SINGAPORE: A new study has placed National Service (NS) as a key indicator of integration for foreigners.
The report by the Institute of Policy Studies seeks to examine what immigrants ought to do, in order to be regarded as a full participating member of Singapore society.
The study covered some 2,000 local and foreign born citizens.
They were asked several questions on what they thought were social markers of integration.
The study showed some perceptual gaps, which researchers said are cause for fault-lines within the community.
The biggest area of incongruence - that a son of a new citizen undergoes NS.
About
70 per cent of Singaporeans feel it is an important indicator of
integration, while only about 40 per cent of new citizens think so.
The
other top areas of divergent viewpoints are - a new citizen getting on
well with workplace colleagues, being gainfully employed, and having the
ability to speak conversational English.
More Singaporeans than new immigrants feel these are all important attributes for integration.
The
study also showed that Singaporeans who tend to be less inclusive are
tertiary educated, come from the middle income group, have strong family
ties and are more nationalistic.
Researchers said it boils down to the group that feel the most threatened by the presence of foreigners.
However, the study also showed that Singaporeans embrace multi-racialism.
The
study showed they do not expect foreigners to discard their cultural
identity, even as these foreigners embrace core beliefs held by
Singaporeans, such as meritocracy and religious tolerance.
On the
policy implications of the study, researchers said the Singapore Armed
Forces may need to reach out more at the community level.
For example, in convincing first generation new citizens of the value of National Service.
They added that more could be done also to facilitate the learning of English among foreigners.
They have also called for more transparency in data on immigration.
These include details on specific sectors foreigners are employed in and the criteria for obtaining a PR status.
Researchers
added businesses should also think about programmes to improve
workplace relations between Singaporeans and foreigners.
- CNA/cc
Life is surreal.
do you feel safe, letting them into our army? what i fear is happening - soon we will have naglas to dig trench for us while we take canteen break. most soldiers NS will be happy. but look at the whole picture - ireally got nothing to say
why stop at two? who the idiot came up with that policy
Originally posted by troublemaker2005:why stop at two? who the idiot came up with that policy
It came from PAP.
Previously integration was by two languages. Singlish and Pasar Malay.
The young ones spoke Singlish - Malay, Chinese, Indian, Sikh, Eurasian boys and girls spoke Singlish. The elders who spoke no English spoke Pasar Malay - Malay, Chinese, Indian, Sikh, Eurasian elders all spoke Pasar Malay. And there was harmony. There was the kampong spirit.
When the kampong was gone, it was Singlish and Pasar Malay that held the community together. Slowly Pasar Malay fell away to disuse, as the younger generation grew up unable to speak Malay and were encumbered with Mandarin. Housing policy design to prevent ethnic enclaves affected the Malays and Indians only. They Chinese were everywhere, struggling with English and Mandarin. Gone also were the dialects, namely Hokkien, Cantonese, Teochew, and Hainanese. These were only spoken by the elders.
The aloofness came about. We don't know the names of our neighbours, even after living next to each other for a number of years.
Pol Pot tried to destroy the past and want to replace Cambodia culture with a new order as quickly as possible.
Here the government did that insidiously. And now is trying to reverse the damage by integration and reviving the kampong spirit.
Since when does doing NS, means to make a PR give more acceptance?
Originally posted by Lokey:Since when does doing NS, means to make a PR give more acceptance?
NS should not be degraded. NS is for defence of Singapore, not use as a propaganda ploy to import foreigners to vote for PAP.
I think some kinda of service community is good for them. At least will let them know all kinda of people in Singapore not just his/her community only.
NS? I think will be good to those who take our scholarship from 'O' lvl. So that we are not taken for granted.
Originally posted by mancha:
When the kampong was gone, it was Singlish and Pasar Malay that held the community together. Slowly Pasar Malay fell away to disuse, as the younger generation grew up unable to speak Malay and were encumbered with Mandarin. Housing policy design to prevent ethnic enclaves affected the Malays and Indians only.
They Chinese were everywhere, struggling with English and Mandarin. Gone also were the dialects, namely Hokkien, Cantonese, Teochew, and Hainanese. These were only spoken by the elders.
Here the government did that insidiously. And now is trying to reverse the damage by integration and reviving the kampong spirit.
All due to that cultureless freak Lee Kuan Yew.
Instead of having a leader that embraces local culture, we have one that wants to suppress and impose an alien one on the local people.
A ratbag and scumbag to the end, that bastard Harry Lee Kuan Yew.
pee arse should not do NS. please for goodness shit - do we really have to pull down our pants and now ask to be annaled? might as well hired merceneries - pls lah, might as well ask bangla to dig our trench while we drink red bull better right?