<TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR>Integrating immigrants: Learn from American experience
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<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->IN THURSDAY'S commentary, 'Lest we become strangers in our own land', Mr Ngiam Tong Dow agrees that Singapore has no choice but to add to its population through immigration, but he asks vital questions about who will absorb whom and at what pace Singapore should bring in new immigrants.
He points out the risks of Singapore being used as a stepping stone and of being left with a second tier of average people. He reminds us that international economic competitiveness is now knowledge-based and is no longer a numbers game. He argues in favour of making haste slowly in encouraging immigration.
On the same day, a Reach survey ('New citizens, PRs upbeat about living in Singapore') offered news that provides some comfort about the results of integrating new citizens.
Reading the two reports together, I am reminded of various aspects of the ongoing debate about the integration of new citizens.
First, there is indeed strong and relentless competition for talent. For instance, Thursday's 'Saudi Arabia's 'Stanford' opens'' reported how Saudi Arabia had opened the new King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, whose president is none other than the former National University of Singapore president, Professor Shih Choon Fong.
Second, Singapore really has no choice but to welcome new immigrants as its birth rates are so low and it is a rapidly ageing society. Time is not on its side.
The recently established National Integration Fund is a timely move. It will facilitate and provide the wherewithal for civil service organisations to play their part in achieving the goals set for integration.
However, while this measure would address some of Mr Ngiam's concerns, planning on a long-term basis would be required. Here, the experiences of other countries could be looked at.
A case in point is how the United States has strengthened and enriched its talent pool by welcoming large numbers of immigrants, while bearing in mind this country's limited space and resources; how its integration system successfully Americanises new citizens over one or two generations; and how its open, meritocratic system encourages economic success, innovation, entrepreneurship and creativity.
Even in that country, with its 200-year history, racial and cultural integration is a work-in-progress. This was underscored by US President Barack Obama's remark poking fun at claims that racism explained the fierce opposition to his political agenda.
He joked that 'I was actually black before the election'. Race does remain a sub-text in American politics.
K. Kesavapany
FORUM NOTE: Mr Kesavapany is the director of the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies. These are his personal views.
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<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->IN THURSDAY'S commentary, 'Lest we become strangers in our own land', Mr Ngiam Tong Dow agrees that Singapore has no choice but to add to its population through immigration, but he asks vital questions about who will absorb whom and at what pace Singapore should bring in new immigrants.
He points out the risks of Singapore being used as a stepping stone and of being left with a second tier of average people. He reminds us that international economic competitiveness is now knowledge-based and is no longer a numbers game. He argues in favour of making haste slowly in encouraging immigration.
On the same day, a Reach survey ('New citizens, PRs upbeat about living in Singapore') offered news that provides some comfort about the results of integrating new citizens.
Reading the two reports together, I am reminded of various aspects of the ongoing debate about the integration of new citizens.
First, there is indeed strong and relentless competition for talent. For instance, Thursday's 'Saudi Arabia's 'Stanford' opens'' reported how Saudi Arabia had opened the new King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, whose president is none other than the former National University of Singapore president, Professor Shih Choon Fong.
Second, Singapore really has no choice but to welcome new immigrants as its birth rates are so low and it is a rapidly ageing society. Time is not on its side.
The recently established National Integration Fund is a timely move. It will facilitate and provide the wherewithal for civil service organisations to play their part in achieving the goals set for integration.
However, while this measure would address some of Mr Ngiam's concerns, planning on a long-term basis would be required. Here, the experiences of other countries could be looked at.
A case in point is how the United States has strengthened and enriched its talent pool by welcoming large numbers of immigrants, while bearing in mind this country's limited space and resources; how its integration system successfully Americanises new citizens over one or two generations; and how its open, meritocratic system encourages economic success, innovation, entrepreneurship and creativity.
Even in that country, with its 200-year history, racial and cultural integration is a work-in-progress. This was underscored by US President Barack Obama's remark poking fun at claims that racism explained the fierce opposition to his political agenda.
He joked that 'I was actually black before the election'. Race does remain a sub-text in American politics.
K. Kesavapany
FORUM NOTE: Mr Kesavapany is the director of the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies. These are his personal views.
