In my previous article I mentioned the concern of a friend who mentioned that an increase in homosexuals may further impact the birthrate in Singapore. The end result maybe even further relaxing of immigration laws to maintain our population growth. While the many Singaporeans who remain single, and those who are married but do not intend to have children ‘contribute’ most to the low birthrate, I am sure most of us can agree that we do not need another factor to aggravate the problem.

The other concern is having more foreign immigrants may only set back our nation building and increase the level of disharmony in our society since new immigrants may not respect our traditions, our values and our way of life. This reminded me of a really minor incident that happened several weeks ago at a handphone shop in People’s Park Complex, though this probably did not involve individual(s) who recently obtained Singapore citizenship.

I find it amusing that a salesman who addressed a woman from China who walked by his shop as ‘xiao jie’ got him into hot water. Not to mention that the report mentioned that the salesman who called out to her came from Malaysia. If I hadn’t read through the article, I would have thought this to be a case of mistaken identity by some local Ah Beng in a second hand mobile phone shop either in City Plaza near Paya Lebar MRT or some old shop houses in Geylang.

What the heck, really? For ages Singaporeans addresses ladies as ‘xiao jie’ out of courtesy. No one has taught us that it meant anything offensive – be it night club hostess or prostitute. The fact that it has independently evolved in China to carry those negative connotations doesn’t mean it applies here as well! There is certainly no special meaning behind that term nor is there any intention to insult by doing so. Perhaps, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) should work with the Chinese Embassy on some familiarisation courses for PRC (People’s Republic of China) citizens coming to Singapore to avoid such misunderstanding. Or as another friend jokingly say, have this said in the announcement on incoming flights: possession and trafficking of drugs in Singapore carries the death sentence, and in Singapore ‘xiao jie’ is a polite term and does not mean prostitute。 [在新加坡拥有和走私毒品可能处以死刑，还有小姐在新加坡是友善的称呼，并没有妓女的意思。].

Funny, but it is such incidents that convinced my friend and I in some way, that an increase in immigrants will only retard our nation building efforts. It had already worried us when a woman during the AWARE EOGM said she has no confidence in a dominantly Christian and Chinese ExCo in taking care of her concerns. To me, this person is the testimony that 44 years after our separation from Malaysia, Singaporeans remained independent of one another due to our race and religion. By making that comment, this person had trampled upon our national pledge. With this in mind, we are concerned that an further increase in foreign immigrants will only add or amplify another problem: former nationality.

It is reasonable that some of us will be concerned with the loyalty of new citizens. In fact, not too long ago I was told an Indonesian undergrad in one of our local universities complained about her Indonesian citizenship, and expressed her desire to be a Singaporean – simply because of the difficulty to obtain visas to enter the Russian Federation as a result of her Indonesian nationality.

Several days later, the same undergrad accused the Singapore authorities of covering up in the case of NTU Student David Widjaja. The best part here is, she is not a NTU student but had expressed ‘outrage’ at the local authorities even before the investigations are completed simply because she is also Indonesian. Granted she isn’t a former Indonesian turned Singaporean (yet!), but we are reasonably worried that some new immigrants would behave likewise, and share such sentiments when it comes to cases involving people of their former nationality. If such people applied for Singapore citizenship merely for the matter of convenience, and they are actually granted citizenship, it would only debase its value. To me personally, it further reinforces the impression that serving National Service is really nothing more than a monumental waste of time.

Fortunately, my friends and I have not come across new citizens who are derisive of Singapore while they remain proud of their former nationality. But if there is ever such a day, I can only say we have ourselves to blame. There is a Chinese term for that and it is called 犯贱. I am not good with translation, but I think it carries the meaning of debasing one self, asking to be looked down upon and getting it all rolled together.

Sadly, it appears to me we are awarding citizenship not on merit but simply by the immigrants’ education level and his / her expected economic value to Singapore. As long as they have stayed here long enough, simply being a graduate, or making a certain amount of money would almost automatically ensures success in citizenship application.

Anyway, before I end, let me say this, stop beating down Singlish – it is the only thing that is a true product of our nation building, even though it may not have been intended and merely a by-product as a result of the integration of the cultures of our people. It gives us the identity as Singaporeans and is truly the one thing that we can really call our own. It is not shameful or dirty!

To emphasize, the Malaysians I chat with over Windows Live Messenger or exchange emails within the Kuwakchai game writes in a mix of Cantonese, Hokkien, Malay and English. To me it adds color and flavor to the conversation and it gives them an identity distinct from ours. So, the language nazis can go do to themselves the anatomically impossible and ease up on our true national language – Singlish.

Jokes:
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