The forum, “Online|Offline: Digital citizens on xenophobia” was held on 24 June. The forum is aimed at stimulating discourse – online and offline – on the growing negative sentiments against foreigners in Singapore.
The panellists included MP for Choa Chu Kang GRC, Zaqy Mohamad; activist and writer, Alex Au; filmmaker, Martyn See; editor of publichouse.sg, Andrew Loh; and former editor of The Online Citizen, Ravi Philemon.
The forum host was Hani Mohamed, Executive Committee member and the Honorary Secretary of ONE Singapore.
Here is Part 1 of the recording of the forum where the issue discussed is on what xenophobia actually is and whether it is a serious issue in Singapore at the moment.
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In Part 2, the panellists discussed the cause of these negative sentiment towards foreigners. Here are some quotes from what the panellists said:
Andrew Loh:
“I think it’s quite clear that the cause of these negative sentiments towards foreigners is government policy… The problem that I have now is we’re not sure where we’re going. Are we going to remain at this number of foreigners? Or are there even plans to increase the number of foreigners?”
Zaqy Mohamad:
“There is a bigger picture. The government does not just set a policy because we just want to be pro-foreigner, or be pro-business… The reality is that [the] economy has to be open, talent has to flow, trade has to flow, because that is the DNA of our economy… It’s not a question of whether I am pro-foreigners or pro-business but it’s really [about] economic survival.”
Martyn See:
“Now, why’re we sitting here talking about anti-foreigners sentiments when… Singaporeans have historically never been anti-foreigner? I think we all agree or recognise that a threshold has somehow been breached. Singaporeans are not born xenophobic… So, why’re people suddenly not happy now? Has some kind of social threshold been breached?”
Alex Au:
“I think as a society, we have to make a choice. Do we want a 20 million-people economy on this island when we only have 3 1/2 million? Should we then forego that 20-million economy, lets be happy with a 5-million economy and have 5 million people? You can still have economic growth without constantly increasing population growth… There are small countries around the world that has shown economic growth of fairly respectable percentage points even as the population shrank.”
Ravi Philemon:
"I think you need to take a more holistic view of assimilation… Everybody’s got a part to play in this assimilation process. Unless we take a holistic view of this assimilation process, it’ll be very difficult going forward and [try] to have more reasoned conversations on xenophobia.”
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Part 3, where the audience members speak on the topic, will be published in due time.
Join the conversation on the Online|Offline Facebook page here.
Read also: Is Singapore turning into a xenophobic society?
And: Unacceptable nearly 40% of population is made up of foreigners.