Can non-Singaporeans hail National Day? Banner with Vietnam girl sparks xenophobia debate

On Friday, Lim Tean from the opposition party People’s Voice, shared the girl’s post with pictures of her standing under banners with the caption “Happy 59th Birthday Singapore”. Lim questioned why a “non-Singaporean” was featured in a poster celebrating National Day. The girl, whose Facebook page said she was from Vietnam, has since deleted her post.

“Shouldn’t National Day be a celebration of the Singapore Identity and Singaporeans? Is it so difficult to find a Singaporean poster girl? My friends, we have to be very careful and not allow our Singaporean identity to be lost,” Lim said in the post, which has since garnered more than 100 likes.

Addressing the comments on Saturday, Tanjong Pagar town council and MP Alvin Tan, who is also minister of state for trade and industry and culture, community and youth said: “This is not who we are as Singaporeans. We are a vibrant, cosmopolitan nation that welcomes friends from all over the world. They, too, make up our Singapore history, tapestry and precious social fabric.”

Tan added that of the 20 banners put up, 18 featured Singaporeans, one showed a permanent resident, while another was of the girl.

Some online users applauded Lim for raising the issue and echoed his sentiments, with one Reddit user writing: “The problem is why the people that organised the whole thing thought it was appropriate to feature a foreigner on publicity material that celebrates National Day rather than citizens or PRs.”

However, others dismissed his post as xenophobic and racist and accused Lim of cyberbullying. In a separate Reddit thread with more than 700 upvotes, one user commented: “You do not need our citizenship to celebrate our nation’s birthday.”

Singapore relies heavily on foreign labour,