Latest statistics: Citizens constitute only 63 per cent of Singapore’s population
September 30th, 2009 | 
Author: From our Correspondent
According to the 2009 Population Trends report, Singapore’s total population at end-June was 4.99 million with 3.73 million Singapore residents and 1.25 million non-residents.
Though the number of PRs and citizens are not revealed, the National Population Secretariat puts the figures for the number of PRs at 0.48 million and citizens at 3.16 million:
This means that only 63.3 per cent of Singapore’s population are citizens with the number of non-Singaporeans, including PRs growing fast.
There are about 15,000 new births in 2008 and 100,000 new citizens and PRs. For every citizen born in Singapore, there are 6.7 PR and new citizen.
If the population growth and intake of foreigners remain at the same rate, there will be 1 million new citizens and PRs in 10 years time with only 150,000 births.
The percentage of Singapore citizens will decrease to 50 per cent or less if the government continues to “import” foreigners at such a rapid rate.
The relentless influx of foreigners had led to rampant inflation, sky-rocketing of prices of HDB flats and a stagnation of the wages of the lower-income group.
A recent report released by property company ERA revealed that 40 per cent of the buyers of HDB resale flats are foreigners.
The lower income group has also seen their salaries stagnate or even declined over the last decade due to the easily availability of cheap foreign labor who flocked to Singapore to earn a living.
The rising resentment and disgruntlement on the ground against the government’s liberal immigration policy had prompted Prime Minister Lee to reassure Singaporeans lately that he will “slow down” the intake of foreigners. However, he was quick to add that the policy will remain essentially unchanged though it will be tweaked.
With no opposition in Parliament, the ruling party is given complete power and autonomy to govern the nation as it likes. Singaporeans are completely under the mercy of the PAP. Unless there is a change in status quo, Singaporeans should be mentally prepared to live with more foreigners in their midst in the future.
Reference:
1. Population Trends Report 2009
2. National Population Secretariat
Posted in Editorial
Have verified the figures with the PDF file available on the National Population Secretariat and the figures are right. I won’t be surprised if the file gets pulled quickly. Another statistic to note, in 1998 citizens made up 75% of the population. The proportion has dropped to ~60% in just 10 years, and this gives a projection of less than 50% in another 10 years now, consistent with the article’s prediction.
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Will we, one day be like the aborigines in Australia?????????
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Does the 63% includes new citizen ? If yes, the number of locally born Singaporean is even lower. It really sad that there is nothing locals can do to prevent the government to do whatever they like to the country. Despite our pledge to build a democratic society, today we are more like a communist country!!!!
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just to correct,your figures for the number of new births are wrong. Also, the number of PRs and citizens have been revealed. see below
The Populations Trend 2009 report released by the Department of Statistics on Monday showed that the number of live births went up to 39,826 in 2008, an increase of 0.9 per cent over the previous year.
The number of resident births, where at least one parent is a Singapore resident, was 37,277 in 2008, up from 2007’s 37,074 births
There were 17,222 deaths in 2008. so net organic population gain is 37277-17222 = 20055
Singapore citizens contributed to this growth with a 1.1 per cent increase to 3.2 million in 2009. This group stood at 3.16 million last year.
Singapore PRs grew to 0.53 million in June, up from 0.48 million in 2008.
The number of resident households has also gone up at the same rate – by 1.7 per cent to an estimated 1,093,100 in 2008.
The average household size was 3.5 persons in 2008, lower than the average household size of 3.7 persons in 2000 and 4.2 persons in 1990.
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Sinkaporeans still dont get the picture, don’t they?
The famiLEE is NOT interested in how many Sinkaporeans are true blue nor whats the percentage of local born Sinkaporeans to New Citizens.
The famiLEE knows that local born Sinkaporeans are getting more and more demanding and may NOT vote for them anymore, which is why local Sinkaporeans are ‘encouraged’ to leave if they don’t like the present policies.
In order for the famiLEE to remain in power, disgrunted and demanding local born Sinkaporeans MUST LEAVE and make way for the New Citizens which will surely vote for PaPies.
60% or 50%, it really doesn’t matter, as long as they keep their control over Sinkapore. Local born SInkaporeans can leave all they want and they will just import more New Citizens.
Another 10 years down the road, Sinkapore will most probably be a ‘province of China’, occupied mainly by Meis Meis and Ge ge.
