Within the recruitment industry, I would have to say it depends on both your industry and your clients, whether primarily Western MNCs or local SME/RMNCs. In the firm I used to work for, I was the token Ang Mo (all the rest S'porean Chinese including the owner - and he was lgbt to boot!) I was his ticket. Being the only Caucasian in the company, I was his way past the local receptionist to the western PM/CEO/MD as the case may be. He wanted to penetrate the O&G and Major International Construction companies but being Chinese educated, found his English wanting. While not British, my background in Offshore Construction and the O&G industries in general more than made up for my Yank English, which most spoke anyway. It was a good gig for me as I had no competition within the company and I had a lot more than a cursory idea of the industry.
But here is where I have to part company with addadude re locals (and I know some good ones - don't get me wrong) the majority aren't worth a spit. At least in those industries that I'm familiar with. Useless Unless! They had an overseas education (not Ivy league or Oxford/Cambridge but anywhere in a western country AND worked overseas for a period of around 2 years. Better still, a Polytechnic diploma holder who went overseas for three years and got the full degree. These guys are good. Better in fact than the average 4 year Uni graduate with 2 or 3 years experience locally (I can only speak on hard engineering - I know nuts about the financial or IT industries). The majority of local engineers, with local degrees, all expect to be nothing but project engineers and wear a white shirt and tie and spend the day in a air conditioned office. Go on site?
Heaven forbid. But as I've said, there are some good Singaporeans in these industries, but one needs to go through sooo many to find one. Therefore, it's much easier to bring in a foreigner with experience and who doesn't mind slogging it out in the heat/cold/wet/dry weather (all on the same day if necessary). It got so bad it was one of the reasons I got out of headhunting completely. The local companies didn't help much either. You get a call asking for an engineer and you bust your hump finding 3 suitable engineers (I never send more than 3, if I sent that many). The client calls back saying they are all asking too much money and they only need to be diploma holders. D'oh! So, you have to learn to ask them if they want engineers or technicians. They'll say, I want engineers. So you have to ask, "Must they be able to sign off on changes and completions?" If they say no, then you know they are looking for technicians and not really Engineers. They call them Engineers so they get face if not more money (the Position title in the contract and on their business card is worth more than the money), so you get an education (6th sense) when reading engineering CVs from locals as well, learning to read between the lines so you don't get burned.
But, I do think that in certain industries it does lend itself to race-centric departments, and I have to say that it can be both a good thing and a bad thing depending on who's controlling the strings. When all of a single race are in a closed department, it does make a meeting of the minds much easier but also can have disadvantages as well, especially if all foreign. I don't see HR as being to blame and all like to postulate, but I do blame it on the end users and they may be using HR to get their way.