Don't make Singapore 'another racist country'

[Char_Azn]

I refer to the letter by Mr Edmund Lin, 'Tweak P1 balloting rule to differentiate old citizens from new' published in the Straits Times forum.

As one of the new citizens, I condemn this practice emphatically as this rule is going to split the nation among the citizens.

What this proposal is going to mean is that Mr Edmund Lin's national identity card is pinker than mine and his passport is redder than my Singaporean children.

I found it very ridiculous as one of the reasons many ex-Malaysians including myself, for example, became Singaporean citizens is that Malaysia is practising pro-Malays or Bumiputera politics, that's why we were emigrating, so now that Mr Edmund Lin is trying to call for our Singapore Government to implement some sort of racist politics alike here but in another forms to split the old citizens from the new ones.

He also mentioned in the article that this will add to the benefit of serving the nation. On the contrary, this will split our nation completely as a lot of the citizens here are new citizens including myself.

While you can serve National Service (NS) because you are born Singaporean, some new citizens bring in millions of dollars of investment to Singapore after their conversion by transferring their entire wealth from overseas to Singapore.

We could equally serve the NS if we were born here; we are willing to trigger the gun shot to fight our enemies even though we are not trained in NS.

That we were not born here does not mean we are not loyal. By the time new citizens make up their minds to convert, they have already given it very careful thought and decided to serve the nation well with one heart and one soul.

However, I do admit the bottom line lies with the Immigration and Customs Authority. They should be more careful and stringent in their choices of citizens.

But absolutely, all citizens should be treated equally with equal rights.

Our identity cards and Singapore passports are of the same colours, we sing the same national anthem and read the same pledge so I do not want Singapore to end up becoming another racist country.

Chong Kok Kean

http://www.asiaone.com/News/Education/Story/A1Story20091228-188394.html

I believe this will turn out to be another flaming session since this person used to be a FT. I can't really be bothered if I get flamed, it wont be the first time but I have to agree with him, there should not and should never be a distinction between citizens old or new, Chinese, Malay or India. A citizen is a citizen, whether U go through NS or not.

As far as I'm concern, NS is a weak excuse to be used. 2nd gen PRs do NS, does that mean anything? They are still PRs and can still leave the country for their "motherland" as and when they like. Being a citizen however carries with it the responsibility of being one.

There are thousands of PRs in Singapore, many of which are here for the short term. A number of them have been here for years if not decades. If they wanted to they would have converted to Citizen already but they haven't these are the assholes who are here to make money take advantage of the country and leave when trouble comes.

However for a "new" citizen, they were willing to make the switch. They are willing to forgo whatever benefits they once enjoy and commit the rest of their lives here. It comes back to the same argument I have in another similar thread. My Grandfather came from China and was willing to stop and work here. Its the reason why I am Singaporean. I believe the vast majority of everyone in here are similar. My NS buddy's dad is an Ah Tiong, my reservist buddy is Taiwanese(came here when he was a kid). Both are married and have kids here. Should I condemn them just because they/their father were not born here? How is it that your father/grandfather/great grandfather migrating from China/Taiwan/India/etc any different from the new citizens who are here now.

The funniest thing is many of you are more then happy to call some asshole who have migrated overseas, a fellow Singaporean or a true blue Singaporean just because they flame the government. Those joker probably have Australian or Canadian or something written right next to Citizenship. How does that make him anymore local then the new citizen who might have spent the last 10-20 years in SG as a PR and converted to citizen. The joker left OUR country, and pledge his allegiance to ANOTHER while a new citizen is willing to leave his old life and everything else behind to pledge allegiance to Singapore. If that joker who left SG really loved the country, he wouldn't have left in the first place, he could have just as easily become a PR in that foreign country and refuse to turn citizen like some of the asshole PRs here.

Some argue that our ancestors were during Pre-independent SG era. I can't see the difference. Coz SG is now a rich country or a better place to live then what they used to have in China? Not true since the founding of SG all the way till right now, being in SG has almost always been better off then living in China. From the oppressive Qing Dynasty, the constant wars with foreigners, the era of Warlords, Japanese Invasion, Cultural revolution. In fact the lives of the average Ah Tiong is way better off today then they were less then 10 years ago. We should be pissed because they are only here to earn money and retire back home? In that case they would and should have stayed as a PR, why in the world of F would they want to switch to being citizen.

I have a lot of issues with assholes who hold PR status for almost indefinite periods of time, these are pple who are, quite obviously, taking advantage of our system and economy yet want to leave a backdoor for themselves. But condemning a new citizen, who had given up everything to plant his roots here, just because he wasn't born here? It doesn't make any sense to me.

 

[cooleo]

>>We could equally serve the NS if we were born here; we are willing to trigger the gun shot to fight our enemies even though we are not trained in NS.<<

TUA KANG YAO SIU

 

[soIsee]

Sinkies paying multi- millions dollars in salaries to MIW who can't structure proper policies!

The Sinkies are crying out loud on why should PRs be enjoying benefits ( at their expense) and still can be a PR for decades and the MIWs are creating policies between 'new and old citizens'?

No wonder the Sinkies are screwed!

 

[annexa]

>>We could equally serve the NS if we were born here; we are willing to trigger the gun shot to fight our enemies even though we are not trained in NS.<<

What if the enemy coming at you is your cousin from Malaysia?