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[h=2]My feedback to NPTD on our population issues[/h]
July 31st, 2012 |
Author: Contributions
Singapore under the PAP leadership has embarked on a disastrous “open door” policy that has seen our population bursting at the seams with infrastructure unable to keep up.
Furthermore, the huge influx of immigrants (especially so from China) have created alot of social friction and eroded greatly our national identity and cohesion. You only need to see the plethora of massage parlours, KTVs, service staff of all industries being manned by China workers/residents/immigrants who cannot even communicate in basic English.
The change of Geylang, another example, to a pseudo “China” enclave is tantamount to a “fifth column” invasion of our country. A final anecdote is when I once checked into SIA counter at T3 and the 2 China counter staff there could not even understand my repeated enquiries of whether there will be air-miles accrued for that flight! I deliberately refused to ask in mandarin and finally, they had to call a Singaporean Malay staff who managed to answer my query in an instant.
To go back to the beginning, I am postulating that this (misguided and erroneous) policy resulted from our very low Total Fertility Rate (TFR), especially among the Chinese population, and our leadership’s desire to pump prime GDP growth (so they can justify their multimillion dollar salaries). We also need to re-examine the publicly stated policy of ahieving 6M residents – it is my humble opinion that our land (with our current infrastructure) cannot sustain such a number of citizens.
Moving forward, we need to :
a. Drastically reduce the immigration/issuance of PRs from China/India/Philippines. Malaysia, and to a certain extent, Indonesia, should be exempted because of cultural, racial similarities and our historical relationships.
b. Repatriate or repeal all PR/WP/EP/Citizenship applications especially from China for applicants who are here primarily for the sex/massage/entertainment/low skilled service industries. The government also need to realise the huge number of “study mamas” here are mainly to man and operate the huge number of seedy massage parlours here. A good criteria is the need for a recognised degree and a ready job offer for skilled employment.
c. Address the true underlying reasons for our low TFR, especially among the Chinese population. My understanding is:
e. The PAP must understand that GDP growth at ALL costs will only lead to widening wealth gap, collapse in social cohesion and national identity and ultimately the undoing of all that our forefathers have created. We need to stop having this mindset that we must always be the “BEST, the Cheapest, and the Fastest”. This slogan from our multimillion salaried Minister shows how misguided our thought processes in our leaders are. We have come very far for a small country without much resources, it is time to take stock, and have a well thought out long term strategy to move forward as a united country, without leaving the bulk of the middle and low income behind. Perhaps, an “Innovative, Value and Happy” slogan could be the step forward – meaning a country that counts innovativeness (‘Best’ is really over rated) as an aspiration, providing goods and services that are valued by others (not ‘Cheapest’) and a socially cohesive happy country is the Singapore I envision, support, and most importantly believe in.
.
Foo Lai Yong
.
Singapore under the PAP leadership has embarked on a disastrous “open door” policy that has seen our population bursting at the seams with infrastructure unable to keep up.
Furthermore, the huge influx of immigrants (especially so from China) have created alot of social friction and eroded greatly our national identity and cohesion. You only need to see the plethora of massage parlours, KTVs, service staff of all industries being manned by China workers/residents/immigrants who cannot even communicate in basic English.
The change of Geylang, another example, to a pseudo “China” enclave is tantamount to a “fifth column” invasion of our country. A final anecdote is when I once checked into SIA counter at T3 and the 2 China counter staff there could not even understand my repeated enquiries of whether there will be air-miles accrued for that flight! I deliberately refused to ask in mandarin and finally, they had to call a Singaporean Malay staff who managed to answer my query in an instant.
To go back to the beginning, I am postulating that this (misguided and erroneous) policy resulted from our very low Total Fertility Rate (TFR), especially among the Chinese population, and our leadership’s desire to pump prime GDP growth (so they can justify their multimillion dollar salaries). We also need to re-examine the publicly stated policy of ahieving 6M residents – it is my humble opinion that our land (with our current infrastructure) cannot sustain such a number of citizens.
