy, and in grammar, we learnt that by changing a noun to plural, 'y' becomes 'i', I changed Candy to Candiline. My name was Candiline for sometime until I dropped the 'e' at the back so that people would stop pronouncing it as Can-di-line, instead of Can-di-lin.
That was how I came up with my name 'Candilin' 32 years back. Maybe someone somewhere too came up with this name on his or her own, and I really don't mind. I just want to clarify that I did not copy my name from somewhere, I invented it!