Ngiam questions need to boost S'pore's population
SINGAPORE: If former Permanent Secretary Ngiam Tong Dow had his
way, Singapore would think twice before beefing up its population
to 6.5 million people.
In a candid interview in the People's Action Party's latest Petir
newsletter, Mr Ngiam - while stressing that "my role is to give an
alternative, not an opposing view, to government policies" -
questions the rationale behind the new target. Singapore doesn't
need numbers, it needs talent, he said.
Pointing out that managing the population is the main challenge
facing Singapore, the 70-year-old said: "If we do it wrongly, it
will change our economic and social system."
Some 40 years ago, while serving on the Economic Development Board
(EDB), he and others had studied the question of an "optimum size"
for an industrial country.
Said Mr Ngiam: "We looked at successful small countries such as
Sweden, Norway and Israel. They each had a population of six
million. So we said Singapore needed to have six million
people."
But given the technological advances and rising educational levels,
Singapore "no longer needs numbers now but more quality", he
added.
Mr Ngiam said he was told that the number "was based on Gross
Domestic Product growth of six per cent a year".
"A back-of-the-envelope calculation would show this comprises a
2-per-cent increase in population and 4-per-cent growth in
productivity. But if we can increase our productivity by more than
4 per cent, we can still have 6-per-cent growth, but with fewer
people who are highly productive."
He stressed the need to appeal to people's hearts. "Otherwise
Singapore will become just a six-star hotel where guests stay in
good times and flee when times are bad. We will never become a
nation," he said.
His vision: Set up a think tank to "think strategically" on top of
tactics such as dual-citizenship and a more broadly-defined concept
of National Service. "For instance, a foreign Singaporean living
overseas should have no voting rights and less national service
obligations."
The Government could even invite former citizens for "a month-long
holiday" to advise policymakers on areas in which they have
specialist knowledge. Said Mr Ngiam: "Do you know Chinese Nobel
Prize winners are invited to China to teach for three
months?"
"Our population policy should be more emotional ... You don't say
to Singaporeans who are no longer citizens, 'You come back, we have
a job for you'. You say, 'What about contributing your knowledge to
Singapore? Better still, you want a job, we give you a job'." -
TODAY/ym