Should foreigners take the blame?

During an hour-long dialogue with Law Minister K. Shanmugam on Sunday, 58-year-old Wee Kai Fatt stood up and complained about the foreigner population boom in Singapore, saying he was shocked to learn that there were over five million people residing in Singapore. He added that the influx of foreigners had caused HDB flat prices to skyrocket.

Mr. Shanmugam clarified the issue and said that several misconceptions arose from Mr. Wee's statement.

His key message: “It is unfair to cast foreigners as the villains driving up the prices of HDB flats.”

Speaking at the end of his visit to Yew Tee constituency in Hong Kah GRC, the Law Minister said, “The first misconception is that somehow there are five million people and that's putting pressure on all of us. It doesn't.”

Out of the five million residents of Singapore, 3.2 million are citizens and roughly 500,000 are permanent residents (PRs), while the remaining 1.3 million foreigners have temporary work permits and they “impose no burden” on the country’s public housing system, noted Mr. Shanmugam, who is also Singapore’s Second Home Affairs Minister.