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Hooray! Singaporeans will now top the Pandas as the most endangered species on earth to disappear in the near future…….now how’s that for a No.1 ranking?
Come to think of it. Are you guys exhibiting behavior of the now extinct DoDo bird in Singapore?
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We see a dilution of the Singapore Identity.
We can be kiasu, kiasi and kia heng lui (afraid to pay), but at least that we can call “Singapore culture”. Now this is badly attacked with dilution from foreigners loosely called Foreign Talents.
Who will benefit? Those bosses and managers who need cheap-waged low educated workers so that they can replace “troublesome” Singaporean citizen workers.
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//XiSd Tay
I finally hear something sensible from you.
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As a local Singaporean in my late 20s, I have always maintain neutral views especially this topic which affect me on daily basis.
It is perfectly OK to bring in wealthy foreigners/immigrants. They can be bosses, attract more investments and provide decent jobs to Singaporeans. However, that is exactly what mainstream media want us to think.
The ugly truth – foreigners/immigrants from all walks of life (high, mid & low levels) are being converted to Singaporeans/PR. Our own citizens are often neglected when finding jobs. I was jobless for more than 1 year recently despite having good education and experiences.
In the early periods, Singapore government always make use of “foreign talents” as an excuse. The mainstream media too play a role in self-defeating campaign of “ugly Singaporean”. All for the sake of miracle solution to increase population.
What bothers me about foreigners/immigrants? Jobs and their etiquette.
There are too many jobs occupied by foreigners/immigrants that locals can do anytime. Let me reiterate I was jobless for more than a year recently. And I am a mid-level professional.
Our public transports are not prepared to handle huge population particularly on peak hours. My daily journey to workplace has become an inconvenience to tolerate crowded train or bus. It is also annoying to hear them talking loud on cellphone with their foreign language.
At home or on the street, mid-to-low level foreigners/immigrants tend to talk loudly and spit rudely in public.
Singapore is perhaps the only country in the world where its foreigners/immigrants do not understand the meaning and language, word-by-word of national anthem “Majulah Singapura”. Thus, they do not deserve to be Singaporean.
Singapore government do not really care about the feelings of our own citizens. I am deeply disappointed.
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i don’t think the primary objective of this high influx of foreigners is to get votes, i mean, only new citizens can vote and PRs cannot, and they wouldn’t want risking pissing the locals off thereby invoking high conversion rate of their fans.
it’s more to boost population growth. and hopefully, by making them feel at home, some will take up citizenship and only then, can they vote.
it’s a numbers game. probably if we get some statistics of previous annual conversion rate from PR to citizenship vs total number of PRs who were offered, the number of PRs who dropped out before they were offered, and the number of new citizens who dropped out. and juxtapose that data with the figure of achieved replacement rate, then maybe we will get a better idea of this super open door policy.
between staying in power and ensuring the survival of a nation- i mean people makes a nation, no people means no nation- i would think the latter supersedes.
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When will native Singaporeans become ‘Bumiputra’?
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Well.. perhaps we only have ourselves for letting the PAP get away with it all this while.. enough is enough! Let’s teach them a lesson in the coming election!
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Eventually, Singaporeans will be sandwiched in the middle between those very rich foreigners at the top and those very low wage foreign workers at the bottom. Singaporean becomes a diminishing and lost tribe.
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Are we, Singaporeans being forced to becaming an endanger species, and then, to extinction?
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I have lost my soul, my sense of belonging, my pride and purpose as a Singaporean. Our policy makers does care about such feelings which is the most important thing about being a Singaporean. It is an insult to Singaporeans when the policy makers think they can buy our soul and pride by giving Singaporeans a few $hundred/thousands once in a while. Do these policy makers have any conscience? Whose interests are they promoting and protecting? The way they are doing things, it will eventually destroy our country.
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As at 30 June 2009:
Total population = 4.99 million
No. of S’poreans = 3.20 million (increase of just 1.1% from 30 June 2008)
No. of PRs = 533,200 (increase of a whopping 12%)
No. of Foreigners = 1.25 million (increase of 5%)
Conclusion: Foreigners and PRs made up 36% of total population as of 30 June 2009. More than one third of population are non-S’poreans !!!!! Sinkies continue to sink in their own land!!! Uniquely Sinkapore !!
