New immigrants help sustain, enrich S'porean way of
life, says SM Goh
Singapore will face long term dire consequences if it were to
turn away immigrants.
This according to Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong, who was speaking
at a community event in Braddell this evening.
Touching on immigration, Mr Goh says the country is at a
"threshold".
But he adds that having the right numbers and quality of immigrants
will help boost the country's economic vitality.
"We need about 60,000 babies every year in order to keep our
population growing. But last year we only had 32,400 Singapore
citizen babies. So that shortfall has been made up by new
immigrants. If we do not do that, in 11 years time, the year 2020,
the Singapore population will begin to shrink. And if it shrinks,
Singapore will go the way of the dinosaurs, we go the way to be
extinct. If you look at it in another way, in the last 10 years,
the number of people aged 65 and above has grown by about 100,000
while the number of children aged and below had shrunk by about
50,000. That spells for trouble."
Hence this is why Singapore needs to top up its population with
immigrants, particularly those with skills, entrepreneurial drive
and talent, says Mr Goh.
He adds that this will sustain the country's standard of
living.
"In my own estimate, our growth rate would go down by about 1% to
2% if we do not have these new immigrants coming in. And it's not
just a matter of growth rate, if we don't have foreigners in
Singapore, who will drive the buses and the MRT? (Who will be) the
nurses to look after us? (Who will be) the maids to look after
ourselves, our families and our old folks? So we do need these
people to help us."
Mr Goh says the government understands that the issue of
immigration is an emotive one that needs to be handled
carefully.
However he feels that Singapore will have a ' considerable edge'
over other countries if it is able to handle this ' critical
issue'.
--938Live