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Coffeeshop Chit Chat - PAP responds to Dr Chee on 6.5M target</TD><TD id=msgunetc noWrap align=right> </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><TABLE class=msgtable cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="96%"><TBODY><TR><TD class=msg vAlign=top><TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR class=msghead><TD class=msgbfr1 width="1%"> </TD><TD><TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0><TBODY><TR class=msghead vAlign=top><TD class=msgF width="1%" noWrap align=right>From: </TD><TD class=msgFname width="68%" noWrap>kojakbt_89 <NOBR></NOBR> </TD><TD class=msgDate width="30%" noWrap align=right>2:23 am </TD></TR><TR class=msghead><TD class=msgT height=20 width="1%" noWrap align=right>To: </TD><TD class=msgTname width="68%" noWrap>ALL <NOBR></NOBR></TD><TD class=msgNum noWrap align=right> (1 of 8) </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR><TR><TD class=msgleft rowSpan=4 width="1%"> </TD><TD class=wintiny noWrap align=right>38561.1 </TD></TR><TR><TD height=8></TD></TR><TR><TD class=msgtxt>PAP responds to Dr Chee Soon Juan on “6.5 million” population target
September 8th, 2010 |
Author: Your Correspondent
For the first time, the PAP regime has responded (indirectly) to Dr Chee Soon Juan’s criticisms of its immigration policies via its propaganda mouthpiece the Straits Times.
Dr Chee Soon Juan’s video response to Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s National Day Rally has been making waves in cyberspace with more than 14,000 views so far. (view video here)
In the video, Dr Chee lampooned PM Lee for his intention to increase Singapore’s population to 6.5 million people via immigration which will cause Singaporeans to become a minority one day.
A panicky PAP which has come under increasing fire of late from Singaporeans for its screwed-up immigration policies, had the Straits Times published an article today to “clarify” the “mistakes” in Dr Chee’s speech.
In an article titled “That 6.5 million population figure” under the Straits Times’ Prime News section today, ST journalist Rachel Lin tried desperately hard to cover up for the PAP’s utter incompetence:
“IN 2007, National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan announced that the Government had increased its long-term population estimate (t0) 6.5 million, up from the 2001 projection of 5.5 million……Three years after it first surfaced, the 6.5 million figure still sparks controversy. Singapore Democratic Party leader Chee Soon Juan gave it prime mention in his response to the Prime Minister’s National Day Rally speech, saying that ‘Mr Lee intends to increase our population to 6.5 million’, with foreigners outnumbering Singaporeans.
This assertion, however, has to be put in perspective. Mr Mah had stressed that the 6.5 million number is not a target that the Government feels Singapore’s population should reach. Instead, he characterised it as a ‘planning parameter’ – to guide future development blueprints in the URA’s Concept Plan.”
[Source: Straits Times]
It matters little now if the 6.5 million figure is a target or a “planning parameter” – the fact remains that our population has increased to 5.08 million now and Singaporeans are suffering from the unwanted effects of immigration due to the lack of foresight by the PAP to plan ahead especially in public housing.
Since Mr Mah is already aware that the long-term population target or planning parameter of Singapore is 6.5 million people, why didn’t he build more HDB flats between the years 2006 – 2008 to meet the expected growing demand?
Only 3,183 flats were built in 2008 when Singapore accepted 20,000 new citizens and 90,000 PRs who were allowed to purchase resale flats in the open market by the PAP regime.
[Source: HDB Financial Report 2008/2009]
As there are insufficient new flats being built to meet the demands of both Singaporeans and the new citizens, many have to purchase flats in the resale market, thereby jacking up prices in the process leading to the absurd situation we have today where newly launched BTO flats are oversubscribed by more than ten times.
Below is a graph illustrating how the rise in the prices of resale flats coincides with the rise in the number of foreigners in Singapore between the years 2000 and 2008, courtesy of Kojakbt, the moderator of 3in1kopitiam:
How can HDB with so many scholars, researchers and academicians at its disposal failed to anticipate the heightened demand for public housing now and build more flats back then which would have stabilized the property market?
The PAP should stop arguing over semantics and finding silly excuses to absolve itself from blame. If PAP leaders have any sense of shame in them left, they should acknowledge their mistakes and offer an unreserved public apology to all Singaporeans instead of dismissing their concerns as mere trivial complaints.
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For the first time, the PAP regime has responded (indirectly) to Dr Chee Soon Juan’s criticisms of its immigration policies via its propaganda mouthpiece the Straits Times.
Dr Chee Soon Juan’s video response to Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s National Day Rally has been making waves in cyberspace with more than 14,000 views so far. (view video here)
In the video, Dr Chee lampooned PM Lee for his intention to increase Singapore’s population to 6.5 million people via immigration which will cause Singaporeans to become a minority one day.
A panicky PAP which has come under increasing fire of late from Singaporeans for its screwed-up immigration policies, had the Straits Times published an article today to “clarify” the “mistakes” in Dr Chee’s speech.
In an article titled “That 6.5 million population figure” under the Straits Times’ Prime News section today, ST journalist Rachel Lin tried desperately hard to cover up for the PAP’s utter incompetence:
“IN 2007, National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan announced that the Government had increased its long-term population estimate (t0) 6.5 million, up from the 2001 projection of 5.5 million……Three years after it first surfaced, the 6.5 million figure still sparks controversy. Singapore Democratic Party leader Chee Soon Juan gave it prime mention in his response to the Prime Minister’s National Day Rally speech, saying that ‘Mr Lee intends to increase our population to 6.5 million’, with foreigners outnumbering Singaporeans.
This assertion, however, has to be put in perspective. Mr Mah had stressed that the 6.5 million number is not a target that the Government feels Singapore’s population should reach. Instead, he characterised it as a ‘planning parameter’ – to guide future development blueprints in the URA’s Concept Plan.”
[Source: Straits Times]
It matters little now if the 6.5 million figure is a target or a “planning parameter” – the fact remains that our population has increased to 5.08 million now and Singaporeans are suffering from the unwanted effects of immigration due to the lack of foresight by the PAP to plan ahead especially in public housing.
Since Mr Mah is already aware that the long-term population target or planning parameter of Singapore is 6.5 million people, why didn’t he build more HDB flats between the years 2006 – 2008 to meet the expected growing demand?
Only 3,183 flats were built in 2008 when Singapore accepted 20,000 new citizens and 90,000 PRs who were allowed to purchase resale flats in the open market by the PAP regime.
[Source: HDB Financial Report 2008/2009]
As there are insufficient new flats being built to meet the demands of both Singaporeans and the new citizens, many have to purchase flats in the resale market, thereby jacking up prices in the process leading to the absurd situation we have today where newly launched BTO flats are oversubscribed by more than ten times.
Below is a graph illustrating how the rise in the prices of resale flats coincides with the rise in the number of foreigners in Singapore between the years 2000 and 2008, courtesy of Kojakbt, the moderator of 3in1kopitiam:
The PAP should stop arguing over semantics and finding silly excuses to absolve itself from blame. If PAP leaders have any sense of shame in them left, they should acknowledge their mistakes and offer an unreserved public apology to all Singaporeans instead of dismissing their concerns as mere trivial complaints.
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