ST : SM clarifies on PR renewal

Sep 8, 2010

SM clarifies on PR renewal

By Rachel Chang & Rachel Lin

SENIOR Minister Goh Chok Tong clarified on Wednesday remarks he made suggesting the Government would not renew permanent resident status for some PRs who decline its offer of citizenship.

The comment, made at a dialogue on Monday, was a 'general observation to illustrate the point that the Government would be managing the inflow of PRs and would encourage some of those who are already here to become Singapore citizens,' said a statement from his press secretary Ho Tong Yen.

Mr Goh's remarks at the Marine Parade dialogue, made in response to a resident who suggested offering citizenship to foreigners on employment pass to 'bind them to us', ignited a firestorm that has raged over the last few days.

He had said on Monday: 'In the past, we could just give you permanent residence without taking up Singapore citizenship. Moving forward, we are going to approach some of them to take up Singapore citizenship. If they don't, then their PR will be not renewed. That's a better way.'

He added that of the 500,000 PRs in Singapore, 'maybe 50,000 can be selected to become Singapore citizens, the rest can be PRs contributing to the economy.'

The blowback was swift and furious. A comment thread on expatriate website ExpatSingapore was started with the header: 'Singapore to expel 10 per cent of Permanent Residents'.

In his statement on Wednesday, Mr Goh's press secretary said 'the figure of 10 per cent which SM gave was only for illustrative purposes. It is not a target, nor is it the case that all PRs who turned down the offer of Singapore citizenship would not have their PR status renewed.'

Mr Ho added: 'The Government will continue to review and refine its policies to ensure that those who have PR status are an asset to our society, and that those who are given citizenship are, in addition, assessed to be committed in their allegiance to Singapore.'