Xenophobia online: unmasking Singaporean attitudes towards ‘foreign talent’ migrants

Abstract

In recent years, Singaporeans have become highly anxious about the future of their country and their own personal livelihood due to the influx of educated and professional migrants known as 'foreign talent' and express their ire at the presence of these migrants through xenophobic posts online. This paper suggests that such comments however, are indicative of the feelings of disillusionment and abandonment Singaporeans have towards the People's Action Party -the only government Singaporeans have ever known . While Singaporeans have been critical of their government on economic issues that impact their lifestyle and existence, it is the presence of foreign talent migrants that have pushed Singaporeans into using the migrant situation to emotively express their opinions of disappointment in the government and its policies online like no other issue; functioning as the unlikely glue that has galvanised and united an ethnically disparate Singaporean population.

Negotiating everyday life in Australia: unpacking the parallel society inhabited by Asian international students through their social networks and entertainment media use

“…Gomes (2014) suggests that in multicultural Singapore -a country where Singaporeans of Chinese and Indian backgrounds are the dominant ethnicities -there is tension between Singaporean citizens and migrants because citizens view new migrants as different to them, despite the fact that Singaporean citizens may themselves have a similar migrant heritage. Their cultural experiences as Singaporean-born citizens have evolved differently to those who are ethnically similar to them due to historical differences, for example.…”

Understanding ‘integration’: Chinese ‘foreign talent’ students in Singapore talking about rongru

“…The reasons why this ambitious target failed to materialize are manifold, but one important factor has been the rising dissatisfaction expressed by the Singaporean electorate regarding the rapid and voluminous inflows of migrants (temporary or otherwise), especially after the mid-2000s (Gomes 2014;Vasu, Yeap and Chan 2014;Yang 2014a). While authoritative statistics are lacking on the composition of immigrant inflows (due to its perceived sensitiveness), the Chinese certainly comprise one of the largest groups of foreigners in Singapore (Yim 2011).…”

Digital Journeys: A Perspective on Understanding the Digital Experiences of International Students

“…More recently, the experiences of international students have been supported by the Internet and social media which enable them to use sources of information they are familiar with as well as keep in touch with their friends from home (Chang et al, 2012;Gomes, 2014). Previous studies indicated that international students in Australia use social media to maintain social networks in order to create a space away from home for themselves in addition to the friends they make while in sojourn (Gomes et al, 2014).…”