2/03/2013

Time to bring back Stop At Two Policy





The Stop At Two population control policy was effective and needed in the 70s as our economy was underdeveloped and could not provide the jobs needed with a rapidly growing population. Then the economic boom came but the Govt fell asleep on this policy and let it dragged on when it should have been stopped. An expanding economy needs more workers and Stop At Two was obsolete, with hindsight. But there was no natcon to tell the Govt so. A loosening of this policy could have revived the slowing birth rate or at least reignite the sexual urge to reproduce and have more babies.

Rip Van Winkle continued to sleep when he was paid to think, to plan and to work. Maybe he was happily dreaming about the fortune he had been paid or enjoying his Karaoke sessions. And the Govt went on a buying spree, importing millions of foreigners dressed up as foreign talents. And now the population hits 5.3m and being unprepared for it, the infrastructure is straining. The most obvious are the public transport system, the hospital beds and housing.

Rip Van Winkle continued to sleep or high on drugs. The first neglect was forgetting to turn on the tap for the babies to start flowing. Now it is compounding the mistake by falling asleep again and wanting the tap to keep flowing when the bathtub is overflowing. The Govt does not know that there are now too many people in the island and it is time to turn off the tap. Instead it wants more, a population of 6.9m!

What is really needed now is to cap the population at 5.5m or thereabout. Over the last ten years our population growth was way beyond 3% annually, like on steroid. We have out grown and overshot the replacement rate.  It is time to recalibrate the population, resize and moderate and adjust the mix between citizens and non citizens. By adopting a national policy of 5.5m population, the rest of the Govt policies could then be fine tuned to this new target and status quo.

As the local bred and born citizens start to reproduce, more and more foreigners can then be allowed to leave. Let the locals replace the foreigners systematically and not the other way, and all the time keeping in mind the 5.5m population target. By doing so, there is really a need to reintroduce the Stop At Two policy again without letting the population size run away to 6 or 7m. Not only that the influx of foreigners needs to be stopped, the growth of the local population has also to be managed to keep it at 5.5m.

Don’t fall asleep and let things run uncontrolled to create another crisis. The island cannot afford to let the population grow unchecked, and from the general conversation, the citizens are more comfortable with 5.5m population. High population is a double edged sword and can cut both ways.

Please, no more sleeping and no more over killed or over blown. It is very difficult to have faith in a govt that did not know when the population is too small or too big.

7 comments:

  1. RB, stop at two again, local will extinct lar

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  2. What proof do we have that PAP is capable of managing ANY population planning target?
    The record since 1965 is pretty bad.

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  3. We may need at least 30 Opposition MPs to wake up the Rip Van Winkle.

    Singapore's Rip Van Winkle is uniquely Singapore. He's;
    a. deaf
    b. stubborn
    c. has a superiority complex
    d. been asleep for more than 20 years. So he regards the sleep mode to be the new normal for him.

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    Replies
    1. And when he is jottled out his sleep, he says sorry, we will do better next time! Really langgar!

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  4. All along me thought the Lee Kwang Yew School Of Policy Studies has a group of high power professionals helping the Government in the formulation of policies. And the Specialists in the School comprise of scholars from all over the World.

    Were and are they sleeping also?

    patriot

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  5. My apology to Dear Readers.

    Lee Kwang Yew in my Previous Comment should read Lee Kuan Yew.

    patriot

    ReplyDelete
  6. WOW! Good luck on this one.

    Every Chinese New Year, when the aunties and uncles are visited, our poor Singapore gals always kena the "Third Degree plus Life Lecture (free bonus!)" by the well-meaning but kay-poh aunties. It goes like this:

    "Ah Girl...Why you not married ah? You over 30 already, lah ah girl...better faster marry leh, wait you too old! What about that nice boy we met last year?..."... and so on.

    or if Ah Girl is married and DINKy (Double Income, No Kids):

    "Ah Girl, when the baby coming? Better hurry up and have children lah. Garmen got give baby bonus...have childrens is a joy lah. Hurry up, wait you too old... you will regret. I tell you..."...and so on.

    So there is huge social pressures on our Ah Girls to expell plenty plenty baby from their chow ji bais...for the happiness of the aunties, and for the good of the nation.

    Ah Girl, got patriotic vagina?

    ReplyDelete