The new immigrants: Indian ‘expat’ professionals

Abstract

This article develops a nuanced understanding of transnational expatriates by examining the case of Indian professionals living in Singapore. Conceptually, it deals with transnational migration in relation to multiculturalism and integration. To apply this to a policy perspective, the presence of foreign expatriates in Singapore challenges the traditional model of CMIO multiculturalism. First, there appears to be a fundamental clash between transnational professionals who are characterized by multiple cross-border movements and the CMIO groupings which sustain the idea of being situated within one’s nation or ethnic group. Hence, while the CMIO approach to multiculturalism focuses on static identities, mobility is a core feature of the identities of transnational professionals. These diametrically opposing positions need to be reconciled for a more effective understanding of migrant integration. Second, even if one assumes that these Indian professionals identify with the CMIO model because they are after all ‘Indians’, multiculturalism as it is practiced in Singapore is challenged by intra-ethnic tensions precipitated by the arrival of such new migrants from traditional source such as India and China. These issues require a re-conceptualization of ‘integration’ as it is understood in Singapore. It is suggested that the challenge in the age of transnational migration is to focus on the development of place attachments rather than be concerned about moulding new migrants into the existing mosaic of multiculturalism.