The Population Debate: What are we bequeathing to our children?
By Dr Wong Wee Nam
04 February 2013
If a target of 6.9 million people is what the government hopes to achieve, it is not an exaggeration to say that in 2030, Singapore will become a marketplace where sojourners come when the times are good to ply their trade and make their money. But it will no longer be a home where citizens live and strive to develop it into a better place for their children. With all the over-crowding and Singaporeans becoming an obvious minority in their own country, there will not be many true-blooded Singaporeans left who are willing to die for their country and defend it against all external threats. It will no longer be a home. It will no longer be a country. It will just become purely a business centre.
In the recently published Population White Paper, one of the pillars for a sustainable population for a dynamic Singapore is for Singaporeans to form the core and heart of Singapore. It is argued that by increasing the fertility rate and importing immigrants in large numbers, we will be able to the achieve this. Unfortunately, this is not so.
Whether Singaporeans can form the core and heart of Singapore depends on whether Singapore continues to remain a home and a country for its citizens.
A country is a place where a person can grow up, a place which provides him with an opportunity to work so that he can provide for his family. It is a community which can support him emotionally, socially and provide a sense of culture. In return, it makes him feel enough love and obligation to his community, his country and his fellow men to want to do something for his nation and defend it.
Thus, what is needed for a strong society is the spirit of community and the desire of its members to be part of the community.
Generally, Singaporeans who have lived and grown up in this country and performed national service duties have no problem having this feeling of community. They have been conditioned since young to queue, to live with other races and not to litter. We speak Singlish and enjoy curry, durian, teh tarik and rojak.
We cannot build a core of Singaporeans with a heart when new immigrants flock into Singapore in large numbers. When foreigners come in large numbers, they find security in their own community. This makes it harder for them to assimilate and become part of the larger Singapore community. It is even more difficult when, with modern technology and communications, they are still connected by easy travels, internet, and cable TV to the motherland from where they had come.
Instead of one people, one country, we will end up with having many people, many countries.
It makes matter worse when these people are seen as competitors for jobs and housing.
Do We Need 6.9 Million People?
Dr. John B. Calhoun, an ecologist who had studied rats in an overpopulated situation, found that over-crowding is not a good thing for those rodents. He demonstrated that as the population density increased, social behaviour degenerated. The rats suffered from infectious diseases, some became violent (and even form gangs), whilst most became withdrawn and passive. Some mounted male and female rats indiscriminately.
In an increasingly crowded environment rats are incapable of the social behaviour that would allow them to produce the next generation. Our own drop in fertility should be a sign that we are getting over-crowded and we should decrease our population instead of increasing it.
Though rats are not human beings, the biological needs for space and resources in both human and rat behaviours are the same in influencing behaviours in both species........
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