Foreign Population Increasing at 1.5% Per Year. SGs to Become Minority in 10 Years.

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[h=2]PM Lee: We have to make sure we’re not overwhelmed by foreigners[/h]

July 10th, 2012 |

Author: Editorial

Speaking at the FutureChina Global Forum 2012 held at the Shangri-la Hotel today (10 Jul), PM Lee said Singapore has to adapt to a changing world, but at a pace which Singaporeans can accept and get used to.
He said it was “completely understandable” that Singaporeans may feel uncomfortable with the recent influx of mainland Chinese immigrants, who may look the same as Singaporean Chinese, but sound and behave differently.
Two months ago in May, a wealthy Chinese expatriate crashed his million-dollar Ferrari into a taxi killing himself and two others. His wife reportedly told the media in an interview that her husband liked to drive at night as there was less traffic.
It was estimated that he was driving his Ferrari in excess of 180 kilometres per hour at the time of the accident. The incident prompted the Chinese embassy to write to the media urging mainland Chinese in Singapore to abide by its laws and regulations and to live responsibly and gracefully.
Mr Lee said: “We have to encourage the non-Singaporeans who are living here to adapt to the circumstances in Singapore and understand that this is a different society with different values and cultures and (a society that is) multi-racial and religious.”
“(They) have to make those adaptations which the Singaporean Chinese have adapted and learned over several generations. Of course, we also have to manage the numbers and the flow and make sure that we’re not overwhelmed.”
It is unclear how PM Lee is “managing” the inflow of foreigners.
According to the Department of Statistics (DOS), the latest population figures show that the number of foreigners (including PRs) has, in fact, increased by 4% to 1.9 million. The proportion of foreigners in the population of Singapore now stands at 37.2%:

2010

2011

<TBODY>
[TD="width: 64"] Year [/TD]
[TD="width: 74"] Total Population (‘000)
[/TD]
[TD="width: 86"] Singaporean (‘000)
[/TD]
[TD="width: 84"] Foreigner (include PR) (‘000)
[/TD]
[TD="width: 85"] Percent of Foreigner in Population [/TD]

[TD="align: right"] 5,077 [/TD]
[TD="align: right"] 3,231 [/TD]
[TD="align: right"] 1,846 [/TD]
[TD="align: right"] 36.4% [/TD]

[TD="align: right"] 5,184 [/TD]
[TD="align: right"] 3,257 [/TD]
[TD="align: right"] 1,926 [/TD]
[TD="align: right"] 37.2% [/TD]

</TBODY>

PM Lee said the government will continue to manage the social impact of immigration, and urged newcomers to play their part.
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