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my doc friend tells me whenever i moan about the authoritarian govt here that it is a benign one – the alternative could be worse. so he supports the status quo. ouch!! many think this way – so soon we will be dodos falling below the 50% if this govt continues to bull-doze its open doors to any foreign trash policy.
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The platitudinous war-like cry that Singapore needs to growth its population substantially and quickly to sustain its economic development and progress is A COMPLETE HOAX OF NO SUBSTANTIATION. Why?
Just look no further than South Korea and Taiwan. Do they import huge influx of foreigners in the last 20 years or the last few years. As of July 2009, including foreign workers and maids, South Korea has around 1 million foreigner living and working there compared to its entire population of close to 50 million. Taiwan has around 22 million people – 100% Han Chinese saved of a smitten of indigenious people. Have both nations not achieve spectacular economic success in recent years MUCH MUCH MUCH BETTER THAN US??
Of course, the Government will tell you that increased in size of population increased domestic consumption adding to GDP figure. WHAT THEY WON’T TELL YOU IS THAT GDP PER CAPITA will drop if productivity falls or the increase in population is matched by slower rate of GDP growth achievable as some foreign PRs are under-employed and Singaporeans forced to downgrade their employment options – the so-called ” do your reality checks” promoted by the genius proud expertise sold by the HR “EXPERTS” ( the experts, it seems of MSM preaching, has special credibility of truth, trustworthiness and needing our subservient compliance by virtue of their expertise advice) .
In fact this is likely to be the outcome increasing poverty ahead – falling GDP per capita. Why? Hiring “cheaper” foreign labour means restricting their income and earnings capacity and at the SAME TIME , Singaporeans are either squeezed out or marginalised by lower income and consumption spending.
The net result must be GDP growth in AGGREGATE ABSOLUTE MEASURE TERMS BUT when measured on the per capita basis it could fall dramatically off. Why?
Because foreign PRs are struggling with high costs of living as much as Singaporeans are and many Singaporeans will be UNEMPLOYED TO MAKE MATTERS WORSE. In time to come, foreign PRs will leave and we will be burdened with aging population with NOT ENOUGH CPF SAVINGS AND EVEN NOT ENOUGH FOR OUR DAY TO DAY LIVING FOR THE PRESENT SUSBSISTENCE LIVING.
Poverty awaits all of us but not for those with million dollar salaries. You can bet on that too.
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Is there anything we can do to help ourselves??? Frankly speaking i realise all this online talk cant change much at all. If the solution is to let our vote speak during election. Let me tell you guys this, i am 31 and i have never ever vote before in my life….
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This is called PAP massive assault on Singaporeans by borrowing the hands of foreigners. Strategically powerful for PAP but downright despicable action. Even devil has a soul but this is completely souless.
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either the people of singapore ACCEPTED this or
they deserve it.
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Sad lah.
The Chinese S’poreans don’t want to ptoduce. Worse still, don’t want to marry. Chase career and money unlike the Singapore Malsys and Indians. Many young professionals prefer western-style cohabitation. Girls also prefer ang mohs.
And if they did get married, marry old. Can then only have one child or none at old. Old egg lah.
This is the general truth. Singapore isn’t homogenous Japanese.
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I dont know about the rest but I am kind of pessimistic about Singapore.
It is a sad place.
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Dear fellow local breed Singaporeans,
I really hope you have slept long enough and now it is time to WAKE UP! I am afraid the next general election will be our last chance to send as many opposition MPs into parliament.
Only opposition MPs will vote against anti-Singaporean policies by the PAP government. What is the point of voting for PAP MPs when we know for sure that they will never or dare to vote against any policy that they think is bad for Singapreans.
If we had voted for at least 30 opposition MPs in the 2006 general election, would the GST have increased to 7%, would the Ministers able to give themselves a big fat salary increase, would we have so many foreigners now, etcs.
If we fall for the vote buying strategy of the PAP again in the next general election, we would have lost the last chance of taking back control of Singapore from this autocratic PAP government.
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Either we make the MIW/Pappy extinct or Singaporean race get extinct. Your choice.
