By S Ramesh | Posted: 05
September 2011 2030 hrs
SINGAPORE: Singapore's former Minister Mentor Lee
Kuan Yew has cautioned Singaporeans against turning the current
political divide into a national divide.
He said Singapore could achieve high income growth as compared with
its neighbours because during its independence, it had an undivided
society that was solidly behind a meritocratic system.
Mr Lee was speaking to 1,800 students at a dialogue session at the
Nanyang Technological University on Monday evening. The dialogue -
also attended by Education Minister Heng Swee Keat - is part of the
annual ministerial forum series organised by the NTU Students'
Union.
During the dialogue, Mr Lee acknowledged that the one thing which
will change in Singapore and which has already happened is the
political divide.
He said as long as the political divide does not degenerate into a
national divide, it will not have much impact on the growth of the
country.
But Mr Lee warned that if the political divide turned into constant
bickering, like what is happening between the Democrats and
Republicans in the United States, then Singapore will become just
"another ordinary country".
Mr Lee also explained that as Singapore grows more segmented with
more diverse educational levels, the country will not have the same
homogeneous mass of people to rally behind a single policy.
He said: "What's good for the middle income will be seen by the
lower income as unfavourable to them. What is good for the higher
income will be resisted by the middle income.
"It is a different society that we face and, therefore, the
political leaders will have a much more complicated job of getting
the society as a whole to accept a programme which is segmented to
meet the needs of various stratas of society."
Another subject of concern during the dialogue was Singapore's
immigration policy.
Mr Lee emphasised that a major worry for Singapore's leaders is the
fast ageing population, coupled with a drop in fertility rates.
Last year, the total fertility rate was at an all-time low of
1.15.
He said: "The birth rate today, the fertility rate, is 1.01. In
other words, for every couple, you have 1.01 babies.
"Having said that, the Institute of Policy Studies have the grim
statistics of 60,000 migrants a year to keep our economy young. We
can't digest that. 20,000 maybe, 25,000 - that's a stretch - but
certainly not 60,000."
Mr Lee said the answer is to get couples to have a fertility rate
of 1.8 babies or better still, 2.1 babies. Then the population can
replace itself.
Mr Lee was also asked about the impact of the recent handing over
of the KTM Railway land to Singapore. He said it will benefit ties
between the Republic and Malaysia.
Turning to the future, the founding father of modern Singapore
stressed that his worry is whether Singaporeans will have the best
people in the best jobs.
He said: "My worry about the future is whether we'll have the same
national solidarity, the same desire to increase education levels
and increase performance and having the best people in the best
jobs or holding the most important jobs. Once we veer away from
that meritocratic system, our performance will drop."
-CNA
