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.

6.9m is like acquiring a nuclear reactor

Once our population hits 6.9m, the need and call for a nuclear reactor to provide the energy will no longer be an option but a compulsion. The price of oil by then will be so expensive, and other forms of energy will not be efficient and are also likely to be just as expensive. So tak dah choice, mesti pergi nuclear. And we will be living with one nuclear reactor underground and a nuclear reactor on the surface.

A 6.9m population is not a joke. It needs to be fed, to be housed, it needs jobs and all kinds of goods and services, and everything is a cost. Another 1.7m mouth to feed and house is not ‘main main’. My God, any crisis will turn this population into a nightmare. When things are good and rosy, when the economy is good, there is nothing to worry about, who cares, trust me. When there is an economic downturn, the 7m is not going to go away overnight. And when their needs are not met, they are going to implode.

The nuclear reactor underground is less of a worry than the one above. The 6.9m is ticking and kicking and will not go to sleep. It is like keeping pets, dogs and cats and now big cats. The bigger the more to feed and the more dangerous when food runs out.

Don’t pray pray. It is not masak masak. You want 6.9m, and when you don’t want just flush down the toilet. They are intertwined and attached with the whole economy and infrastructure. It is not easily unwind like our housing prices. The difference between a genius and a berserk is only a fine thin line.

And I am not talking about water and reservoir and all the rest that are needed.

Enlightening speech with a Foreign Talent

 

 Enlightening speech with a FT citizen

I was in a remote western region in China and we were stranded at this small lousy airport. And there is only 1 Indian man (age 59, I found out from him later). No one could help him and I knew I was the only one and of course being kind hearted, and naive Singaporean, I voluntarily went. I saw his "RED passport" and we connected!!! Then we started to discuss the Punggol East By-election, the government and the policies. (Please do not assume a RED passport is automatic bred and bornt in Singapore... I was lambasting how Singapore has transformed from a lovely state to a state where everyone has become emotionless and working round the clock to pay for everything and to survive.) 15 minutes into the discussion, he told me he is FT who came to Singapore 10 years ago and quickly offered PR and new citizen in less than 2 years. By the way, this guy is not Foreign Trash, he is Senior Management in Fortune 500 (the ranking is below 50) and paid over $20,0000++ a month. Below are questions from me and answers from him:-

Me: The government is doing a bad job and people are suffering.

FT: I read the Straits Times and every survey is indicating good, I dont agree what you said is true and today. (I said, you really believe that BS? You did not have time to browse the web than to believe the propaganda...I went on to tell him many examples like AIM etc, he was shocked... but the newspaper version is so different.... but anyway he said he did not have time, working very long hours every day)

Me: Well, do you feel we imported too many FT, especially low quality ones from neighbouring regions.

FT: Yes, totally agreed, its getting too crowded and also the pay for average guy is getting lower but living expenses are sky high. (But he was a FT himself but of course this man used to work in the US and UK for many years before arriving into SG, probably what they called a real FT)

Me: If Singapore is so good, are you going to retire in Singapore?

FT: Retire in Singapore? (shrugs with a laugh)

Me: Why? You said Singapore is so good etc.... And you said those surveys damn good.

FT: Honestly speaking, my pay is crossing $20,000 a month but I wont retire here. First, our CPF is trapped and the medical cost and daily expenses are so high. I am going to renounce and take all the cash and move back to India. Anyway, I also dont want to die in a foreign land.

Me: Arent you one of us?

FT: In a way but I still need to go back, this place is getting too expensive to live and I dont want my body to be resting here, I am not bornt here.

Me: $20k a month you telling me this? How about those making $5000 or ....

FT: Dont pretend you dont know, they work and pay all their lives until they die. And I am not going to be in that position.

Me: Your kids in Singapore?

FT: I sent them to UK and US and told them not to come back.