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Yes it does appear that there are many foreigners here. Compare this with UAE, this is nothing. See this report:
http://www.uaeinteract.com/docs/UAE_population_likely_to_cross_5m/37283.htm
A quote from there “A breakdown showed the national population will grow from about 892,000 at the end of 2008 to 923,000 at the end of 2009, while expatriates will increase from about 3.873 million to 4.143 million.”
Can you see how dependent UAE is on foreign labour? They are needed for the growth of UAE.
Sg also needs foreign labour for growth. Don’t rule out completely we don’t need them. My sympathies to those who are out of jobs. It is indeed painful, but removing all foreigners, will it really help the economy.
Do remember that most of our ancestors were also once foreigners on this land. You are now citizens because they were once foreigners.
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@ Anonymous on Mon, 28th Sep 2009 11:03 pm
“I really hope you have slept long enough and now it is time to WAKE UP! I am afraid the next general election will be our last chance to send as many opposition MPs into parliament.”
I believe that we are reaching the tipping point of being over-run by foreigners. The election following the next will be insignificant if those devils win the next one.
Concerned citizens: Don’t always use your netizens voice, talk to people，starting from family, relatives, friends etc, let them see the truth and convince them to pledge their votes to the opposition. The success of the chances to send opposition MPs to the Parliament depends on how hard you press to spread the word.
Then PAP will have to decide, it’s either us or them.
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Dear Alternative:
“Sg also needs foreign labour for growth. Don’t rule out completely we don’t need them. … … It is indeed painful, but removing all foreigners, will it really help the economy.”
I do not understand why you think people are asking for the removal of ALL foreigners. Where did you get that idea from?
The problem lies with the fact that the importing of foreigners is TOO FAST and TOO MUCH. Nobody is saying we should stop importing foreigners all together.
I actually find it rather amazing that you still have this misunderstanding despite so many articles on this topic.
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I have thought about this before. There are many inherent differences between UAE and Singapore and they do play a big part in helping us understand why FT is okay for them but not very okay for us.:
1.UAE citizens need not serve NS.
2.UAE’s economy is well supported by the region (Middle East. Read: oil producing nations)
3.UAE has enormous land – Rural + Urban. Urban only constitutes small area of the country. IF you can’t afford urban, you have option to go rural.
4. UAE has oil as resource. Singapore doesn’t have.
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To: Alternative on Mon, 28th Sep 2009 11:55 pm
Hey hey… by saying this: “Do remember that most of our ancestors were also once foreigners on this land. You are now citizens because they were once foreigners.”
You are also essentially saying Sinkapoore is also just another “Hotel”. People come, people go. No True Citizens at all. No need for the Singapore nationality/identity.
For what? Generation-after-generation will be replaced by foreigners anyway! Going by your speak/logic.
And as such, NO LOYALITY is required at all in such a case. And as such, WHAT FOR the need for National Service? NO NEED for Army or defense. Defend what? DEFEND New Foreigners who have just “invaded” your country and now Bossing over you???
NO IDENTITY = NO LOYALITY = NO NS
Scrap the NS B.S. and spare the torture on all Singaporean Males I say!!! (And save Massive amounts of $$$$$defense budget$$$ by the way!!)
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anonymous
The platitudinous war-like cry that Singapore needs to growth its population substantially and quickly to sustain its economic development and progress is A COMPLETE HOAX OF NO SUBSTANTIATION. Why?
i don’t think singapore needs to boost its population, since as you rightly point out, economic progress is not due to numbers but to quality of the numbers, i.e. productivity, innovation. totally agree.
but you see, the government has no more idea liao. singapore has reached such a corner, don’t want to marry, don’t want to produce, because of the cooker pressure environment and rising housing prices. on one head, the pap dream of economic vibrancy on the other they have no choice but to treat education system as a constant because people must be made stupid. people must be enslaved to work work and work, pay for house forever. these all have been discussed so no point going into it.
so the only way they know how, considering they treat so many things as constants, is to import foreigners in the hope that they will make babies here, and because only some will, either as PRs or new citizens, they will have to bring in tons of them to cast a good probability game.
in other words, like already pointed out so many times by others, they paint themselves into a corner but instead of relooking at the original colors they choose to paint cracks in the corner hoping that the corner will give way.
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if you assume half of the 63% serve National Service, only 31.5% have NS liabilities, i.e. only 3 out of 10!
