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252 11 Immigration Policies and Programmes The national population policies in Singapore have been dominated by fertility policies in the form of antinatalist measures commencing from the mid-1960s and postnatalist measures from the 1980s. The recent recognition that, despite the introduction of a comprehensive postnatalist policy, fertility will never return to replacement level to sustain the population size in the future has resulted in a big shift in the national population programme towards immigration as the key answer to replenishing the population in the years ahead. Not surprisingly, immigration rules have been expended and relaxed to attract foreigners, especially professionals and businessmen, to re-locate to Singapore and become permanent residents. Citizenship laws and procedures have also been liberalised to make it easier for those who have became permanent residents to take up Singapore citizenship by naturalisation. By and large, the various schemes designed to lure foreigners to work and settle in the country resulted in a surge In the foreign population and, consequently, frequent grumbling about the city-state becoming too over-crowded. Lately, some of the rules meant to attract foreigners have been tightened. IMMIGRATION LAWS It may be recalled that up to December 1942 Singapore and Peninsular Malaysia were considered as a single unit in matters concerning migration under the British colonial rule and various legislations were in force to control different classes of immigrants from China, the Indian sub-continent, and other countries. During the Japanese Occupation, which lasted until September 1945, the flow of immigrants into the two territories was completely halted, although there was some internal movement of people between them. The end of the Japanese Occupation brought migration under the jurisdiction of the British colonial rule Immigration Policies and Programmes 253 once again, but the changing social and economic environment in the early postwar years necessitated a complete reappraisal of the whole issue of migration. In the early post-war years, there was no attempt to revive any of the previous systems of encouraging immigration into the country. The only legislation available was the Aliens Ordinance 1893 which could still be employed by the Immigration Department to regulate the entry of aliens, particularly those from China. Prospective immigrants from the Indian sub-continent were not subject to the provision of this Ordinance because they were British subjects and not aliens. In addition to the lack of suitable legislation to oversee all aspects of migration, there were other new developments which emerged to force the colonial government to take a fresh look at the whole question of migration. The overall demand for workers was not increasing at such a rapid pace as in the pre-war days, and there was now an adequate supply of labour from the earlier immigrants and their children. It was necessary to exercise a tight control on immigrants from all countries and to allow permanent entry only to those who could contribute to the social and economic development of the country. To this end, the Aliens Ordinance was replaced by the more comprehensive Immigration Ordinance 1953 which came into force on 1August 1953.1 This Ordinance, together with its many subsequent amendments, was employed to control not only Chinese immigrants but also Indian, Malay and other immigrants into the country. The Ordinance restricted permanent entry to the following categories of people: (a) persons who could contribute to the expansion of commerce and industry; (b) persons who could provide specialised services not available locally; (c) families of local residents; (d) others on compassionate grounds. In 1959, the Ordinance was amended to tighten entry under category 3 by prohibiting the entry of wives and children of local residents who had been living separately from their husbands for five continuous years after December 1954, and children of citizens who were 6 years of age and others.2 In addition, children aged 6 and above of those persons admitted as specialists under category 2, or on grounds of economic benefit under category 1, were also prohibited from entering. The main objectives of the new legislation were to safeguard the employment and livelihood of residents and “to bring about a more balanced and assimilated Malayan population whose ties and loyalty are to this country alone without which the foundation of a true Malayan nation cannot be laid”.3 The amended ordinance provided a very strict and effective control over the number and quality of immigrants of all races entering Peninsular Malaysia and Singapore. [3.144.96.159] Project MUSE (2024-04-25 03...

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