More immigrants in Singapore?

Recently as part of my English course in school, we have to do a debate and my motion is that immigrants would harm the national development of Singapore. I was on the proposition team and below in an extension of my views of this issue beyond my classroom. I hope that you will be able to agree with what I feel and support our motion after having read what I wrote.

Immigrants are people who came to Singapore to live or work, such as foreigners or permanent residents of Singapore. A dispute has always existed on whether, immigrants will contribute or harm the national development of Singapore, and as such whether we should continue to welcome immigrants to Singapore. I believe that they will do more harm than good in the context of today. The following are my shallow views on this issue.

Firstly, immigrants need to eat, have a place to stay, and entertain themselves; we cannot millions of immigrants in our country. While they will work and contribute to our society, they would still have to use up resources. It is true that they pay for their own food and housing, but what about land? Singapore would not have enough land to accommodate millions more of immigrant, we are a small country, and our land is limited, we do not have enough land to spare for such amount of housing and facilities. As such welcoming more immigrants would pose us a great problem on how to find land to accommodate them.

Next, majority of the immigrants come from poorer countries, they come to Singapore in a hope for a better lives. These people are people who mainly have great troubles trying to find a job in their homeland where competition is tough and life is hard. As such they come to Singapore as we greatly welcome lots of them. Here it is very easy for them to take up manual or low-skilled jobs. While it is true that these people contribute to our society, but do we really need them? These jobs can be easily done by any Singaporean, which actually lead to our problem of unemployment. If we continue to welcome these immigrants, Singapore might become the future human junkyard of the world, where all kinds of people who are unable to lead a good life in the country constantly flock here.

A Indian Construction worker in Singapore

Finally, I would like you to consider that feelings of Singaporeans over this issue. Foreigners take up jobs that would otherwise be meant for us, some of them even enjoy similar subsidies and benefits that we are enjoying. We are actually sharing our piece of cake with them. If more foreigners come to Singapore, many Singaporeans would be demoralized. This may not be a threat, but consider this, in times where a crisis, such as a war, breaks out in Singapore, who would be the ones remaining to guard this country. The foreigners would surely leave as soon as possible as our problem is none of their concern, and their loyalty lies not with us, leaving only us, Singaporeans, to face the situation.

From the points I raised, it is possible to see why my conclusion is valid. Although, in the past, Singapore relied heavily on immigrants, and it is immigrants that allowed us to flourish, I would definitely wish to express my heartfelt gratitude to our ancestors who were immigrants. But looking into the future, do we still have to continue relying on immigrants? Or instead they have begun to hinder the national development of our country.

Democracy

Does democracy creates stability in a society?

A democratic society is one where freedom of choice and speech is practiced. The people also have power to choose their leaders and make decisions directly or indirectly by voting a representative.

Democracy creates stability socially in a society. People in a democratic society have freedom of speech, and in times of conflict over matters, people will have a say over the decisions of matters. Not only that, people will also have to respect one another and treat each other equally. This will lead to lesser conflicts and riots as most conflicts can be solved through peaceful means such as feedback and voting. An example is Singapore, a partly democratic society; Singapore is a multi-racial society where social stability is hard to maintain. Yet handling most social issues democratically solves most of the problem. Singaporeans complain to greater authority in conflicts instead of resulting to rioting and violence means, also they respect those from different races leading to no conflicts among races.

A democratic society will also be more peaceful. The leaders only run the country but do not own it, as such they will less likely decide to go to war as it has no benefit to them, also, there will be lesser struggles for power among the leaders as it is the people who decide who would run the country. Most of the developed countries in the world today are using a democratic system, and that may be the reason why our world has been relatively peaceful compared to the past, such as the period of World War 2, where Japan and Germany were ruled by dictators. Therefore democracy can create a peaceful and as such stable society.

However democratic societies are not stable economically. As it is a free market, the government does not interfere with prices of goods, it is left entirely to supply and demand. Merchants may then deal with prices of goods and charge people on their liking. This may have disastrous results. Furthermore, a democratic society is not a welfare state; the government provides little or none services to the people’s welfare. In the case of America before the Great Depression, as the government did not interfere, with the sudden inflation and control the stock market’s rise, the inflation eventually caused a world wide depression. As such, in some times, the government has to interfere with economic issues, which is does not happen in democratic societies.

I agree to a large extent as democracy does create stability in a society. A form of governance must be able to achieve political stability before all else as if not, it may be overthrown by both external and internal threats and may not even be able to implement its policies. Then they will have to achieve social stability which will gain the support of the people and the society and government will be mostly stable. Economic stability comes last as it does not directly affect the stability of the government nor does it affect everyone.

Democracy Creates Stability in a Society

To what extent do you agree with the above motion? Please Comment.

Cyberwarriors and Atheletes

Since Singapore recognized cybergaming as a national sport, the number of teams and individuals participating in international cybergaming competitions has increased. A particular team, the Singapore Swords Cybergaming team even managed to make it into the last eight of a US$1 Million Championship Gaming Series. They fought against the best in the world.

Variety in Cybergaming

Last year in the concluded South-East Asia (SEA) Games in Thailand, Singapore sportsmen and women obtained an excellent result compared with the past games, making it a great year for Singapore athletes. They managed to clinch 43 gold, 43 silver and 41 bronze medals in the games. They fought against the best in South-East Asia.

As such the SEA gold medallists were awarded S$500,000 under the Singapore National Olympics Multi-Million Dollar Award Programme (MAP) to encourage local sportsmen and women to do their best in the sporting fields.

But what about the Singapore Swords? For getting into the top eight of the Championship Gaming Series, they will receive a US$30,000 reward for their achievements. The MAP did not award them for they only provide awards to winners of the Olympics, Asian Games, Commonwealth Games and SEA games, but not to the Cybergames.

Individuals like Mr Wilson Chia, who is a member of the Singapore Swords, obtained the price award and a US$5000 bonus for his individual achievements in the fields of cybergaming. Whereas, national bowler Remy Ong who won gold in the men's championship two years ago, who did not receive anything from the MAP as well received a $10,000 bonus reward from the Singapore Bowling Federation.

A typical Cybergamer

So despite the cybergamers having trained just as hard, and spent just as much time as the athletes, their pay off is a lot lower. They have no salary, no bonuses, no support from the country as well as the public, and yet they have made it to the near top of the world. Compared with the athletes, who have best equipment, the best facilities as trainers, the cyberwarriors should be commented for their efforts and achievements. Yet, there is no sign of appreciation, or a change in attitude towards the cybergamers. The public still has the traditional and conservative thinking that cybergaming is a complete waste of time and excessive playing is harmful to their overall health and will turn them into addicts. Although the thinking does have its reasons, for the only way for cybergamers to survive in the real world is through tournament winnings since they have no salary, as such many who tried also gave up.

However today, cybergaming is a part of life of teenagers, just like music, and movies. Nearly every teenager in Singapore is exposed and has participated in Cybergaming although not to the extent of competitions and tournaments. The world has changed, cybergaming has taken over the world of teenagers nowadays, it has become part and parcel of our everyday life, Prime Minister Lee said that we should move forward with the times and accept new things and ideas.

But yet why is cybergaming not yet accepted by our society?

Cybergaming now a national sport
Section: News
Publication: The New Paper 24/04/2006
Page: 17