It is not only the PRC nationals that are raising the head
count, but also the Caucasians from Europe, UK and some from down
south; as well as the different ethnic groups from
within ASEAN - especially the Chinese from Malaysia, Indonesia
and Thailand, and some Myanmese and Filippino nationals -
all with tertiary education.
Singaporeans are marrying later, and not producing enough to
impact the population replacement count - when two married persons
will only produce only one or maximum two babies, and some may
not even produce any.
According to the thinking of the Ruling Political Party, this
can affect the long term strategic position of Singapore - in
terms of available manpower for the economy, defense and the
availability of talents when the social environment will only
produce one talent from a pool of ten thousand
or perhaps a hundred thousand.
Should we not hold the Ruling Political Party responsible in
creating this environment that lead the Singaporeans into a
situation that discourage early marriage, or when married to have
babies later, and not producing enough babies to maintain or even
increase the population growth ?
Should we not hold the Ruling Political Party responsible for
the supposed lack of talent, when they will not allow an
environment for talents to grow, where different ideas will
flourish, where mavericks can survive and thrive, where the
standard thinking will not stifle new thinking ?
Afterall, it was the eloquent speeches from the
original thinking of the great MM LKY that inspired
Singaporeans that energised a political environment that allowed
him to exist:
"If we are to survive as a free democracy, then we must be
prepared, in principle, to concede to our enemies - even those who
do not subscribe to our views - as much(sic)constitutional rights
as you concede yourself." - Lee Kuan Yew Legislative Assembly
Debates Sept 21, 1955
"But we either believe in democracy or we not. If we do,
then, we must say categorically, without qualification, that no
restraint from the any democratic processes, other than by the
ordinary law of the land, should be allowed... If you believe in
democracy, you must believe in it unconditionally. If you believe
that men should be free, then, they should have the right of free
association, of free speech, of free publication. Then, no law
should permit those democratic processes to be set at nought, and
no excuse, whether of security, should allow a government to be
deterred from doing what it knows to right, and what it must know
to be right... "- Lee Kuan Yew, Legislative Assembly Debates
April 27, 1955
"Let us get down to fundamentals. Is this an open, or is this a
closed society? Is it a society where men can preach ideas - novel,
unorthodox, heresies, to established churches and established
governments - where there is a constant contest for men's hearts
and minds on the basis of what is right, of what is just, of what
is in the national interests, or is it a closed society where the
mass media - the newspapaers, the journals, publications, TV, radio
- either bound by sound or by sight, or both sound and sight, men's
minds are fed with a constant drone of sycophantic support for a
particular orthodox political philosophy? That is the first
question we asked ourselves. I would like to see minds stimulated
and debate provoked, and truth refined and crystallized out of the
conflict of different evidence and views. I, therefore, welcome
every and any opportunity of a chance to agree, or to dissent, in
order that out of thesis comes synthesis - thesis, anti-major
premise, anti-premise, synthesis, so we progress... I welcome every
opportunity to meet members of the opposition, and so do members of
my party, over the radio, over the television, university forums,
public rallies. We never run away from the open encounter. If your
ideas, your views cannot stand the challenge of criticism then they
are too fragile and not sturdy enough to last. I am talking of the
principle of the open society, the open debate, ideas, not
intimidation, persuasion not coercion... Sir, the basic
fundamentals we asked ourselves...is whether the duties of the
Minister of Information and Broadcasting are to produce closed
minds or open minds, because these instruments - the mass media,
the TV, the radio - can produce either the open minds receptive to
ideas and ideals, a democratic system of life, or closed and
limited. But I know that the open debate is a painful process for
closed minds...But let me make this point: that 5 million adult
minds in Malaysia cannot be closed - definitely not in the lifetime
of the people in authority. It is not possible because whatever the
faults of the colonial system, and there are many...they generated
the open mind, the inquiring mind." - Lee Kuan Yew Dec 18, 1964
Malaysian Parliamentary Debates
" Repression, Sir is a habit that grows.
I am told it is like making love-it is always easier the second
time! The first time there may be pangs of conscience, a sense of
guilt. But once embarked on this course with constant repetition
you get more and more brazen in the attack. All you have to do is
to dissolve organizations and societies and banish and detain the
key political workers in these societies. Then miraculously
everything is tranquil on the surface. Then an intimidated press
and the government-controlled radio together can regularly sing
your praises, and slowly and steadily the people are made to forget
the evil things that have already been done, or if these things are
referred to again they're conveniently distorted and distorted with
impunity, because there will be no opposition to contradict."
-Lee Kuan Yew as an opposition PAP member during 1956 speaking
to David Marshall
After more then 50 years of continuous Government by a single
Political Party influenced by the POWER of ONE - has the political,
social and cultural environment improved from those days under
Colonial Rule by the British and replaced by the Malaysian Federal
Government ?
