Originally posted by Quincey:
I think the fear is that you allow dual citizenship, people who were reluctant to leave the country on the account of kinship and other personal factors will take up foreign citizenship and as such enable them to leave Singapore on a long term basis. I guess it has evolved into this set of factors from the original concept that people are our only resource from the post-65 days.
But this is already happening - SG citizens who are PR holders of foreign countries like UK/USA who have opted to stay there for a really long period of time.
The issue of dual citizenship works both ways - not just the fear of people dropping their SG citizenship for another, but the fact that SG citizens ARE giving up their citizenships for other countries. And on the whole, these citizens are typically middle-upper class people, the so called 'leaders' that SG is grooming/looking for.
Other countries are mature enough to allow for dual citizenships because they realise they cannot just attempt to keep their citizenry by law; they must do more to retain their citizens. By implication, SG government is worried that Sporeans will migrate elsewhere if given dual citizenship. But this is already happening, and more importantly, what does it say of our government's beliefs about us?
This was from Oct 2006 - response by Immigration Authority
We have yet to reach the stage of nationhood where a Singaporean with a second citizenship would still retain his identity and loyalty to Singapore as his homeland wherever he goes, with his second citizenship being only of secondary importance.
Yes, we are still seen as immature.