WP opposes Population White Paper, says its chairman Sylvia Lim

[songsongpunggol]

WP opposes Population White Paper, says its chairman Sylvia Lim

Published on Feb 04, 2013
2:27 PM



By Rachel Chang

THE Workers' Party opposes the Government's Population White Paper , said party chairman Sylvia Lim in Parliament today.

It believes that the Government, in expanding the population to reach its economic growth targets, has gotten its priorities the wrong way around, she said.

Ms Lim laid out the WP's stance on the first day of the parliamentary debate, setting the agenda for her party's nine MPs.

It proposes an alternative population projection of about 5.9 million by 2030, and a greater tradeoff between economic growth and population expansion.

 

[steffychun]

WP opposes Population White Paper, says its chairman Sylvia Lim

Published on Feb 04, 2013
2:27 PM

View attachment 9031

By Rachel Chang

THE Workers' Party opposes the Government's Population White Paper , said party chairman Sylvia Lim in Parliament today.

It believes that the Government, in expanding the population to reach its economic growth targets, has gotten its priorities the wrong way around, she said.

Ms Lim laid out the WP's stance on the first day of the parliamentary debate, setting the agenda for her party's nine MPs.

It proposes an alternative population projection of about 5.9 million by 2030, and a greater tradeoff between economic growth and population expansion.

5.9 is still 1 million smaller. Would like to see the whole WP plan.

 

[biondi]

I hope it will not be a reduced version the the white paper.

 

[Fook Seng]

5.9 is still 1 million smaller. Would like to see the whole WP plan.

If you ask me, 5.9 million seems about right, giving employers some time (perhaps 3 years) to get use to a slowdown in FT influx without damaging too much of their business and perhaps to try to really improve productivity. At the same time, the main effort should be given to enhancing the infrastructure to remove the congestion that exists in the present environment.

Mind you, short of reversing the influx by canceling citizenship or PR already issued (a political minefield actually), the population will naturally increase by this amount of 600k simply from the natural increase of new births from the 1.2 million FT influx in the past decade. If you buy Lucky Tan's argument, 25 years after a baby is born you have a working and fertile adult, minus the decade that the first big boost started, you have another 15 years to go for the first of these babies to reach adulthood (contributing to the economy and to new babies) which bring us roughly to year 2030.

This proposal is equivalent to abandoning the FT import but giving a short 3 years for adjustment and allowing natural growth to take place.

 

[chonburifc]

me chonburifc support wp sylvia.

 

[steffychun]

If you ask me, 5.9 million seems about right, giving employers some time (perhaps 3 years) to get use to a slowdown in FT influx without damaging too much of their business and perhaps to try to really improve productivity. At the same time, the main effort should be given to enhancing the infrastructure to remove the congestion that exists in the present environment.

Mind you, short of reversing the influx by canceling citizenship or PR already issued (a political minefield actually), the population will naturally increase by this amount of 600k simply from the natural increase of new births from the 1.2 million FT influx in the past decade. If you buy Lucky Tan's argument, 25 years after a baby is born you have a working adult, minus the decade that the first big boost started, you have another 15 years to go for the first of these babies to reach adulthood (contributing to the economy) which bring us roughly to year 2030.

This proposal is equivalent to abandoning the FT import but giving a short 3 years for adjustment and allowing natural growth to take place.

Singapore is already 5.4 or 5.5. I would hold it at 5.6 the most

 

[RogerK]

projection of about 5.9 million by 2030

5.9 million by 2030... not now or in the next three years.

 

[Fook Seng]

5.9 million by 2030... not now or in the next three years.

Exactly. That is 17 years down the road. We can expect these new immigrants (1.2 million? 1.5 million?), presumably still in their productive years, would have added 600k new births.

 

[Kinana]

If you ask me, 5.9 million seems about right, giving employers some time (perhaps 3 years) to get use to a slowdown in FT influx without damaging too much of their business and perhaps to try to really improve productivity. At the same time, the main effort should be given to enhancing the infrastructure to remove the congestion that exists in the present environment.

What is the basis for your figure of 5.9 million? any studies done?

Mind you, short of reversing the influx by canceling citizenship or PR already issued (a political minefield actually), the population will naturally increase by this amount of 600k simply from the natural increase of new births from the 1.2 million FT influx in the past decade. If you buy Lucky Tan's argument, 25 years after a baby is born you have a working and fertile adult, minus the decade that the first big boost started, you have another 15 years to go for the first of these babies to reach adulthood (contributing to the economy and to new babies) which bring us roughly to year 2030.

Our birth rate is below replacement. how is that possible?

This proposal is equivalent to abandoning the FT import but giving a short 3 years for adjustment and allowing natural growth to take place.

How many kids do you have?

 

[Bananananana]

5.9 is still 1 million smaller. Would like to see the whole WP plan.