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continuing from my above post,
my point is, i wouldn’t give too much credit to their brain power. frogs in the well can only see so far. frog logic no need to overthink wan. what i wanted to point was that is their primary objective, but i don’t discount the fact that it may have consquences unintended by them. i say unintended not because i am defending them but because these consequences run counter to their staying in power- like i mentioned, pissing their own people off that they switch to the other side- and only because they have gotten themselves into such a corner that they either didn’t forsee these side effects or they did but bo bian, they had no more juice liao.
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UAE is a flawed comparison. The foreigners there are ALWAYS foreigner – very very few gets PR status and the rights attached to those and its own citizens to keep their national identity and homogenity of culture. First sign of crisis, the foreigners have no alternative but leave BECAUSE THEY HAVE NO LEGAL RESIDENCY STATUS – EVER.
Singapore is a rubbish dumb taking a lot of foreign trash no talent and giving them PRs for reasons other than economics. First sign of crisis, the foreign PRs hang on for resources access and demand rights and privileges and if not sustainable of outcome, how many would not move on to leave this place impoverished after that?
Yes, we need temporary foreign workers, not foreign trash no talent as PRs.
Don’t be a biggest fool on earth!
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BTW, the comparison of Singapore with UAE is as gimmicky of concealed truth as the recent population comparison with the State of Israel. Claims of similarity of Israel lacking resources is COMPLETELY FALSE.
Israel made a HUGE oil and gas discovery off the coast of Haifa that will meet its entire energy needs for at least 15 years plus availability for export earnings. And this is only early stage exploration and the full extent of hydrocarbon-bearing reservoir is yet undetermined.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1232265973374&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Oil has also been discovered on the Israeli side of the Dead Sea since 2006 but kept in silence on the quality and quantity of discovery for fear of instigating another war.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1159193368922&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
And in September 2008, the Jordanian authorities also reported oil discovery on its side of the Dead Sea.
http://www.oilinisrael.net/top-stories/a-dead-sea-oil-discovery-in-jordan
The geological implication of that is possibly a huge oil-bearing reservoir hiding under the Dead Sea shared between Jordan and Israel – the political and war risks obvious of future economic exploitation.
Suffice to say that Israel is now a natural resources rich nation in energy and can afford to sustain a larger population.
Singapore has NO natural resources at all.
The comparison of Singapore with Israel is complete fallacy of validity.
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Let’s pressurise pap for an early election. As long as election is not called, Singaporeans sufferings will prolong. I felt sad for all our fellow citizens, they don’t deserve to be punished in this way by the tyranny.
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The gov policies are made by the JOKER
that is why singapore will be like Gotham City
Don’t let that JOKER have his way…
kick him out !!
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Great point on UAE;
So where’s my free education and medical care? And my priority in finding employment on top of cheap govt rentals on housing?
Sure UAE has lots of expats like sg, but there is a clear distinction in terms of benefits for citizens. and it’s not easy for expats to be naturalized, unlike sg which gives out citizenship like flyers
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I couldn’t help but notice, this morning, while I was on public transport, there was this ‘My Paper’ people were holding on to, that had a front page which says.
‘Singapore population reaching 5 million, thanks to Foreigners and PRs!’
Or something similar, with a great big picture full of people squeezed together, and smiling happily.
I didn’t get a piece of the news, so I wouldn’t know if it was out of spite or sarcasm, either of which making me think if I’m happy being squeezed. Let’s all speculate, 10 years down the road, how squeezed we shall be?
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Comparing Singapore with Mideast countries is inappropriate because in the Middle East:
1) Citizens get special treatment (free medical, education, housing, etc)
2) There is no concept of PR
3) Most foreigners are guest workers, regardless of how many years they have worked
4) Foreigners cannot start business without local partner
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Our PAP govt has always insisted that we need a greater proportion of youths in our economy in order to replace/ support our older generation. In short, this is tantamount to saying that our older generation appears to be living longer than necessary, well past their usefulness. That’s probably why they have to implement CPF Life compulsory schemes.
But 30 to 40 years down the line, how are they going to tackle the welfare of those increased numbers of senior citizens from the increased intake of new citizens and PRs. Is there a solution in sight to tackle these future problems ? Will there be adequate medical and welfare facilities ? Will it be compulsory in future for the poor citizens to die in nursery homes in JB or Batam ?
