Every Government Should Put Their Own Citizens First
This article is written in response to the Financial Times article styled “Fed-up expats begin drifting away from Singapore”, where an anonymous consultant said that ”It’s just one of many ways in which Singapore showed it’s not super friendly to expats, and that they will always prioritize their own citizens ahead of foreigners”.
In the article by Financial Times, the anonymous contributor made that comment as a response to Singapore’s policy of getting locals vaccinated first. Another interviewee also expressed his frustrations at not being able to fly back to Singapore to his family after flying out of Singapore for a short-term business trip, following COVID-19 travel restrictions. Others complained about losing their jobs due to the pandemic.
These are rather entitled statements. Locals are losing their jobs as well, and Singaporeans with overseas ties are similarly unable to travel as freely. The biggest flaw with this article, is that it pins the blame on the government for putting their own citizens first. Here’s the question — what is wrong with that? Blinded by self-interest, many people seem to have forgotten the purpose of having a government in the first place. Here is a summary of some of the responsibilities of a government.
❶ The first responsibility of the government is that they should protect their citizens. They need to protect their citizens from violence which can come from foreign foes, as in the case of the two world wars, or it can also come from within, such as in the case of murders and assault. This responsibility of the government means that they would have to fund, train and equip an army and a police force; to build courts and jails; and to elect or appoint the officials to pass and implement the laws citizens must not break. In the case of a pandemic, it is also the government’s responsibility to protect their citizens by ensuring an ample supply of protective equipment or vaccine for their own people.
❷ The second responsibility of the government is that they have to provide for their citizens. Think about the three basic needs like food and water. The government has to ensure that infrastructure is in place for there to be sufficient food and water. They also play a role in creating and managing infrastructures like that of houses and roads. The government is there to cushion any inability of citizens to provide for themselves. Before they start feeding other nations, they would have to first ensure that they can feed their own.
❸ With a flourishing nation, the third responsibility of the government is to create a system that allows their own citizens to flourish socially and economically. This can come in the form of schools or investment in resources to allow their citizens to succeed. Occasionally, this involves the investment in foreign talents, to bring over their skills and expertise to train their own citizens. However, as many expatriates have forgotten, the end goal of such an investment by any government is for the proficiency of their own citizens. It is for their own population to learn those skills and to introduce new technology that the country has yet seen. Once in a while, such foreigners are naturalized, but at the end of the day, such policies are not meant for a mass integration of a foreign population.
❹ The fourth responsibility of the government is that they give their own citizens a voice on a global stage. They are supposed to speak up in the interest of their own people, to ensure that their country will not be taken advantaged of.
At the end of the day, it is important to remember that governments are the protector, the provider, the enabler, and the voice of their own people. It is only right that every government puts their own citizens first.
