VZCZCXYZ0000
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHGP #0869 2530128
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 100128Z SEP 09
FM AMEMBASSY SINGAPORE
TO SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 7179

UNCLAS SINGAPORE 000869 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR S/GPI 
DEPARTMENT ALSO FOR S/P 
DEPARTMENT ALSO FOR EAP/MTS - M. COPPOLA 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: BEXP BTIO EAID OEXC OIIP PGOV PHUM PREL SCUL
SMIG, TSPL, EINV 
SUBJECT: EMBASSY SINGAPORE:  NO EXPERIENCE ENGAGING 
DIASPORA COMMUNITIES 
 
REF: STATE 86401 
 
¶1.  Post does not know of any community of Singaporeans 
living abroad that would qualify as a "diaspora" using the 
criteria set forth in reftel paragraph 4.  Given that there 
are no known diaspora communities of Singaporeans, Post is 
unable to provide meaningful responses to the questions posed 
in reftel paragraph 15.  However, Post offers the following 
additional observations. 
 
¶2.  While there are approximately 180,000 Singaporeans living 
outside Singapore, our impression is that most emigrants are 
educated and cosmopolitan people who leave for professional 
reasons.  They are generally free and able to travel between 
their adopted country and Singapore as often as they please. 
We doubt there is any such thing as a "collective memory," 
"homeland myth," or "diasporic consciousness" among 
Singaporeans living abroad.  The Government of Singapore has 
sometimes expressed concern over a perceived brain drain due 
to sustained low-level emigration by highly educated 
Singaporeans, but neither the government nor the public 
appears to conceptualize this phenomenon as a diaspora issue. 
 
¶3.  In one sense (though not in the sense defined by reftel), 
nearly every Singaporean is a member of a diaspora community, 
because none of the current inhabitants is descended from the 
indigenous people of the Malay Peninsula (of whom there are 
estimated to be less than 200,000 left, and none in 
Singapore).  The ethnic Chinese (75% of the population) 
immigrated mostly from southern provinces of China when 
Singapore was a British colony.  These immigrants employed 
several distinct varieties of spoken Chinese.  The ethnic 
Indian population (9%), largely but not uniformly 
Tamil-speaking, arrived during the same period.  The ethnic 
Malays (14%), who sometimes erroneously refer to themselves 
as the indigenous people of Singapore, came here before the 
British arrived, although the experts cannot agree on their 
true geographic origins.  These ethnic communities have 
preserved many of their respective customs, traditions, and 
religious observances in Singapore, but they do not appear to 
think of themselves as members of diasporas.  Often, they 
self-identify as simply Singaporean.  Otherwise, they 
self-identify as Chinese Singaporean, as Indian Singaporean, 
or as members of a greater Malay "race" who form the majority 
in neighboring Malaysia and Indonesia and perceive themselves 
as the rightful masters of the entire peninsula. 
 
¶4.  Singapore also contains approximately 1.2 million 
non-resident foreigners and 480,000 resident foreigners, as 
compared to a resident citizenry numbering just under 3.2 
million.  Most of the non-resident foreigners are low-wage 
workers present without their families on one- or two-year 
work permits.  They generally return to their home countries 
when their contracts end.  It is questionable whether these 
transient workers form stable communities at all, but they 
certainly do not meet reftel's definition of a diaspora.  It 
is more difficult to generalize about the resident foreigners 
and higher-wage non-resident foreigners.  In these 
categories, no one ethnic group or nationality is obviously 
dominant, and the Government of Singapore does not publish 
statistics that could be used to investigate possible group 
identities. 
 
¶5.  Finally, levels of immigration into Singapore are 
substantial relative to Singapore's small population and low 
birth rate.  In 2008, approximately 79,000 immigrants became 
Singapore permanent residents, and approximately 20,500 
became citizens.  Post believes the majority of recent 
immigrants come from mainland China, but again, there are no 
published statistics that would permit further analysis. 
Post has seen no evidence so far of the formation of new 
diaspora communities within Singapore as a result of recent 
immigration. 
 
¶6.  Embassy Singapore's point of contact for this topic is 
Political Officer Jeffry W. Duffy.  Follow-up questions, if 
any, may be directed to him at duffyjw@state.gov. 
 
Visit Embassy Singapore's Classified website: 
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/eap/singapore/ind ex.cfm 
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