Singapore is a multi-ethnic society, in which the various groups that compose it seem to live in harmony, enjoying the benefits of (supervised) political freedoms, high economic growth and enviable welfare. Under the veneer of well-being and efficiency, however, ethnic and cultural differences bring out visible fissures, such as the one caused by the controversy over the celebrations for the commemoration of the Philippine independence.
June 12 is Philippine Independence Day and an online campaign has been launched, with the support of the embassy, to organize a big party in Orchard Road, the beating heart of Singapore, the avenue where natives and tourists flock for the shopping and entertainment. Filipinos, around 172 in 2012, are the third largest foreign ethnic group in Singapore, after immigrants from Saudi Arabia and those from the United Arab Emirates. The intention to celebrate the national holiday of a foreign country has aroused many negative comments among the citizens of Singapore and among these there are also those who have defined the Philippine Independence Day in Orchard Road an "insidious act of invasion".
The situation then got worse, the tone was further exacerbated and the organizers of the demonstration also suffered online threats from groups of self-styled defenders of Singapore's national identity. The authorities have sided clearly in favor of the Filipino community and have defined "unacceptable, or even repulsive, the action of those who sow racial hatred". Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong went even further, describing these kinds of people as the "misfortune of Singapore". Speaking at Singapore Day in London, a cultural event dedicated to Singaporeans living and working abroad, he added that "in our country we must treat immigrants in the same way we expect to be treated when we go abroad" .
However, the Prime Minister was told that it is one thing to dedicate a day to the culture of a given country or community, and quite another to celebrate its national holidays. The question that appeared in a forum summarizes the whole question: "Are we all in all xenophobic or just claustrophobic?" The question has its foundations, considering that Singapore is the third most densely populated country in the world, after Macao and Monaco, and a sustained growth in population (from 3 million in 1990 to 5,4 million in 2013) has been accompanied, in same period, a sharp decrease in the proportion of native-born Singaporeans (from 86 to 61%).
Attachments: Asian Correspondent