Moving forward, we need to :
a. Drastically reduce the immigration/issuance of PRs from China/India/Philippines. Malaysia, and to a certain extent, Indonesia, should be exempted because of cultural, racial similarities and our historical relationships.
b. Repatriate or repeal all PR/WP/EP/Citizenship applications especially from China for applicants who are here primarily for the sex/massage/entertainment/low skilled service industries. The government also need to realise the huge number of “study mamas” here are mainly to man and operate the huge number of seedy massage parlours here. A good criteria is the need for a recognised degree and a ready job offer for skilled employment.
c. Address the true underlying reasons for our low TFR, especially among the Chinese population. My understanding is:
• Couples are marrying later due to high cost of living and high cost of purchase for their first home. We need to completely re-look into our housing policy to ensure there is steady pool of affordable housing (2/3 bedrooms) for first time couples. Here, incentives like a bigger subsidy for those that marry at an earlier age (say under thirty) will help create the “push” factor. Conversely, the later you marry, the less the subsidy.
• Lack of availability and affordability of creches, baby day care centre for infants especially for the first 24 months from birth (since high cost of living mandates that double income is required to sustain a comfortable living lifestyle, and also to help our national productivity goals). Our government, with our HUGE reserves, should undertake this as infrastructure development and provision of essential SERVICE (like electricity and water) in order to turn around our TFR. There should be greater emphasis that reasonable quality creches/infant day cares be made available and priced very affordably as quickly as possible.
• Tweak our tax benefits to encourage our aging population, in this instance, the grand-parents to undertake care of their grandchildren. One example could be to directly channel said benefits due to the parents and pay them in cash directly to the grandparents instead. This means a policy to recognise that a grandparent caring for their grandchildren can be deemed as actual employment with tangible benefits. We need to see how we can take the elderly away from cleaning hawker centres, collecting cartons and cardboard, to utlising their experience, sense of nurturing to help look after the next generation and at the same time reward them for it.
• Have an incentive programme for companies (especially the SMEs) to tweak their work process to allow flexi-working hours. A national hi-speed broadband that is fast and affordable will help greatly. Skype, Internet file transfers are very efficient tools to facilitate work from home practices.
d. We have a very opaque programme of scholarships currently – you only need to count the number of scholarships recipients from China that are here undertaking our PhD, undergraduate programmes. Perhaps, we need to reduce this and channel more to deserving Singaporeans. I would rather have 2 Singapore citizens doing a basic degree than 1 PhD from China at our tax payers expense. Basically, in terms of education, Singaporeans must always come FIRST and SECOND. A much smaller scholarship programme for deserving foreigners can still be continued for humanitarian and cultural reasons.• Lack of availability and affordability of creches, baby day care centre for infants especially for the first 24 months from birth (since high cost of living mandates that double income is required to sustain a comfortable living lifestyle, and also to help our national productivity goals). Our government, with our HUGE reserves, should undertake this as infrastructure development and provision of essential SERVICE (like electricity and water) in order to turn around our TFR. There should be greater emphasis that reasonable quality creches/infant day cares be made available and priced very affordably as quickly as possible.
• Tweak our tax benefits to encourage our aging population, in this instance, the grand-parents to undertake care of their grandchildren. One example could be to directly channel said benefits due to the parents and pay them in cash directly to the grandparents instead. This means a policy to recognise that a grandparent caring for their grandchildren can be deemed as actual employment with tangible benefits. We need to see how we can take the elderly away from cleaning hawker centres, collecting cartons and cardboard, to utlising their experience, sense of nurturing to help look after the next generation and at the same time reward them for it.
• Have an incentive programme for companies (especially the SMEs) to tweak their work process to allow flexi-working hours. A national hi-speed broadband that is fast and affordable will help greatly. Skype, Internet file transfers are very efficient tools to facilitate work from home practices.
e. The PAP must understand that GDP growth at ALL costs will only lead to widening wealth gap, collapse in social cohesion and national identity and ultimately the undoing of all that our forefathers have created. We need to stop having this mindset that we must always be the “BEST, the Cheapest, and the Fastest”. This slogan from our multimillion salaried Minister shows how misguided our thought processes in our leaders are. We have come very far for a small country without much resources, it is time to take stock, and have a well thought out long term strategy to move forward as a united country, without leaving the bulk of the middle and low income behind. Perhaps, an “Innovative, Value and Happy” slogan could be the step forward – meaning a country that counts innovativeness (‘Best’ is really over rated) as an aspiration, providing goods and services that are valued by others (not ‘Cheapest’) and a socially cohesive happy country is the Singapore I envision, support, and most importantly believe in.
.
Foo Lai Yong
.