Where's the reverse gear? Get another Lim Chin Siong to do a U-turn lay. WP is going to dance with PAPA again?

 

[DuYunQi]

What is the basis for your figure of 5.9 million? any studies done?

Our birth rate is below replacement. how is that possible

How many kids do you have?

Why don't YOU give us your suggestions, instead of asking almost silly questions?
And what business is it of yours about another's family?
Go do a survey and get answers from all, then come back to tell us your findings.
Don't waste our time with your feeble attempts to provide comedy

 

[Kinana]

Why don't YOU give us your suggestions, instead of asking almost silly questions?

How is that a silly question my fren? Please explain yourself.

And what business is it of yours about another's family?

Why complain and not be a solution?

Go do a survey and get answers from all, then come back to tell us your findings.

Exactly? Did the 5.9 million figure came from a survey?

Don't waste our time with your feeble attempts to provide comedy

Thats right, don't waste your time bro.

 

[Fook Seng]

What is the basis for your figure of 5.9 million? any studies done??

No need to study because it is a program of not forcing any growth but just allowing a short period of adjustment with immediate reduction of import and then natural growth. Anyway if the population white paper is about solving the aging problem to population survival, shouldn't it be aiming for population stability rather than growth?

Our birth rate is below replacement. how is that possible?

If you read Lucky Tan's analysis carefully, the FT intake has been done 25 years too early. So instead of maintaining equilibrium, replacing shortfall in new births, it has built in a large amount of growth. That is why the population had grown by almost 1.5 million in only 10 years. By keeping import to a minimum, and just allowing new babies from these imports that came in last decade to add to the population, this should more than offset the shortfall in new births on the original population.

How many kids do you have?

Enough for replacement.

 

[Force 136]

[video=youtube;77Y97mZrqcw]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77Y97mZrqcw[/video]

CHEE-BY IS "PAPER WHITE " IN MANDARIN.....

 

[Fook Seng]

Where's the reverse gear? Get another Lim Chin Siong to do a U-turn lay. WP is going to dance with PAPA again?

Never, never think of a reverse gear. What is done, right or wrong, cannot be undone unfortunately. Just imagine. If you want to shrink the population, what are you going to do with the empty homes that have already been built? What are we going to do with value of existing properties which will fall but still on mortgage to the banks? Please just remember that although the values of these properties would have dropped, the prices that these had been purchased were still the high prices that bank mortgages have been based on. The only way to solve this problem of housing cost is to keep property prices from going up further while allowing incomes to grow and outpace property prices.

 

[Fook Seng]

CHEE-BY IS "PAPER WHITE " IN MANDARIN.....

Very observant you.

 

[SixthColumn]

I support WP in objecting the white paper!

 

[TuaBui]

Very observant you.

.


Brother , same to you . You write like a Authority on Population Planning .

 

[TuaBui]

Never, never think of a reverse gear. What is done, right or wrong cannot be undone unfortunately. Just imagine. If you want to shrink the population, what are you going to do with the empty homes that have already been built? What are we going to do with value of existing properties which will fall but still on mortgage to the banks? Please just remember that although the values of these properties would have dropped, the prices that these had been purchased were still the high prices that bank mortgages have been based on. The only way to solve this problem of housing cost is to keep property prices from going up further while allowing incomes to grow and outpace property prices.

Very Good Points . So Please Provide Some Solutions

 

[steffychun]

MP for Aljunied GRC Sylvia Lim said also expressed concerns about a dilution of the Singaporean identity.

She said a strong Singaporean core must be strongly Singaporean in values, culture and sense of history, and should be made up of Singaporeans who grew up in Singapore.

The opposition MP said the Workers' Party is opposing the White Paper on Population and proposed that Singapore entertain the idea of a more modest GDP growth rate which will see a population of 5.9 million or less in 2030.

Ms Lim said this can be achieved if Singapore works towards a GDP growth of 2.5 per cent to 3.5 per cent per year up to 2020. And from 2020 to 2030, 1.5 per cent to 2.5 per cent per year.

Ms Lim said: "We believe this rate can be achieved with productivity improvements at the same rate proposed in the White Paper, but with less population injections if we can utilise more of our existing population. We could target to grow our resident workforce by at least one per cent per annum by getting more foreign spouses, homemakers and seniors back to work.

"This trade off will mean less overcrowding, better integration of newcomers, a stronger Singaporean identity, and less stressful labour market competition. This is turn is likely to have knock-on effects on total fertility rate recovery.

"It will also not be at the expense of market competitiveness, as our economy continues to restructure, to push the proportions of Singaporeans in PMET jobs from half to two thirds. The road map proposed in the White Paper will further dilute our national identity. It will also place us on a course towards needing even larger population injections in the future, which we do not believe is sustainable."

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/1252172/1/.html