Temasek as the Citizenship Transit Point

 To the naturalised citizens who tore up their pink IC in the end, good luck, good bye!

I don't bother much about locals leaving. They must have their own reasons, valid or not is subjective. Maybe because their banana kids cannot cope with Chinese, they find life is too stressful in Singapore and they want a slower pace, they are retiring overseas and want to enjoy quality of life, they are SPG and married foreigners and moved out, these are common stories we hear of why people leave Singapore. They would miss their heart-stopping add-hum-add-egg char kway teow, but they won;t miss it that much to stay here. I wish them the best in their greener pastures yonder, especially the guys as presumably they did their NS obligations.

My shitty comments on citizens leaving are reserved for the naturalised citizens. Supposedly about 300 a year according to the stats bugger off. About 300 of the average 1,200 citizens every year. About 25% of the citizens who tear up their pink IC every year in recent years.

Now is that an anger-festering fact or what. These foreigners come here, get citizenship, sumpah what "we the citizens of Singapore, pledge ourselves...". Then they have the privilege to buy HDB flats or landed property, make a killing in the recent bullish property market and then pack up and go. They managed to make money out of property, and the guys don't even have to do NS. Very galling man the idea. I very sour grapes, so what.

Furthermore, it is not a small percentage of freeloaders. It is about 25% of the people who threw away their pink IC. What I want to know is whether there is a pattern in this citizenship freeloading where Singapore is just a transit point or a stepping stone to citizenship in another country. What nationality are these people who come here, pledge allegiance to the red, white, stars and crescent, and then cash out their citizenship? PRC, India. Malaysia?

SINGAPORE - An average of 1,200 Singaporeans renounced their citizenship every year between 2007 and 2011.

Of these, 300 were naturalised citizens.

But the renunciation rates for both naturalised citizens and Singapore born citizens were low at 0.1 per cent or less, said Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean, as he gave this update in Parliament today.

Mr Teo also explained why some give up their citizenship and assured members that every application for citizenship was carefully evaluated.

"Every application for permanent residence or Singapore citizenship is evaluated holistically on a range of criteria, including economic contributions, qualifications, age, family profile, and length of stay in Singapore," he said. "The reasons for emigration vary. Some emigrants leave for family reasons, because of marriage or to reunite the family members overseas, while others do so for a different living environment.

"All Singapore citizens and permanent residents who own HDB flats will have to sell their properties if they renounce their citizenship or cease to be permanent residents. There are no exceptions to this rule."