Angst, anxieties, and anger in a global city: Coping with and rightsizing the immigration imperative in Singapore

• Main Author: TAN, Eugene K. B.
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2014
• Subjects: Immigration; immigration policy; foreign labor; Singapore; Asian Studies; Labor and Employment Law
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/sol_research/2411; https://search.library.smu.edu.sg/discovery/fulldisplay?docid=alma99318000902601&context=L&vid=65SMU_INST:SMU_NUI&lang=en&search_scope=INK&adaptor=Local%20Search%20Engine&tab=INK&query=any,contains,Immigration%20in%20Singapore&offset=0
• Institution: Singapore Management University

Singapore was, and remains, an immigrant society. Its immigration policy is heavily inflected by a pervasive sense of insecurity and economic vulnerability. Immigration in Singapore reflects two competing, perhaps even conflicting, anxieties. One is the state’s anxiety that if the population is not topped up adequately, quantitatively and qualitatively, then Singapore will go down the path of economic malaise, social vulnerability, and political irrelevance. Thus, the policy imperative to keep the immigration doors open must be abidingly strong and not waver.