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Coffeeshop Chit Chat - The PAP’s “one-night stand” FT policy</TD><TD id=msgunetc noWrap align=right>
Subscribe </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>8:27 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 1) </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR><TR><TD class=msgleft rowSpan=4 width="1%"> </TD><TD class=wintiny noWrap align=right>29086.1 </TD></TR><TR><TD height=8></TD></TR><TR><TD class=msgtxt>The PAP’s “one-night stand” immigration policy and its disastrous repercussions on Singaporeans
February 23, 2010 by admin
Filed under Opinion
Leave a comment
http://www.temasekreview.com/2010/02/23/the-paps-one-night-stand-immigration-policy-and-its-disastrous-impact-on-singaporeans/
OPINION
The PAP leaders have been trying hard of late to convince Singaporeans to accept the new citizens and welcome them with open arms.
No efforts were spared by the state media to portray a picture of harmony between the locals and the foreigners including a remarkably fake CNA coverage of an Indian PR attending the reunion leader of a Chinese family.
Ramblings in cyberspace on the rising number of foreigners are dismissed as being “xenophobic” by the establishment and genuine concerns of citizens about the increased competition faced by them are downplayed as “paranoid” with a few blanket promises given that they will remain a “priority” for the government.
With the next general election looming ahead, some last-minute cosmetic changes were implemented to sharpen the “distinction” between citizens and PRs.
No matter how hard they tried to cover up for their mistake, the evidence is clear for all to see: Singaporeans need only take look around to discover that one out of every three persons they meet in the street is a foreigner and in some places, they are the minority in their own country!
This is the direct result of the PAP’s short-sighted “one-night stand” immigration policy which has brought untold suffering to ordinary Singaporeans.
The PAP is so desperate for babies that they thought that the fastest way to make them is to put men and women together to spend a night on the same bed without realizing if they are compatible with one another in the first place.
In 2003, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong announced the plan to increase Singapore’s population to 6.5 million people and the floodgates were opened without any proper deliberation or planning.
Too many foreigners were let in within too short a period of time that we are now having a headache trying to integrate all of them.
Because their numbers are simply too big, they tend to congregate within their own communities with little incentive to interact with Singaporeans.
PRs and citizenships were given out too easily like toilet papers to any Tom, Dick and Harry without thorough screening and the time frame is too short for the newcomers to fully adapt to Singapore.
To compound matters, the infrastructure was not upgraded in time to accommodate the increase in population.
HDB should have increased the supply of new flats to meet the expected demand fueled by immigration. Surprisingly, only 3,134 flats were built in 2008 when there were nearly 70,000 PRs and 20,000 new citizens, leading to the sky-rocketing prices of HDB flats we are witnessing today.
Public services such as transport were not improved either with the resultant ubiquitous overcrowding we see everyday in buses and MRT trains.
The easy availability of cheap foreign labor is a boon to employers and a bane to ordinary Singaporeans who are finding it hard to compete with them in terms of cost.
According to a Wall Street Journal editorial, the relentless influx of foreigners has depressed the wages of Singapore workers, increassed the cost of living, especially that of public housing, decreased labor productivity and led to an overall decline in the standards of living.
Instead of admitting their mistakes and coming up with concrete solutions to reverse the situation, the PAP continues to throw smoke bombs to obfuscate the matter and pull a wool over the eyes of Singaporeans with half-hearted measures to reassure Singaporeans.
While immigrants may boost Singapore’s population for the time-being, they too will grow old one day and become a burden to the state.
So long the underlying reasons behind Singapore’s low birth rate are not tackled, the immigrants will not be keen to start a family in Singapore as well.
One of the key reason lies in the obscene prices of HDB flats which are partly caused by the inflow of foreigners.
Singaporeans are unwilling to have more children because they have little spare cash left after spending a significant percentage of their salaries on the housing loans.
Unless the new citizens earn substantially more, they will surely encounter the same set of problems faced by the native Singaporeans and therefore Singapore’s fertility rate is unlikely to increase by much.
The lack of a comprehensive social safety net in Singapore is not only causing resentment among Singaporeans, but deterring prospective migrants from taking up citizenship as well.
It is the duty of the incumbent government of the day to take care of the people which the PAP has failed miserably to do so.
Foreigners are allowed to compete directly with locals for jobs and insufficient safeguards were put in place to protect the interests of Singaporeans other than some token initiatives exhorting them to be “faster, better and cheaper”.
The playing field is heavily tilted in favor of the foreigners and it is little wonder that some Singaporeans are blaming them for their predicament.
At the same time, foreigners, especially the real talents Singapore needs are reluctant to relocate to Singapore after seeing for themselves how shabbily its citizens are being treated by a despotic government bent only on self-preservation.
Foreigners now make up 36 per cent of Singapore’s population, up from 14 per cent in 1990. Of the remaining 64 per cent who are citizens, an increasing number are born overseas.
With so much differences between native Singaporeans and the newcomers, social tensions and conflicts are inevitable in the long run.
Just like a couple having a one night stand will seldom develop true feelings for each other, it is nearly impossible to expect foreigners let into Singapore by the PAP without due consideration to assimilate fully with the locals.
