Recounting the events at a grassroots event last night, Mr Goh said: 'These two experiences tell me that new immigrants to Singapore can become Singaporeans in outlook and loyalty within a generation.'

Mr Goh was at the Deepa Thirunal dinner celebrations at the Braddell Heights Community Club, attended by 1,000 residents from the Marine Parade Group Representation Constituency (GRC) and the single-seat wards of MacPherson and Potong Pasir.

Singaporeans, Mr Goh noted, have been uneasy about the influx of large numbers of foreigners, as they fear being crowded out of the property market, choice schools and jobs.

Some foreigners are also perceived to be taking advantage of Singapore's opportunities and services, while not giving back to the community or doing national service, he said.

The number of foreigners in Singapore has increased by more than 100,000 a year in recent years. Latest figures from the Department of Statistics show that out of the approximately five million living here, more than a third - or 1.8 million - are non-citizens, with PRs making up 533,200.

Mr Goh said the issue boils down to whether newcomers can help sustain and enrich Singapore's quality of life. He cited three ways they can.

The first is to stem the population decline, which continues apace despite government efforts to encourage marriage and procreation.

He said: 'In the last 10 years, the number of people aged 65 and above grew by about 100,000, while the number of children aged below 15 shrank by about 50,000. Without PRs and new citizens, Singapore will go the way of the dinosaurs...Our population will begin to shrink in 2020. That is only 11 years away!'

Second, Singapore needs immigrants to sustain the current standard of living. Its economic growth rate, he surmised, would be one or two percentage points lower without foreigners.

'Well, you may say, let us do without this extra boost...and be satisfied with our present quality of life. But it is not that simple.

'Without the foreign workforce, our flats and MRT will not be built, our buses will come to a standstill, our health-care services will degrade, and many investors, including Singaporean ones, will uproot and go where talent is abundant,' he said.

Finally, he said, immigrants enrich Singapore's society, by injecting vitality and diversity in fields like the arts, music, sports and philanthropy.

However, while noting the upside of having foreigners in Singapore, Mr Goh also stressed that the Government should distinguish between those who are committed to long-term stay in Singapore and those who use the Republic as a stepping stone to elsewhere.

In addition, the Government should address how to get immigrants to contribute to Singapore society, for example in community service and donations to charity, he said.

He added: 'We will have to face up to the problems encountered by Singaporeans on the ground. Explaining in macro terms using overall statistics is not good enough.'


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Allow immigrant enclaves here?
 
At a grassroots event last night, Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong mused aloud about whether ethnic enclaves should be allowed to be formed by new immigrants here.

In a speech that emphasised the importance of Singapore remaining open to foreigners even as the Government addresses citizens' concerns about them, he asked: 'Do we allow new immigrants to gather in one location, so that that place becomes more Chinese, or more Indian?

'Or do we begin to disperse our new immigrants all over Singapore, so that they do not form enclaves among themselves, so that they will better integrate?'

Mr Goh did not indicate his own conclusions on this issue.

Mr K. Varatharaju, 43, a factory owner who was at the event, told The Sunday Times about his own experience when he sent his youngest daughter to Sarada Kindergarten in Bartley Road: He discovered that she was one of only two Singaporean Indians in the class of 15.

"When I go for a function and I see only expat Indians and no Singaporean Indians, I feel uncomfortable - like the future is being taken over by expats. What will happen in 15 or 20 years' time, when my children start work?' he asked.

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- end of ST article