Singaporeans are uncomfortable with the new immigrants as their neighbour or boss, a new study has said.
Singaporeans were less comfortable with new immigrants who later became their boss, employee, or neighbour, a recent study by the Institute of Policy Studies and OnePeople.Sg, a national body for racial harmony has found.
The study, the Indicators of Racial and Religious Harmony, covered 5,000 local households.
It showed that 93.8 per cent of non-Chinese respondents were comfortable with having a Singaporean Chinese as their boss, Channel News Asia reported today. The figure dropped by nearly 20 per cent when it comes to having a new immigrant from China as a boss.
Similarly, about 95 per cent of non-Chinese respondents said they were comfortable with having a locally-born Chinese as a neighbour. But the figure dropped by 14 per cent when it comes to having a new immigrant from China as a neighbour.
Singaporeans' were most uncomfortable with the idea of new immigrants making up the majority of the people in the country. Only about 50 per cent of respondents were comfortable with the idea, with most preferring a status-quo on Singapore's current racial mix.
"The reality is we are going through a major change in socio-economic situation in Singapore. There are people who are concerned about the differences that are happening because of these new arrivals," said OnePeople.Sg chairman Zainudin Nordin.
"The new arrivals and Singaporeans need to realise that we have a common destiny. That common destiny must be the reason why we need to work together and slowly, we believe, build the trust," he said.
"All of us must realise that this tension does exist and all of us must understand that we should not allow this to become a problem for us in the future, for the country to move to a better Singapore," said Zainuddin in the Channel report.
Singapore has a population of 5.3 million and 3.285 million of them are citizens. According to 2000 census, 76.8 per cent of the citizens were Chinese, 13.9 per cent Malays, 7.9 per cent Indians and 1.4 per cent others.
