The key area of contention in this thread is >an immigrant from China can come here, speak not one word of English, have no education after primary school, and get their PR status approved without a second glance?<.
As pointed out by “This is why”, facility with English is not a requirement for entry into Singapore or working in Singapore. Here Shadou’s ignorance really shows. > Since when is Chinese considered the "official" language here in Singapore? Last time I checked, the official language is English, not Chinese.< Even after being pointed out that English is just one of the 4 official languages in Singapore, and that Mandarin is also an official language, Shadou insisted > but neither does it state anywhere in this country that Mandarin is the "official" language <. This after “This is why” has cut and pasted the info from expatsingapore’s home page (under Resources, General Information, Languages).
The whole crux is that knowledge of English is not the sole criterion, nor academic qualification alone. So that being the case, the whole debate here is a misunderstanding, and the racist remarks by “why is this” is totally uncalled for and unfair. And Shadou does not have the decency to apologize for his ignorance.
> Do I think it's unfair that Chinese immigrants can come here by the thousands and land jobs with no qualifications but your average or above average foreigner from another country is not given the same rights? <
How about the hundreds of thousands of Indonesian, Bangladeshis, Malaysian, Thais and Filipinas who are already here? Are they Chinese? Most of them hardly speak English when they first arrived, except for the Filipinos.
Qualifications. Sure if you, Shadou, are willing to be paid $1,000 a month, I am sure you can get a Worker’s Permit here.
A modern diverse economy like Singapore’s needs all kind of people and talents. You can’t run an economy with all PhDs and linguists. What about the construction workers, maids, road sweepers, gardeners, etc.
That Chinese immigrant who speaks not a word of English may be recruited to teach Mandarin as a private tutor. Would an Englishman with a PPE from Oxford University do a better job or be better qualified to teach Mandarin, or for that matter to take care of a sick elderly who knows lots of Chinese, but very little English? would a PhD in Latin from Cambridge University be more suitable to work on a construction site here?
Please lah, Singapore racist? Name me a country (with the exceptions of oil-rich countries like Kuwait and Brunei) that has anywhere near 25% of its resident population who are foreigner workers?
