SINGAPORE: Mun Wai acknowledged in a social media post on Tuesday (April 7) that foreigners are necessary to Singapore but zeroed in on how immigration has been managed as the issue of contention. It almost seems like he is back peddling on the foreign worker issue after building his name and reputation for his parliamentary debates on CECA.
As part of Mr Leong’s “Chasing the Rainbow” series of posts, where he tackles different issues, he most recently discussed the issue of foreign talent in Singapore, one that is considered by some to be a cause for concern.
“We are a small country. We survive because we are connected to the world. Trade. Talent. Ideas. So yes – Singapore must stay open. Most Singaporeans agree with that.
However, when people raise concerns and get labelled xenophobic, the real question disappears.
The real question is this: Has immigration been managed well?
So that Singaporeans, PRs, and foreigners all benefit together. Because if the system works well… there wouldn’t be so much anxiety today.
Singapore must stay open, but it must also work for Singaporeans,” wrote the PSP chief, who also asked followers to “join the conversation and share this post.”
PSP’s stand
PSP has said in the past that it is not against foreigners, but has framed its stance as being pro-Singaporean jobs first. For the party, “the right foreign talent to complement our Singaporean core” is welcome and would result in mutual benefit.
During his time as a Non-Constituency Member of Parliament (2020-2025), Mr Leong was critical of government policy on foreign talent, claiming that the Government “opened the floodgates” for foreigners who have taken up desirable jobs in Singapore, and that there has been a “large displacement of Singaporean PMETs.”
He also urged Singapore to “change course” and gradually decrease foreign work pass numbers.
In 2021, Mr Leong clashed with then-Law Minister K Shanmugam in a heated debate over foreign talent, where the minister called the NCMP out in no uncertain terms, saying, “What is not legitimate to try and create a racist, xenophobic, ‘them versus us’ fervour, put down a motion saying that the terms of CECA are wrong and then come to Parliament and say ‘I don’t know anything about the terms of CECA’. That is doing serious disservice to Singaporeans.”
Furthermore, then-Finance Minister Lawrence Wong warned PSP against “anti-foreigner rhetoric” that could deepen social divisions.
The PSP chief, however, has been insistent over the years that the party’s criticism is legitimate.
The government, meanwhile, has reiterated the need for Singapore to stay open, with former Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong repeatedly saying that doing otherwise opens Singapore to the risk of stagnation, but has underlined that foreign talent numbers should be calibrated to protect Singaporean workers. /TISG
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