Lee Hsien Loong: SGs leaving Spore is a problem. Reason: SGs Speak Good Engrish Woh!

makapaaa · Jul 24, 2015

http://statestimesreview.com/2015/07/23/lee-hsien-loong-singaporeans-leaving-singapore-is-a-problem/

[h=1]Lee Hsien Loong: Singaporeans leaving Singapore is a problem[/h]admin / 14 hours ago July 23, 2015

In his recent interview with US-based TIME Magazine, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong admitted that making Singaporeans feel rooted and stay in Singapore is a problem to him. PM Lee said that because of English standards and good education, many Singaporeans have aplenty of options overseas, especially for the talented and successful ones.

He lamented that if more Singaporeans are leaving Singapore, the country will be shrunken.

“With Singaporeans, you speak English, you’re well-educated, the doors open everywhere. You can go to Silicon Valley, you can go to Sydney, you can go to Perth, you can go to London, Frankfurt, you’re welcomed and it’s not just talking about five, 10 per cent at the top who are like that but 30, 40, maybe even 50 per cent who are welcomed.
If the successful ones mostly leave, we’re going to be depleted. And if it goes beyond the successful ones, we’ll be shrunken.”

Photo of Lee Hsien Loong from Yahoo Singapore

It appears that PM Lee is unaware that large number of Singaporeans are also leaving for non-English speaking countries like Malaysia, Thailand and China. And that many Singaporeans are leaving not because of attractive overseas employment offers, but because of the political situation in Singapore.

PM Lee also did not explain how has his government helped Singaporeans to stay rooted to the country, except saying that he finds it a big problem to balance foreigners number and forging national identity among Singaporeans.

PM Lee said Singapore must have a “solid Singaporean core”, but did not offer any solutions either:

“If you don’t have that Singapore core, you can top up the numbers, but you are no longer Singapore. It doesn’t feel Singapore, it isn’t Singapore and we can issue everybody red passports, but where is the continuity?
The Government has taken steps to slow the intake of foreigners in recent years. But faced with a rapidly ageing population, “the solution we have to be able to work, is to have enough of our own children for the next generation.”

If PM Lee is serious about his emphasis on a Singaporean core, why did he propose a 6.9 million population then? It is also noticed that the number of S-Pass holders have also risen 77% over the last 5 years, so does this mean PM Lee Hsien Loong is not concerned about the national identity after all?

makapaaa · Jul 24, 2015

Re: Lee Hsien Loong: SGs leaving Spore is a problem. Reason: SGs Speak Good Engrish W

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Joel Zheng · Works at NRA Capital
“With Singaporeans, you speak English, you’re well-educated, the doors open everywhere. You can go to Silicon Valley, you can go to Sydney, you can go to Perth, you can go to London, Frankfurt, you’re welcomed and it’s not just talking about five, 10 per cent at the top who are like that but 30, 40, maybe even 50 per cent who are welcomed.

If the successful ones mostly leave, we’re going to be depleted. And if it goes beyond the successful ones, we’ll be shrunken.”

Maybe you should ask yourself that question. Have u live a day in the life as a normal citizen and feel what its like to be a low - middle class? Maybe SG need to have "Undercover Boss". Only then you will your eyes be open.
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1 · 2 hrs

Alan Shadrake · Changi Prison, Singapore
I think he should hand over the reins to the diminished British Empire. We have only a few little islands left and from what I have heard from many SE Asians things were much better run in Singapore, Malaysia and India before they foolishly demanded freedom. What ho, chaps!
Like · Reply · 12 hrs

William Hidajat · Singapore
The problem of brain drain in this country seemed to b quite serious.
Like · Reply · 24 mins

SgGoneWrong · Jul 24, 2015

Re: Lee Hsien Loong: SGs leaving Spore is a problem. Reason: SGs Speak Good Engrish W

This hypocrite pinky cares a shit that sinkies are leaving, in fact he is more than happy. He said this to justify why more fts are needed to replace sinkies leaving. For every sinkie who leaves, 10-30 mor fts are added.

makapaaa · Jul 24, 2015

Re: Lee Hsien Loong: SGs leaving Spore is a problem. Reason: SGs Speak Good Engrish W

SINGAPORE — The Republic has a 25-year-old window to raise birth rates and maintain a balance between the proportion of foreigners and Singaporeans. Otherwise, it could be in a “very tight spot” like Japan, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong warned in a wide-ranging interview with Time magazine, which was conducted on July 10 and published today (July 23).

