Received this in my email:
Workers Party NCMP Sylvia Lim has
raised a very important point in her speech in parliament. She was
questioning the aggressive population policy of jacking up the
population size to 6.5 million targeted by the PAP government.
Could our social infrastructure cope with such aggressive increase
in population?
To cope with such aggressive population policy, there are few areas
of concerns:
Jobs & Economy
Although the influx of foreign workers could create internal
demands on local services, but Singapore is basically an economy
that depends very much on foreign investment and trade. Could our
economy creates enough jobs for these foreign workers? If not, then
the next question is, would our citizens be replaced by cheaper
foreign substitutes?
Health Care
The pressure and stress on our health care system is already
showing signs of collapse. To aggravate the problem, the PAP
government is pushing for "medical tourism" and this would only
worsen the pressure on the local health care system. Those "
On the other hand, PAP government government is reluctant in
building new hospitals. It took nine years for it to build a
hospital in the North, after much pressure from electoral
campaigning. The West side, which house the heavy industrial parks,
is still lacking a decent hospital.
When the supply of health care services like hospital is kept
stagnant, with an increase in population and extra demand caused by
the promotion "medical tourists", the rise in health care cost is
inevitable. And we are seeing shortages of hospital beds and blood
quite frequently in recent years.
Education
Education is the pillar of Singapore's progress. This is especially
so when we are a small country that depends very much on human
resources. And it is only logical that the quality of life of
Singaporeans could only be improved if the education level of
Singaporeans at large is improved.
From a historical perspective, those countries that put consistent
focus in education excel well for their citizens and economy.
Finland, Germany, Japan etc. So much so that many others try to
emulate them. eg. Hong Kong is targeting 60% of their student
cohort to get post-secondary education, even go to the extend of
introducing "associate degree" and pushing for more institutions to
provide higher diploma and degree courses.
In contrast, our PAP government is giving more places and
scholarship for foreigners/ permanent residents to get into our
universities! The argument that MTI of USA has 40% foreign students
is absolutely flawed. There are hundred of universities or colleges
in USA that provide tertiary education for Americans and they could
afford to have a few colleges that could have high percentage of
foreign students. But in Singapore, we only have 4 universities and
we are giving 20% of our TOTAL university places to foreigners?
Hong Kong has a population of 7 million to 7.5 million and they
have 12 universities now, yet trying to increase more, so how many
universities should we have to cater for a population of 6.5
million that provides at least 20% of places to foreigners?
Public Transport
We are facing a stress on our bus and train services right now.
During peak hours, these basic public transport system are packed
with people. Off-peak hours, frequency of buses and trains are
pretty much lower.
Hong Kong is a good example for us to examine as its population is
about 7 million. At that population level, its train consists of 8
cabins instead of 6 (that we used here in Singapore). However, its
frequency of train services is pretty much higher, regardless of
peak or off peak hour, compared to Singapore. During peak hour, its
frequency could be as fast as 30 seconds to 1 minute per train. Off
peak hour, average waiting time will not last more than 3.5
minutes.
Looking back at our train system, are we ready to cater to a
population of 6.5 million? 6 cabin-train system is definitely
insufficient to cater to a population of 6.5 million! If we are to
increase the number cabins, it may need massive modifications to
our existing rail and stations infrastructure!
Housing, Property & Space
I do not know whether our housing policy could possibly cater to a
population of 6.5 million with about 40% or 50% foreigners. this is
basically because there will be bigger fluctuations in demand while
supply is sticky. The recent spike in housing prices and rental is
a testimony of such demand fluctuation in play. Housing supply
normally lacks behind demand changes basically due to time lag of
realization of supply to cope with demand structure.
The situation is worsen by the fact that there are a lot of foreign
funds speculating on local housing prices. These funds are fluid
and could be withdrew easily. This impact on the quality of
Singaporeans at large is yet to be seen. But the crash of 1997 is a
good indication of the massive wealth impact on local Singaporeans.
Many people who bought a house to stay back then, including me, are
caught in the crash and become holder of negative asset holders,
even though we are not speculators.
i seriously think it is not quite ready.