Who are the foreigners?

I knew of many foreign students and foreign talents who eventually became PRs and then later Singapore citizens. Providing education actually helps a lot to sell Singapore a lot too. So far, for the foreign students that I knew of, only 1 went back to Malaysia. The rest settled down here and eventually contributed to the economy.

My work place is full of foreign students and foreign talents who did the same thing. They ended up as citizens, and they brought the rest of their sisters, brothers and friends. They don't send much money back home any more as their immediate family are now in Singapore and the next generation is all Singaporeans.

Can you imagine how much did their country of origin lost? They had lost healthy, educated and productive people in their prime to join our country, first as a foreign worker, later as a PR then a citizen. Their government had invested in them in many ways, education, health care etc. What did they got in return? Nothing much except maybe a good bye.

That's what we are, Singapore has and will always been full of foreign workers and immigrants. Look at history, it was the British who built a port with foreign workers on Malaysia land. Those foreign workers later vastly outnumbered the locals and eventually declare themselves as a nation. The same foreign workers are from all over the world, India, Indonesia, China, Europe etc etc.

I do not understand why suddenly we have to be so adverse towards foreign workers. During different periods, the source of people changes, be it Malaysia, Indian, or China, it will still be the same for us. We learn to integrate and work as a nation.

The populist idea that foreigners are taking our jobs and using our resources is nothing but distorted truths in the perception of history of Singapore. Can you read aloud your pledge and be reminded what Singapore is about?

We, the citizens of Singapore, pledge ourselves as one united people, regardless of race, language or religion, to build a democratic society, based on justice and equality so as to achieve happiness, prosperity and progress for our nation.

This is one of the many reasons, that the more I heard from the opposition's populist, short sighted and ignorant policies, the less I am willing to cast my vote for them.

This was what we had done since 1819. Come 2011 and more, why will it be different when it had served us well?