Why doesn’t being born in Singapore make you a Singaporean?

A recent survey revealed that being born in Singapore makes you the luckiest child in Asia. Not the world, for that you have to go to Switzerland or Australia.

The survey by The Economist Intelligence Unit doesn’t say whether those babies have to be officially Singaporean or just born in Singapore. Is there a difference you say? Well yes quite a big one which effects whether these people stay and help Singapore grow or don’t feel Singaporean and leave. Both have a knock-on economic effect.

You can be a tourist here or on an EP pass or be a Permanent Resident and give birth in Singapore and  your child will not be classified as a Singaporean.

An oxymoron surely?  You must take on the nationality of the place where you are born?

Ordinarily and in many other other countries in the world yes but not in Singapore. Australia and places like Italy are exceptions. Mario Balotelli for example, famous Italian footballer was born in Sicily to non-Italian parents and wasn’t recognised as being Italian until he was 18.

The irony is of course that Singapore has the lowest fertility rate in the world which is one of the main reasons that foreigners have to be imported here to fill jobs. That in turn is one of the main reasons why Singaporeans are increasingly anti-foreigner and believe that foreign workers should be second to infrastructure development to cope with population growth.

Even in a lucky Dragon Chinese Year where birth rates soar it is still just over 1% and not enough to replace those dying which is over 2%.

You would think that Singapore would therefore welcome all Singaporean babies to be their own but apparently not. Do they see it as bringing foreigners in in disguise?

There are many hoops that you have to go through if you want your child to be Singaporean and you are not Singaporean yourself including marrying a Singaporean and then having a child, becoming a citizen yourself and not just a PR (which I find bizarre) or you could just wait till your child is 18 for a guy or 21 for a girl and the government will invite them to become a citizen.

Of course for boys this means they must do National Service, but surely that’s a small price to pay for being one of the luckiest to be born in Asia!

Singapore is at least better than places like Hong Kong and Australia where citizenship is never offered to PR’s/pass-holders.

I have tried to find out why this is the case and can only conclude that the policy is designed to stop people from poorer neighbours like the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia from just hoping over the border to visit Sentosa and having a baby here at the same time and gaining all the benefits.

However this overlooks the small fact that there is virtually no welfare system here. Born here does not give you any benefits unless you really are on the poverty line.

Even then the reason why so many older Singaporeans work in fast food outlets (way past any age they would do so in the West) is because there are no freebies, no safety net beyond your child looking after you (they must do so legally but if you have no family it becomes a problem).

There are a few creditable seniors support groups/hand-outs through organisations like NTUC and the government for those really in need but in reality you are on your own in Singapore which is why the family support is so crucial and if you were here being a tourist mother you would miss out on this.

The UK and US could learn much in this context from Singapore. They are billions in debt while Singapore is billions in surplus mainly due to welfare bills for the two western countries.

They though have the reverse policy when it comes to the question of what nationality are you if you are born in that country. If you’re born in the UK or US you are British or American no matter what.

So why stop people, (especially those who have gone through the rigours of becoming a PR) from having a baby called an official Singaporean and not called after the country of the parent where the baby has never been? How can you be English if you have never been to England for example?

The Economist Unit survey paints Singapore as the place to be born in Asia, the aspirational capital where when you are born amazing things happen to you…

The survey, which measures a country according to the opportunities it will provide residents for a healthy and prosperous life in decades to come, ranked the city-state as the sixth-best country to be born in this year. Switzerland was top followed by Australia, Norway, Sweden and Denmark. Hong Kong, ranked as the 10th-best place to be born in 2013, with Taiwan coming in 14^th – both beating the U.S., which came in 16^th.

When the Economist Intelligence Unit, (a sister company of the Economist magazine), first put out a similar survey in 1988, America was considered the best place in the world to be born.

Singapore then ranked 36^th, tied with East Germany, and just above neighboring Malaysia, which ranked 38^th.

Now, Malaysia has climbed slightly to rank at 36, with Thailand at the No. 50 spot and the Philippines at 63.

Despite Indonesia’s staggering economic growth and record foreign direct investment, the survey ranks it as the 71^st-best place in the world to be born this year out of 80 countries, three spots below Vietnam despite its being fraught by crackdowns on dissent and a worsening debt problem in 2012.

As PM Lee recently said foreigners should be welcome as long as they integrate and contribute to society. Therefore surely if you are putting down roots in Singapore and having a family here and working here to pay for this family and integrating and contributing then a child born here to that family should be called a Singaporean?

As ever, I welcome your views, reasons and thoughts on this subject.