Singaporeans are already feeling the disastrous repercussions of the PAP’s “one-night stand” immigration policy and things are likely to get worse from now with its continued denial over the extent of the problem to cover up its gross negligence, oversight and ineptitude.
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February 23, 2010 by admin
Filed under Opinion
Leave a comment
http://www.temasekreview.com/2010/02/23/the-paps-one-night-stand-immigration-policy-and-its-disastrous-impact-on-singaporeans/
OPINION
The PAP leaders have been trying hard of late to convince Singaporeans to accept the new citizens and welcome them with open arms.
No efforts were spared by the state media to portray a picture of harmony between the locals and the foreigners including a remarkably fake CNA coverage of an Indian PR attending the reunion leader of a Chinese family.
Ramblings in cyberspace on the rising number of foreigners are dismissed as being “xenophobic” by the establishment and genuine concerns of citizens about the increased competition faced by them are downplayed as “paranoid” with a few blanket promises given that they will remain a “priority” for the government.
With the next general election looming ahead, some last-minute cosmetic changes were implemented to sharpen the “distinction” between citizens and PRs.
No matter how hard they tried to cover up for their mistake, the evidence is clear for all to see: Singaporeans need only take look around to discover that one out of every three persons they meet in the street is a foreigner and in some places, they are the minority in their own country!
This is the direct result of the PAP’s short-sighted “one-night stand” immigration policy which has brought untold suffering to ordinary Singaporeans.
The PAP is so desperate for babies that they thought that the fastest way to make them is to put men and women together to spend a night on the same bed without realizing if they are compatible with one another in the first place.
In 2003, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong announced the plan to increase Singapore’s population to 6.5 million people and the floodgates were opened without any proper deliberation or planning.
Too many foreigners were let in within too short a period of time that we are now having a headache trying to integrate all of them.
Because their numbers are simply too big, they tend to congregate within their own communities with little incentive to interact with Singaporeans.
PRs and citizenships were given out too easily like toilet papers to any Tom, Dick and Harry without thorough screening and the time frame is too short for the newcomers to fully adapt to Singapore.
To compound matters, the infrastructure was not upgraded in time to accommodate the increase in population.
HDB should have increased the supply of new flats to meet the expected demand fueled by immigration. Surprisingly, only 3,134 flats were built in 2008 when there were nearly 70,000 PRs and 20,000 new citizens, leading to the sky-rocketing prices of HDB flats we are witnessing today.
Public services such as transport were not improved either with the resultant ubiquitous overcrowding we see everyday in buses and MRT trains.
The easy availability of cheap foreign labor is a boon to employers and a bane to ordinary Singaporeans who are finding it hard to compete with them in terms of cost.
According to a Wall Street Journal editorial, the relentless influx of foreigners has depressed the wages of Singapore workers, increassed the cost of living, especially that of public housing, decreased labor productivity and led to an overall decline in the standards of living.
Instead of admitting their mistakes and coming up with concrete solutions to reverse the situation, the PAP continues to throw smoke bombs to obfuscate the matter and pull a wool over the eyes of Singaporeans with half-hearted measures to reassure Singaporeans.
While immigrants may boost Singapore’s population for the time-being, they too will grow old one day and become a burden to the state.
So long the underlying reasons behind Singapore’s low birth rate are not tackled, the immigrants will not be keen to start a family in Singapore as well.
One of the key reason lies in the obscene prices of HDB flats which are partly caused by the inflow of foreigners.
Singaporeans are unwilling to have more children because they have little spare cash left after spending a significant percentage of their salaries on the housing loans.
Unless the new citizens earn substantially more, they will surely encounter the same set of problems faced by the native Singaporeans and therefore Singapore’s fertility rate is unlikely to increase by much.
The lack of a comprehensive social safety net in Singapore is not only causing resentment among Singaporeans, but deterring prospective migrants from taking up citizenship as well.
It is the duty of the incumbent government of the day to take care of the people which the PAP has failed miserably to do so.
Foreigners are allowed to compete directly with locals for jobs and insufficient safeguards were put in place to protect the interests of Singaporeans other than some token initiatives exhorting them to be “faster, better and cheaper”.
The playing field is heavily tilted in favor of the foreigners and it is little wonder that some Singaporeans are blaming them for their predicament.
At the same time, foreigners, especially the real talents Singapore needs are reluctant to relocate to Singapore after seeing for themselves how shabbily its citizens are being treated by a despotic government bent only on self-preservation.
Foreigners now make up 36 per cent of Singapore’s population, up from 14 per cent in 1990. Of the remaining 64 per cent who are citizens, an increasing number are born overseas.
With so much differences between native Singaporeans and the newcomers, social tensions and conflicts are inevitable in the long run.
Just like a couple having a one night stand will seldom develop true feelings for each other, it is nearly impossible to expect foreigners let into Singapore by the PAP without due consideration to assimilate fully with the locals.
Singaporeans are already feeling the disastrous repercussions of the PAP’s “one-night stand” immigration policy and things are likely to get worse from now with its continued denial over the extent of the problem to cover up its gross negligence, oversight and ineptitude.
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