TR EMERITUS

OPINION According to the latest figures released by the Department of Statistics, Singapore's population has almost reached the 5 million mark in June this year, just 1.5 million short of the official target set by the government: As we can see from the above chart, Singapore citizens (excluding PRs) made up only 64% of the population while more than one-third, or 36 per cent to be exact are non-residents. 10 years ago in 1998, Singapore citizens (excluding PRs) made up 74 per cent of the population: As a result of the government's open-door policy towards foreigners to encourage immigration on a massive scale, the percentage of Singapore citizens in the population fell by 10 per cent from 74 per cent in 2000 to 64 per cent in 2009 in less than a decade. Using figures in 2007 and 2008, we can compute the growth rates of citizens, PRs and foreigners living in Singapore: The number of citizens grew by 0.96 per cent, PRs by 6.7 per cent (30,000) and non-residents by 18.8 per cent. (190,000) In 2008, there are 39,826 live births and 17,222 deaths in Singapore with a total of 22,604 new citizens. Assuming that the number of citizens, PRs and foreigners increase on average by the same number each year, we will have an additional of 222,604 citizens (after subtracting for the number of deaths), 300,000 PRs and 1.9 million foreigners in ten years time in 2019 with a total population of 7.4 million. (4.98 + 0.22 + 0.3 + 1.9) Using the figure of 4.98 million in June 2009 as a baseline to forecast the population in 2019, Singaporeans will only constitute (3.2 + 0.22/7.4) 46.2 per cent of the population, PRs 11.3 per cent and foreigners 42.5 per cent. Though the above calculation is only a simplistic model and cannot be used to predict population trends in the next decade, it does throw up the possibility that Singaporeans may become a minority in their own country like Dubai if the current influx of foreigners continues unabated.  Read More →

From our Correspondent During a dialogue session between Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and around 200 women from various women's organisations, participants suggested making NS mandatory for children of PRs to ensure a level playing field for all young people here. (read article here) But PM Lee rejected this, saying that doing so would scare away potential citizens. He added that each year, several hundred children of new Singaporeans and PRs elect to serve NS. Mr Lee's response brought a sharp rebuttal immediately from netizens. Frederick Wong wrote: "I am surprised by what PM Lee said. First, if PM Lee is afraid of scaring away PRs, won't he be afraid of scaring away current citizens? We as Singapore citizen has duties to fulfill, so as PRs. As mentioned many times, Singapore prosperity, safe environment etc etc doesn't come naturally, we work very hard to be here today. What happen now, many people from other countries just drop in and enjoy the fruits that we have work so hard for the past decades. The miserably small tax incentive for NSmen cannot and never will cover the time and sacrify that we have done for our country. One unfortunate consequence arises from PRs is that they are normally younger and can accept a much lower salary, when it comes to redundancy, older citizens who have contributed their whole life for the growth of Singapore economy are normally not favoured over younger and cheaper PRs/Immigrants. Worst thing is that new immigrants may have the same ang bao when there is surplus from our efficient governement." Jay added: "I'm extremely disappointed with PM Lee's response. This is liken to a company that pays new employees well above market rate to attact them but doesn't treat existing employees well . Really short sighted." The government's liberal immigration policies has come under intense fire from an increasing disgruntled and disillusioned citizenry in recent days. Mr Lee was forced to make a rare concession publicly when he reassured Singaporeans that the inflow of foreigners will "slow down". However, he was quick to reiterate that the policy will stay as Singapore need foreigners to survive. His argument cuts no ice with Singapore males who have to sacrifice the two best years of their lives as conscripts in National Service. Furthermore, they still have to serve thirteen years of reservist which put them at a disadvantage compared to foreigners who have no such obligations. The relentless influx of foreigners has also led to record high prices for public housing. A recent ERA report revealed that 40 per cent of the HDB flats in the resale market are bought by PRs. Faced with growing calls from the ground to temper the intake of foreigners, the ruling party may have little choice but to tweak the policy to appease angry citizens. However, with virtually no opposition to challenge them, there is no political pressure on them to do more to protect the rights of locals.   Related articles: >> ERA: 40 per cent of resale flats buyers are PRs >> Foreign talent as "clinic assistants" >> MM Lee defends need for foreign talent >> Sweta Agarwal proud to be Singapore PR and Indian citizen   EDITORS’ NOTE: If you like our work and would like to support us, please transfer your donations via paypal to our account ([email protected]). Any amount will be greatly appreciated! Alternatively, you can also help boost our advertising revenue by clicking on the ads displayed. Thank you! Join our tweet at: http://www.twitter.com/temasekreview We are looking for the editors of The Campus Observer, Kent Ridge Common and The Enquirer. We are keen to finance their student newspapers. If you know any of them in person, please ask them to contact us at the email above. Thank you.  Read More →

Dear readers, We will be setting up a "Forum" section to house all letters sent to us from our readers. There are no word limits and we will endeavor to publish your letters without any editing or moderation on the same day. Please email your letters to us at: [email protected] As you may have already noticed, we have been receiving letters from regular Straits Times Forum writers such as Mr Ng Kok Lim and Mr David See Leong Kit. The forum will be an excellent platform for you to share your personal thoughts, views and opinions to the public. We also welcome you to criticize and rebuke any articles or editorials we have posted here. Please contribute freely to help make it a success. At the same time, we will be requiring our readers to register themselves before they are allowed to post comments on our site. Please get a google, yahoo, wordpress or blogger account if you haven't already done so. The change is necessary for a few reasons: 1. The number of comments we receive daily is causing headaches for our administrators. Due to time constraints, we are unable to go through every single comment thoroughly. Hence there is a need to distinguish genuine commentators from trolls who are simply out to create trouble. 2. We want this site to become a serious political forum for active discussion and debate on current affairs instead of being a dumping ground for the frustrations, angst and anger of disgruntled citizens. The comments posted here will reflect the political maturity, credibility and image of the site. As we will be incorporating a company soon to own and run the site, higher standards are to be expected. Please rest assured that there will be no changes to our current moderation policy. We welcome views from across the political divide, be it pro or anti-establishment. As long your comments do not involve any personal attacks, race or religion, we will publish them in full without any moderation. We need your active contribution in order to continue to grow and develop this site to provide a real alternative voice to Singaporeans!   ADMINISTRATOR  Read More →