So far, our PAP govt has been silent on these issues. Maybe they think that these future problems are for the future leaders to resolve, so long as they can enjoy their million dollar salaries as long as they are able to convince at least 51% to vote for them ?
Then, are they not cheating on the present generation of Singaporeans ?
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randomnessinmind said: didn’t get a piece of the news, so I wouldn’t know if it was out of spite or sarcasm, either of which making me think if I’m happy being squeezed. Let’s all speculate, 10 years down the road, how squeezed we shall be?
Lemme hunch a guess. Sinkapore island will be filled with Foreign Imported Citizens while True Blue Sinkaporeans would have either:
1. Left and Migrated, and/or
2. Sent To St John’s Island or Kusu Island?
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Who is a Singaporean? A large majority of us are Chinese and Indian whose ancestors migrated from their own lands in search of a better future. Technically speaking, only the Malays are true locals of Singapore. Most of the rest of us are ‘foreigners’ – the only difference with the new foreigners being the fact that we came earlier. The sense of Singapore as a nation is only around forty years old. Though by now there are some strong and unique traits that do define us as a nation.
So why should we assume that there should be some sort of a cut-off year for immigration to stop? As long as Singapore needs manpower, skilled or unskilled, let them come and live here. If the foreigner refuses to become Singaporean then he/she deserves our wrath. But if the new PR/citizen adopts the uniquely Singaporean traits, sends his/her son to NS and blends in, why should we despise him/her? Imagine if someone had done that to our grandfather or great-grandfather or great-great-grandfather – where would we have been now? Working long hours for low wages in some Chinese factory or breaking our backs in some poor Indian village!
And if you are talking about difficulty in getting jobs, rising prices etc., before the global recession struck the job market here was not so bad. And a growing economy always sees some inflation – so prices going up was also normal. The present state of the job market is due to the global recession, which by the way, Singapore withstood much better than most other economies. And anyway, when the job cuts came, who do you think were the first to get the axe – the ‘foreigners’ (at least as far as I have seen, but I admit that I may not be entirely correct on this one.)
But I guess whatever I have said will make no difference – we will still be complaining – after all that is a uniquely Singaporean trait! We love to complain! And we forget that we are much better off than most of the rest of humanity to whom our lives seem like a faraway, distant dream. Don’t be so selfish lah – share a bit of your good fortune with the less fortunate, if they are willing to work hard and sincerely to try and realise their dreams.
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Let’s put aside the angst of having so many foreigners in our midst for a sec.
And let’s say govt didn’t have this policy of expanding our working human capital by importing them and our population gets stuck at 3m+, how would we have fared in a globalized world?
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People say membership has its privileges. Bumis in M’sia have their privileges, USA pple has their social seccurity benefits.
Holding a Sg IC is actually more like “U r now eligible to be taxed, controlled, restricted by the Sg government”.
If true blue s’poreans make up only 63%, that means to say approx. 50% is eligible to vote, about 25% of that actually got to vote( non-walkovers), and only 66% of those, which is abt 15% supports the current government. hmm…talk about overwhelming support and mandate…
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“Just look no further than South Korea and Taiwan. Do they import huge influx of foreigners in the last 20 years or the last few years. As of July 2009, including foreign workers and maids, South Korea has around 1 million foreigner living and working there compared to its entire population of close to 50 million. Taiwan has around 22 million people – 100% Han Chinese saved of a smitten of indigenious people. Have both nations not achieve spectacular economic success in recent years MUCH MUCH MUCH BETTER THAN US??”
I will not comment much on Korea’s progress but I reserve my judgement on Taiwan. Their GDP and other economic figures have been falling each year since early 90s till the point they are comparing their growth to countries other than other 4 dragons. Yes they do not have huge influx of foreign labor but their policies hampered local business growth and Funds started leaving Taiwan to China.
In any case, their economic structures are radically different from ours. Hong Kong’s economic model is closer to ours that would be a better example.
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The problem of being a singaporean male is the N.S and reservist training. Potential employers prefer employees who will not burden them with reservist training, etc., therefore they automatically prefer foreigners or P.R. And we are militarily trained to protect what? It is definitely better to be P.R in singapore than to be a citizen. The pink i/c and the red passport is meaning less and less day by day!
