Our forefathers arrived on Singapore's shores under similar circumstances so I see nothing wrong with continuing this formula for success.
Our forefathers came with just the shirts on their backs, hoping to find a new home in a poverty stricken country under Brit colonial rule. No piped water, no electricity, a triad infested country run by headmen, paying protection money to stay live, police as corrupt as a rat, etc.
Today, these foreigners came to sinkie land because it is a successful country. If sinkie land is like Philippines or Cambodia, would these foreigners flood into the island?
Times have changed and these foreigners are no longer here to build the country. They are here to leech on the fruits of success.
So, see the situation in the right context and do not see the papees as infallible in whatever they do.