Me: Singapore is such great place, you told me and why.... ahhhhh (cynicism)

FT: I could not imagine that they be paid $2500 after their graduation, compete with millions of foreigners and pay a debt of 30 years for that million dollar HDB. And education in US is more prestigious and they can get into Fortune 500 companies easily and they buy houses and drive cars etc. And if they really return to SG (which I doubt so.. because they are originally from Calcutta and honestly, they dont really like Singapore), they will be Foreign Talent and be paid very high like me, no need to fight with those foreigners.

Me: They did not serve NS huh?

FT: You asking me silly questions, I did not convert them PR before 18... I found way to go around it (laugh very hard)

Me: Warao (Singapore style). You enjoy so much from Singapore and how you going to thank us?

FT: I voted PAP every GE, and that is thank you. And they gave me PR, new citizenship and also my HDB (I sold at record profits and now living in nice condo in Jurong East). When I retire, I will sell and take all the CPF to India. I really appreciate Singapore.

wah piang eh...... i am really that daft and naive like most Singaporeans.

What we need is more space

What we need is more space and not more people. When we were 2m, life was definitely much more comfortable with lesser congestion and more space for everything. We have bigger homes, more room for cars and car ownership did not cost a leg or an arm. We have many parks and land for recreation and simply running around.

We now have more than 5m people. We are digging out our ancestors’ graves, doing away with cemeteries and sending our old folks to homes across the causeway. And we keep on building skyscrapers that cost a lifetime to pay when better and bigger homes could be had at cheaper cost if we have more land.

What I thought would be better is to reclaim more land and provide more living space instead of stuffing them up again with people and concrete. I believe the quality of life will be much better for young and old when the island is less congested instead of all cramming up in little pigeon holes in the air, and the roads so congested with cars. The quality of life cannot be better with more people squeezed into this piece of rock. This is not progress but regression.

We do not need more people for some economic growth numbers. We need more space to live and play and a more leisure and less stressful environment. Would it not be better for a family of four living in a 1,500 sq ft flat, where one does not need to knock into each other or against the wall or furniture? Would it not be better if there is more private space for everyone in the homes and outside the homes?

What is so good or great to squeeze with 7m people? What is so good quality to be crammed up in hard concrete and all the artificialities that cost a bomb, like the Avatar Garden? There is nothing better than having more natural space to live and for recreation. It is so silly to reclaim more space only to stuff them up with more people, provide more public transport only to make sure the commuters are packed like sardine again. Whose great idea is this? Better quality of life Ya?

We must be responsible to our future generations by leaving them enough room/space to grow. We cannot be so irresponsible as to build up every inch of land in the island.  The White Paper is to exhaust every land and space we have with more people. The citizens must decide on the number we want and work around it. We should not go the other way, letting the dubious economic growth numbers to dictate our fate and the number of people on this island.

White Paper - The nonsensical arguments so far

We must plan for the worst than to underprovide. This is what Boon Wan said about the 6.9m population projection. I dunno if he knew what he was talking about. He quoted the example of wedding dinner guests and not sure how many would eventually turn up. Hello, the population of a country is not a wedding dinner. The number of people in the country can be calibrated and controlled especially when a big chunk is made up of foreigners. When the number is reaching the target, just turn off the tap. It is so easy, unlike the fertility rate of the citizens, more or less, the govt would have to accept. Is this simple enough illustration to say there is no necessity to plan for the worst when population number is concerned?

Boon Wan also said that he was confident that he would be able to ‘calibrate its plans,…adding that the housing supply will be paced “accordingly, a little bit ahead of demand.’ He should have taught his predecessor this and there would not have been any housing problem today.

The next thing I heard is that Lim Swee Say said that we would not have all the problems associated with the 5.3m population if we have had the national conversation yesterday. This is so as the natcon would have raised the problems of the need to upgrade the infrastructure before the population surged from 4.1m to 5.3m. Uhhhh…., beg your pardon? Did he mean that the govt would only be able to avoid all the overcrowding and lack of infrastructure problem if there was a natcon, and that the govt is incapable of planning ahead, lack of foresight?

I am so terrified. Do we still want to believe that the White Paper is carefully thought out? So scary isn’t it?