Migration from the Nation-State of Singapore

Singapore as a nation-state enmeshed in the globalizing circuits of capital, information, ideas and human flows (Ho, 2006) represent a unique case in the study of migration, where migration can significantly affect the nation’s total population and its make-up more than natural increase.

Recent concerns over Singapore’s falling birth rates and the need to inject the economy with foreign labor has sparked discussions over issues of citizenship and national identity. This has also raised an old issue of why Singaporeans are leaving Singapore for ‘greener pastures’ overseas (Straits Times, 21 August 2002). Most often, the ones who left are deemed as talents who could have contributed to Singapore if they had not ‘quitted’ Singapore (National Day Rally, 2002). This is widely known as a ‘brain drain’, a problem that most migrant-sending countries in Asia currently face. In Singapore, this is most detrimental as the ‘brain drain’ is acutely felt in a nation that treats people as its most precious resource.

While Singapore has managed to counter emigration rates with immigration fro...