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While there is nothing wrong with policies that are based on a 'Singaporean first' principle, it can be taken too far.儲存 Abuse of this principle could lead to racism, xenophobia and aggressive nationalism. By Wu ZijianTHERE is a saying that if parents take too much responsibility, the children start to lose responsibility. There is a danger that Singapore society may be drifting towards this direction, at least when it comes to the treatment of foreigners.It is probably fair to say that the Singapore government is among one of the most activist governments in the world. You can see the government's involvement in many aspects of life, from housing to health care to education, to supporting businesses and even running companies, and managing the labour market.Of late, the government has been active in drawing up policies that give Singaporeans higher priority than foreigners. While there is nothing wrong with such efforts, they can have unintended consequences.Take this real-life experience of mine, for example. It was a busy morning (around 8.30 am) on a weekday and not surprisingly, the MRT train was quite packed. At a station, some passengers tried to get on the train, further squeezing those already on it, and a brawl began.A woman pointed her finger at an Indian passenger and yelled: "I am a Singaporean! Do you want to squeeze me out of the train in my own country?" The incident ended with the Indian passenger giving up slightly more space to the woman (not that there was much space to give up anyway in a packed train).As we think through what the woman claimed, however, questions start to rise. Here is how I try to map the logic of this woman: I am a Singapore citizen, therefore I am entitled to priority in using all of Singapore's public infrastructure ahead of other nationalities. Therefore in the case of a train that is overcrowded, I have the right to use it before any foreigners.Such childish logic may seem amusing, but anyone who has lived in Singapore long enough would find it surprisingly commonplace.Here is another real life example that I personally experienced. It was a Saturday afternoon, and my family had booked a barbecue pit to celebrate my wife's birthday. When we arrived, however, the pit was occupied by a couple by mistake. So we politely asked them to move to another pit.But they got upset and refused to do so. The incident would have been trivial, but for the following nasty scene that followed. First, the wife started to yell at me and asked me to go back to China (without knowing that I am a Singapore citizen and my home is here). Then the husband took out his pink identity card, waved itmini storagein front of my face and kept shouting that he is a real Singaporean.Eventually, the couple did move to the pit that they booked, but the same logic applied as in the case of the crowded train: I am a Singapore citizen and therefore I am entitled to any barbecue pit that was booked by a foreigner, because I get priority. And if the foreigner is not happy about it, he or she should go back to their home country.Judging from these actions, it seems that there are people who do think in this way. It makes one wonder what has created this mindset, and what can be done about it. This question goes back to the premise of my article: that people, too, should take responsibility after the government has done its part.Over the last two years, government policies have emphasised widening the difference of treatment between locals and foreigners in favour of the former.For example, additional stamp duty is applied to foreigners who buy houses here, and permanent residents face more more stringent regulations when it comes to purchasing or holding HDB flats. Singapore citizens are also given first priority in terms of getting admission into schools, and the healthcare subsidy given to citizens and PRs has also been differentiated more.While there is nothing wrong with such policies which are based on a "Singaporean first" principle, it can be taken too far if extended.For example, some people might take a "Singaporean first" mentality in a wrong way and apply it universally to everything, as illustrated by the instances that I encountered. Such abuse of the "Singaporean first" principle could move Singapore into the territory of racism, xenophobia and aggressive nationalism.Once unleashed, such sentiments can have dangerous consequences, not unlike what happened in Hitler's Third Reich in the 1930s, or the expulsion of Asians from African countries in the 1970s.As a small and resource-scarce economy, Singapore needs to continue to be open to the world and to foreign talent and foreign companies in order to survive and prosper. A key cornerstone of Singapore's attraction to foreign talent and capital is the justice and equality of treatment, without which Singapore would go into serious decline.If the government has done its part to ensure a wider adoption of the "Singaporean first" principle, it is also time for the people to ask themselves what role and responsibility they should take to make their country a better place to live for all. This cannot happen if people adopt an "us versus them" attitude to foreigners in every area of life.The writer is the CEO of Woodsford Capital Management, a finance company based in Singaporeself storage