Reuters/REUTERS - A man holds a sign at a demonstration against a
government white paper on population at Speakers' Corner in
Singapore February 16, 2013. The paper released in January said the
island's population …more
An estimated crowd of 4,000 people gathered at the
Speakers' Corner at Hong Lim Park on Saturday afternoon to protest
against the Population White Paper endorsed by Parliament last
week.
[SEE
SLIDESHOW]
Organised by transitioning.org, a
support site for unemployed, the nearly four-hour protest saw
people of all age ranges and races turn up in the light drizzle,
with umbrellas and some with home-made, colourful placards and
posters. Many also came with their young children in tow.
A total of 12 speakers, including former NTUC chief Tan Kin Lian,
former presidential candidate Tan Jee Say, SDP's Vincent
Wijeysingha, NSP's Jeanette Chong-Aruldoss spoke at the event,
mainly hitting out at the 6.9 million population figure mentioned
in the White Paper.
Each speaker was given 10 minutes to address the crowd.
Jee Say, a former high-flying civil servant, asked if
there was a need to convert the migrant population in Singapore to
be new citizens.
He also questioned said if half the population are foreigners in
2030, “in the event of a crisis, the other non-Singaporean half
will pull in a different direction”, he says to the swelling
crowd.
Ravi Philemon from opposition party NSP asked the crowd if bringing
in an average of 900,000 to 1 million foreigners every decade was
an acceptable number, to which the crowd responded with a
thunderous “no”.
He then tabled the notion that the paper dilutes the
Singapore core for an allegedly relentless economic pursuit.
“The economy is not everything. The economy has to be for the
people and not the people for the economy,” he added.
“The White Paper revealed two things, one, that the government does
not seem to understand what it means to be an ordinary Singaporean
and, two, that it does not seem to care,” said another speaker,
Wijeysingha.
“Singaporeans are and must be the first and last object of policy”,
he said.
The peaceful protest was marked by poignant moments when the crowd
sang "Count On Me, Singapore" at the midway mark, and also at the
end when the National Pledge was lustily recited in unison.
Protest against White
PaperAn estimated 4,000 brave a steady drizzle to support
the anti-White Paper protest at Speaker's Corner
Organiser Gilbert Goh told Yahoo!
Singapore he
was pleased with the turnout. Calling the protest "history-making",
he said he initially only expected 200 to show.
"This protest event is meant for Singaporeans to come here in a
peaceful manner to show their displeasure at the 6.9 million
population target," he said.
"We also wanted to show Singaporeans that there's a place for you
to come to legitimately protest against any policy that you have
against the government. You don't have to sit behind Facebook and
complain. You can show up in unity, in person to complain," he
added.
Goh also apologised after a two-year-old
blog post by
him that was overtly xenophobic and anti-foreigner in nature was
re-posted on Twitter a day before the event.
“Unfortunately, what we write always comes back to haunt us. We
need to move on. This event is not about xenophobia, it’s more
about the 6.9 million figure. But people are offended, so I
apologise," he said.
"I’m human, I make mistakes. I wrote it two years ago. Since then I
have learnt to be a bit more accepting. They’re here to stay.
They’re going to be the majority of the population in 2030, and
Singaporeans the minority. We probably have to accept this fact,
probably even embrace them.”
Singaporeans who were present also said they'd showed up to make
their voices heard.
“The bottom line is saying 'no' to the 6.9 million, saying 'no' to
the White Paper," said Kenneth Koh, a director in his
50s.
"No, because the people’s representative no longer has the people’s
support. This is not a protest. The people want a referendum. The
people want their rights back. They don’t want to give the
government a free passport,” he said.
Others said they were curious and came down for the event after
finding out about it on Facebook.
"A lot of people are not happy and it’s not every day that they
show their unhappiness. I just came to have a look at soak up the
atmosphere," said student Jenny Wang, 21.
Last week, Parliament endorsed an amended motion to the White Paper
on Population by 77 votes to 13.
The amended motion filed by Holland-Bukit Timah MP Liang Eng Hwa
stated that the White Paper “supports maintaining a strong
Singaporean core by encouraging more Singaporeans to get married
and have children, supplemented by a calibrated pace of immigration
to prevent the citizen population from shrinking”.
PM Lee, in an address before the motion was endorsed, stressed that
the 6.9 million population figure had been taken out of context and
that the paper was not about any specific population
size for beyond 2020, but rather that it was being used for the
purpose of land use and infrastructure
planning.
