Essay Draft 1

     Globalization in the present day has seen an influx of foreign immigrants in our land. The import of foreign labour and talent demonstrate the inflow of foreigners having a stake in our country. While the nation thrives as an economic giant, it is apparent that the heavy presence of foreign immigrants has also been a source of tension for the locals here. As a result, there has been an ongoing debate over Singapore’s open door policy to foreign immigrants (workers and talents) and whether such policies have created more harm than good for the nation. The government has implemented several schemes in recent years to handle this prevalent issue as it seeks to create that balance between boosting Singapore’s economic progress, and at the same time appease locals’ distress and anxiety towards their presence. 

Singaporeans have grumbled and protested against the mass numbers of foreign immigrants and many are upset with how they seem to have “invaded” the place Singaporeans call home. An investigation into the reasons why attributes the country’s overcrowding and failing reliability of its public transportation system, increasing property prices for housing, suppressed wage level, increased competition for jobs and education, increasing income inequality as social problems to name a few, to the government’s open-door immigration policy (. Yet, Singapore maintains its need for foreign immigrant as quoted by former minister mentor Lee Kuan Yew, that “Foreign talent is vital to the growth of Singapore’s society and in ensuring its economic progress”. However, perhaps the question asked by many in this case would be, at what extent and at what cost?

As a country without natural resources, Singapore relies largely on talent drawing them from across the globe, South Asia, Northeast Asia, China, India and beyond that to ensure its success and growth rate. Contrary to popular belief that these foreigners have “snatched” jobs from the locals, it appears that that may not be true. Founding father Lee Kuan Yew further supported on how Singapore’s openness to foreigners have on the other hand, created more jobs here.