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SINGAPORE: Integration through volunteering opportunities is emerging as a key response to challenges posed by Singapore's immigration policies.
About 4,500 new immigrants are now grassroots leaders and Integration and Naturalisation Champions, the latter a People's Association programme to welcome newcomers to neighbourhoods.
And the National Integration Council (NIC), formed in April, is exploring ways to enable students from national and Foreign System Schools to take part in joint community involvement projects.
NIC is also working on increasing the awareness among new immigrants about volunteering opportunities and volunteer matching services on a national and neighbourhood scale, said Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports Vivian Balakrishnan on Monday.
But how many of them subscribe to Singapore's core values, asked Member of Parliament (MP) Halimah Yacob. Could those who apply for citizenship sit for such a test, as is the practice in many countries?
In reply, Dr Balakrishnan said it was an "interesting" and "quite sensible" suggestion which would be studied.
As for permanent residents (PRs), an average of 74,500 foreigners applied for PR annually between 2000 and 2008, and about 46,300 were successful each year, Deputy Prime Minister Wong Kan Seng said in reply to a question by MP Chiam See Tong.
An average of 2,200 PRs renounced their status over the same period.
- TODAY/so
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