How easy is it to get Singaporean citizenship?
Well, contrary to the popular belief, SG is no USA nor Europe. And I think it is important to understand just how heinous the spin about verifying English proficiency for all new citizens is.
I assume, of course, that Pritam Singh understands it all - which is why I find his proposal particularly cynical. The alternative would be, of course, that he's a complete ignorant, but I think we all think better of him.
First of all there are at least two basic minimum requirements that everybody has to meet to get the passport - it's either familial ties or professional success - both supported by lengthy residency.
There is no other way.
Unlike other countries, Singapore doesn't need or want permanent migrants to fill the lower rungs of the society and settle in the country unless they can prove their usefulness.
You can have a shot at citizenship either if you're a spouse of a Singaporean or you're wealthy/successful enough to either be able to make a contribution to the country or have already made it.
Now, it doesn't take long to realise, that it surely must mean that A. you're either already well-assimilated through your familial ties or B. are smart and educated enough to speak either English or another major language.
Finally C. that the only professionally accomplished people who may have problems with English proficiency are some of the mainland Chinese.
It is extremely unlikely that any Malaysian or Indian migrants of sufficient stature would not speak English well (let alone Western expats).
This is why I said that Pritam was dog whistling to all xenophobes, because by raising the issue of English he effectively singled out one ethnic/national group, that he wouldn't have been able to openly.
(Meanwhile, his talk of struggling to fit in is rather comical, given that all of these new citizens must have resided in Singapore for a fairly long while anyway.)
Now, given China's aggressive foreign policy, there could be some merit to the question of whether importing migrants from PRC could alter the course of domestic politics in Singapore, allowing them to insulate themselves from the rest of the mostly English-speaking society, advancing interests of not exactly friendly Beijing.
Could they be influenced by PRC one day, proving to be a trojan horse of sorts?
Well, that is a potential risk but only until you realise that mainland-born resident population in Singapore comprises only 4% of the total (see the chart I copied from the Department of Statistics).
And given the generally low birth rates it's not like they can somehow "outbreed" the locals either.
If Pritam had such concerns he should have raised them openly - but I don't think he does, given the facts and figures.
What is quite clear, however, is that anti-immigrant sentiments - justified or not - are an excellent topic to exploit to gain supporters who will gobble up anything that suggests they are being replaced by inferior imports from abroad, that can barely speak a major language.
It's a common trope of "replacement", which has found a potent ground in Europe or America, and it seems to be making inroads into Singaporean politics as well.
If it was an honest proposal then it should have been about making English the superior, main, the only official language in the country.
A country cannot act on one guy's whim - it has laws in place to define what is what.
Does the leader of the opposition need a reminder?
"CONSTITUTION OF SINGAPORE - Official languages and national language
153A. - (1) Malay, Mandarin, Tamil and English shall be the 4 official languages in Singapore. (2) The national language shall be the Malay language and shall be in the Roman script."
If you have four official languages (with one considered national - and it's not English) you cannot just cast three others aside without proper legislation.
Why won't Pritam simply propose a constitutional amendment to elevate English to the status of the only official language (because only that would justify testing all new citizens by their proficiency in it)?
Of course that would be political suicide. It would be the end to national equality.
But that's what he is - effectively - trying to smuggle in his proposal, isn't he?
Singapore is built on a careful balance of different cultures, beliefs and, yes, languages.
And, as it often happens, a painstakingly built accomplishment is under threat by populists looking to score cheap points among some of the disgruntled voters seeking to blame someone else for their personal failures.
