‘Unless we have more babies, we need to accept immigrants’
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[quote]Singapore’s downward trend of population growth is damaging to its economy, said former prime minister Lee Kuan Yew on Friday.
Speaking at a Tanjong Pagar group representation constituency Chinese New Year dinner, Lee said that given our almost record-low birth rate of 1.2 from last year, Singapore will need to depend on immigrants to “make up our numbers”, reported The Straits Times (ST).
He also shared the breakdown — 1.08 for Chinese, 1.09 for Indians and 1.64 for Malays — with 2.1 as the benchmark replacement rate, reported TODAY.
“In other words the population of Chinese Singaporeans in the next generation, 18 to 20 years, will half,” he was quoted by the paper as saying as well.
Comparing the number of babies born in Singapore when he was prime minister in 1959 (more than 62,000) and the number of babies born in 2011 (about 36,000), Lee commented that the task of increasing the nation’s population is its “biggest challenge”.
He added that having babies may be a personal matter, but has “considerable consequences” for Singapore, reported ST.
He noted how trends of women being more highly educated and the movement toward greater gender equality at the workplace have contributed to the phenomenon of a declining birth rate, adding that currently, some 44.2 per cent of men and 31 per cent of women between the ages of 30 and 34 are still single.
The broadsheet also reported that Lee compared Singapore’s economy to that of Japan’s, saying that their resistance to receiving immigrants has resulted in stagnation in its economy.
“The Japanese have large reserves and can withstand slow growth for a long time,” he was quoted as saying, adding that the choice to take a hostile stance to immigrants is something that Singapore “cannot afford to make”.
“Like it or not, unless we have more babies, we need to accept immigrants,” he added.[/quote]http://sg.news.yahoo.com/%E2%80%98unless-we-have-more-babies--we-need-to-accept-immigrants%E2%80%99.html
so the root of the problem...why birth rate declined? :slapshead: -
Sure we can have immigrants, just not a such a high percentage within a short amount of time.
Birth rate declined because it's getting harder & harder to raise a kid & yet make ends meet at the same time.
Cost of living went up, due to better economy, which was due to in part, to higher percentage of immigrants... :razz:
So what if Japan has stagnation of economy? They are still doing well, right?
So why can't we...? :stupid: -
a. more foreigners imported = more workers = more gdp = more business friendly (due to more labour supply) = less pay for workers at the bottom rungs.
b. also more workers = more consumption = more competition for limited resources e.g. hdb flats = higher price for flats and necessities = higher inflation
c. lesser pay for lower level workers + high inflation = generally a lot of ppl get scr3wed by this policy
also should look at:
1) higher educated woman tend to have less children
2) correlation between living space - e.g. flat size and number of children
3) support for families in area of work - e.g. if pregnant mother gets sacked due to employer wanting to cut cost and replace with cheaper foreigner, then HOW TO HAVE MORE CHILDREN? See my point c. -
No money, no time, so have lesser children.
Immigrants can also migrates other countries right? What makes them want to stay in this country for rest of the life?
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i cant believe its coming from our own
LKY!!!
piece of crap, instead of asking immigrants to produce,
y not take a 1% of those so called highly paid talent ministers
salaries to give extra perks for s’poreans to have a baby.
THIS IS CRAP!!!lol -
raysusan:
I feel they should tweak the immigration policy a little.. since the objective is to grow Singaporean population.
http://sg.news.yahoo.com/%E2%80%98unless-we-have-more-babies--we-need-to-accept-immigrants%E2%80%99.html
so the root of the problem...why birth rate declined? :slapshead:
For those new immigrates by their own merit (not sponsored by Singaporean spouse), they should be made compulsory to apply to convert to citizen within 2 years of getting PR if not the PR will be revoked and they can go back if they are not committed to grow root here.
For PR application, the same stringent checks for citizenship should apply, bcoz the PR is a pre-process for citizenship. Those not intending to apply for citizenship should not be allowed PR in the first place.
By doing this, then we can achieve the objective of growing Singaporean species by immigration policy.
Current policy is crap.. let in immigrants, give them PR, leech the system and complete with Singaporeans for limited resources, then, after a few years when they have gotten enuff, they just abandon this place and back to their hometown and enjoy the luxuries from the fortune they made there, at the expense of Singaporeans.
Next, restrict HDB policy so that at least one owner muz be a citizen.
So, PRs muz stay for 2 years, then 1 of them muz convert to citizen, then they are allowed to buy flats, whether resale or from HDB.
I do not disagree with them to make use of immigration policy to grow the population, but it must be done the right way and not a defective policy that resulted only in fattening foreigners at the expense of Singaporean and in the end, no real significant population growth.
Give PR when they are committed, not give them PR and hope that they will commit. -
It has to do with cost of living lah. Honestly, raise 1 is so costly already… Raise more? Tak bo leh tahan!
The major factor is housing. Those who bought HDB in the last 5 years might feel gutted. -
what is the birth rate of PR and foreign citizens here ?
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chenwj:
Cost of living so high...food is expensive, medical costs expensive, transport costs always on the rise BUT salaries NOT going up.It has to do with cost of living lah. Honestly, raise 1 is so costly already... Raise more? Tak bo leh tahan!
Kids cost a LOT of money to raise...hospital bills, food, diapers to begin with. Then when it comes to SCHOOLING, tuition fees are SKY HIGH and tuition is not a luxury but a NEED.
Not just tuition fees, what about the stress ? Raise MORE, you gotta be kidding. -
Declining birth rate?
even if Singaporeans give birth to 4 children now, it will still take a good 25 years before these children grow up and make themselves useful to society. Meanwhile what happens in these 25 years?
It is just nonsensical to point fingers at declining birth rates. The government wants these numbers immediately; not wait for 25 years.
We; some 25-35 years ago, when we were born; weren't our parents told to stop at 2?
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