THE POLITICS OF CITIZENSHIP AND IMMIGRANT INTEGRATION IN SINGAPORE

Abstract

This thesis aims to elucidate the processes of immigrant incorporation in Singapore by deconstructing the Singapore state's discourse on immigrant integration and examining notions of political, social, and cultural citizenship articulated by the Singapore government, local Singaporeans, and new immigrants. The key questions that I am seeking to address are: What are the processes of immigrant integration in Singapore's multicultural society? How are they made sense of by the state, local Singaporeans, and new immigrants? How do locals and new immigrants conceptualise notions of citizenship? This thesis demonstrates how changes in the state's migration and immigrant integration policies stem from its attempts at balancing the sociopolitical and economic costs of immigration, as well as its complex positioning between a national citizenship regime and a civic citizenship regime. On one hand, the government is faced with the political necessity of appeasing its own citizens who are increasingly disgruntled with new immigrants' exercise of flexible citizenship in their strategies of reaping the benefits of Singapore citizenship while circumventing hegemonic citizenship notions held by local Singaporeans. On the other hand, the government is also confronted with the economic necessity of retaining permanent residents in Singapore and attracting a number of them to take up citizenship. This thesis also illustrates how dominant notions of political, social, and cultural citizenship articulated by local Singaporeans, as well as their endorsement of an assimilationist mode of incorporation, are in turn echoed by local Singaporeans to grassroots leaders and subsequently reflected in policy changes which assume an assimilationist bent.