Reiterating the size of the challenges for the country in the medium and long term, Mr Lee also flagged the dangers of a brain drain and schisms within the population, as the Republic grapples with demographic and existential challenges in the decades ahead.

“In 25 years, if we can’t get our demography balance between our births and immigration of foreign workers, then we will be in a very tight spot like the Japanese are,” he said. “Now if you take a 50-year timeframe, then I think beyond individual policy, the most important thing is the sense of national identity because before you can make any policies and get people to say ‘I want to do this or the other’ ... first, people must feel that we are Singaporeans, we want to be together, we are different from the others and we are special.”

Mr Lee said that it was essential to have a Singapore core in the society. “Because if you don’t... you can top up the numbers, but you are no longer Singapore. It doesn’t feel Singapore, it isn’t Singapore and we can issue everybody red passports, but where is the continuity?”

With about a million foreign workers here, Mr Lee said this was “not a small number” and he did not think that policymakers can “go a lot beyond”.

To achieve a balance would entail Singaporeans having enough of our own children for the next generation, he stressed. “Which is why I say (in) 25 years demography is very important,” he said.

With Singaporeans generally well-educated and able to speak English, the world is their oyster. “And it’s not just talking about five, 10 per cent at the top who are like that but 30, 40, maybe even 50 per cent who are welcomed (in other countries),” Mr Lee noted.

For example, well-trained graduates from polytechnics here are sought after by Australian universities, he said. “So, the options for Singaporeans to leave are plentiful and for the talented ones and successful ones, more so, If the successful ones mostly leave, we’re going to be depleted. And if it goes beyond the successful ones, we’ll be shrunken.”

Singapore must also not assume that internal schisms could not exist. Mr Lee said: “You look at Hong Kong, it’s one race, but you have a very deep divide between Hong Kongers and people who come from China. Even within Hong Kong, between the rich and the poor, there is now a very strong sense of differentness which did not use to be there before even though the real dollar wealth gap has always existed.”

The same thing could happen in the Republic, with race, language and religion added to the mix, he said. “The religion is a stronger motivator than ever before. It’s not just in Singapore, but all over the word.... it can be values, LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) issues can become a divisive issue,” said Mr Lee. “It can be based on ethnic and external relations. We are mostly Chinese, China becomes a great power. What is the impact on our people’s thinking and perspectives on the world and how does that impact on the Malays and the Indians who are non-Chinese?

“How will they feel if the perspective shifts and you find yourself tilted towards China? Will that not cause tensions, at least, tidal stresses? Divisions, we hope not. But these are issues which we worry about for 50 years.”

Mr Lee also noted how Singapore’s situation today is different from its early years. “When we started out, backs were to the wall. Today, your backs are not to the wall... the tactics which we were able to use in the 1960s, 1970s – ‘let’s have a campaign, mobilise everybody’ and, therefore, social pressure – stop littering, or stop spitting, or be courteous to one another... I am not sure that kind of approach will work anymore.”

Adding that there are more interests and preoccupations among Singaporeans, Mr Lee said: “There is a much more variegated society and to find that common ground to stand together and make unity in diversity more than a slogan, I think that’s quite a challenge.”

He added: “The conventional wisdom in the West is that you let a hundred flowers bloom and everything will be happiness and sweetness and light. We really don’t quite believe that. You do have to tend the garden to make it to flower and the challenge will be how can we do that while having a greater degree of free play and yet not have things end up in a bad outcome.”

FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION

In response to the interviewer bringing up the court cases involving bloggers Amos Yee and Roy Ngerng, Mr Lee said there is “always a balance between freedom and the rule of law and freedom is never totally unlimited”. “In our society, which is multiracial and multi-religious, giving offence to another religious or ethnic group, race, language or religion, is always a very serious matter. In this case, he’s a 16-year-old, so you have to deal with it appropriately because he’s (of a) young age.”

Mr Lee did not agree with the interviewers’ suggestion that the offending video clip put up by the teenager would have “disappeared into the ether”, if the authorities did not act. “I think it’s most unlikely the video would have disappeared into the ether. It had gone viral, it was an issue, a lot of people have filed police complaints and do you do something or do you not do something?” he said.

On the defamation suit against Mr Ngerng, Mr Lee stressed that “you can criticise the Government as much as you like on policy, on substance, on competence”. “But if you make a defamatory allegation that the Prime Minister is guilty of criminal misappropriation of pension funds of Singaporeans, that’s a very serious matter. If it’s true, the Prime Minister should be charged and jailed,” he said. “If it’s not true, the matter must be clarified and the best way to do that is by settling in court.”

http://www.todayonline.com/singapore...inue-pm?page=1

shittypore · Jul 24, 2015

Re: Lee Hsien Loong: SGs leaving Spore is a problem. Reason: SGs Speak Good Engrish W

Some leeporter shld ask, wud we be better off without him for the next 25 yrs? Wonder how wud he react to it.

laksaboy · Jul 24, 2015

Re: Lee Hsien Loong: SGs leaving Spore is a problem. Reason: SGs Speak Good Engrish W

You don't even know what's going to happen next week, so stop your highfalutin and extrapolation into the distant future, Lee Hsien Loong.

SG100, 25 years... my ass! :rolleyes:

If your idea of getting demographics 'right' is squeezing more people into a small island, and letting us suffer the consequences of one of the world's highest population densities, you are clinically insane. You need to be chased out of power, and be put down like a dog that you are.

Don't forget: your infrastructure isn't exactly in tip-top shape. Rats roaming around, crumbling defective flats, 'world class' public transport.

frenchbriefs · Jul 24, 2015

Re: Lee Hsien Loong: SGs leaving Spore is a problem. Reason: SGs Speak Good Engrish W

Sinkies in singapore are worthless pieces of shit good for nothing,cant wait to commit racial genocide and kill off sinkies.but once they go overseas to look for a better life,they become sorely missed talents,brain drain and whatnot.

dr.wailing · Jul 24, 2015

Re: Lee Hsien Loong: SGs leaving Spore is a problem. Reason: SGs Speak Good Engrish W

Most of these Sinkies may be naturalized citizens.

songsongjurong · Jul 24, 2015

Re: Lee Hsien Loong: SGs leaving Spore is a problem. Reason: SGs Speak Good Engrish W

LHL jus luv picking a bone or two with sinkies,locals have become Looney punching bag.

Ambulance · Jul 24, 2015

Re: Lee Hsien Loong: SGs leaving Spore is a problem. Reason: SGs Speak Good Engrish W

halo ser generer lee ai lang lau deh singapo jiak chow kwa fake deglee tan dua lui meh

Unrepented · Jul 24, 2015

Re: Lee Hsien Loong: SGs leaving Spore is a problem. Reason: SGs Speak Good Engrish W

Thank you PM Lee.

Now I know why Fandi the son of Singapore want to go Batam, because he can't speak good English.:o

Hans168 · Jul 25, 2015

Re: Lee Hsien Loong: SGs leaving Spore is a problem. Reason: SGs Speak Good Engrish W

I thot we can't even match FTrashes even in FnB where the mgrs are peenoy or ah neh ( even Mc Donalds)

mojito · Jul 25, 2015

Re: Lee Hsien Loong: SGs leaving Spore is a problem. Reason: SGs Speak Good Engrish W

No. Pinoy speak better English.

bigboss · Jul 25, 2015