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Folks….
singapore is becoming like animal farm [author george orwell]…
are we going to allow this to happen…
are we going to let the self-servicing pigs and their dogs continue to get away with it every 5 years…
they are no longer fellow citizens of singapore…they are worst…
like my army instructor like to say to new recruits, and i quote him “all of you 39 recruits combined together are worth less then dirt in my right hand right now”….to me the recruits rite now are the decision makers, policy makers and suck me up & pay me more politicians we have right now in singapore…it is now longer about singapore and its citizens anymore…it is about me and myself keeping my self in power and position no matter what at the long term expense of singapore citizens…
and singapore citizens and their children and future generations will pay and suffer…are you gonna allow this to continue with the coming ge…
make your stand clear..enough is enough…decent self-respecting human beings can only take so much…time to dish out the pain to these scum as they have been dishing it out to us in the past and right now too!
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South Korea started behind us in industrialisation. Now its economy is ranked larger than both Canada – a G7 member nation ( an organisation found in 1976) and Australia. Through schrewd economic management over 30 years, they leaped by miles among the 5 tiger economies. Their integrated export-oriented economy leaves Japan behind in shipbuilding industry.
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2001rank.html?countryName=Israel&countryCode=is®ionCode=me&rank=52#is
If only we are as good as we brag unrelentlessly and truly achieving as South Korea, we would not need to wake up with this nightmare of our economy urgently need restructuring.
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The question we should ask is whether the new citizens are replacing themselves i.e. they have at least 2 children and they are Singaporean (some have intentionally let the male boy born outside Singapore to avoid NS) . If not, is the government aggravating the aging population problem when trying to achieve higher GDP figures????? Government should publish statistics on this information to convince us that they are indeed trying to solve aging problem and not trying to save somebody face in the attempt to prove his ability merely by GDP figure!!!
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Sheldon
Just adding to your post on Tue, 29th Sep 2009 4:32 am. and 6:01 am at same date.
It is BEGUILINGLY NIAVE to believe that simply adding to population base will lift economic opportunities rather than imposing economic burden as both China and India’s have inextricably and unbearably trapped in.
The inherent logic is perverse, more so in this age of globalisation. Look at the case of Israel as a case in point even though I did argued as irrelevant and incomparable of resource base. Its economy is smaller than us but population bigger.
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2001rank.html?countryName=Israel&countryCode=is®ionCode=me&rank=52#is
True to facts, its population increased by migration of Russian jews since the collapse of Soviet Union. The simple question NOT asked and FAITHFULLY ANSWERED AND UNDERSTOOD is this – this this migration add or build a new pillar of significant contribution to its economy? The answer is arguably no. It hi-tech industry is now slightly over 30% of the economy and services sector is 65%.
Forgotten of fair mentioning is that Israel always have same hi-tech industry of military applications – aircraft, engineering and communication equipment to support its war efforts and contigencies. The migration of Russian jews adds tension and little or nothing to Israel’s ECONOMIC WELL-BEING – NOT even its mining sector. Given the known discovery of hydrocarbon on both sides of the trans-Israeli Jordanian Dead Sea, any huge discovery even one-fifth of the Saudi Ghawar oilfields would make Israel a very very rich nation and the discovery of gas on its Meditereanean foreshores was foreign technology rather than Russian entities.
The pointed lesson is choice of migrant skills. In globalisation, we fell right at the bottom of scales. USA, Canada, EU, Australia and New Zealand ranks way ahead. If we get third-rate talents from source countries of China and India, it is a stepping stone for them to build credentials to win foreign residency status in Australia and elsewhere. A Chinese degree plus a few years of credentialled experience with foreign MNCs in Singapore of proven track record is a passport past Australia’s immigration door for certainty. Many of these would be migrants to Australia, Canada found issues of genuine marriage and qualification vetted by experience the biggest stumbling block into Canada or Australia because their records submitted for application is often suspected of falsity. These are often bitterly fought to appeal to the highest court of the land even though the Appellant knows their evidence is completely false.
http://www.canlii.org/eliisa/highlight.do?text=professional+misconduct&language=en&searchTitle=Federal&path=/en/ca/irb/doc/2003/2003canlii54293/2003canlii54293.html
But it proved how desirable such a PR in country like Canada and Australia. Plenty of similar case to this Canadian case in Australia.
And if the third-rate fled to Australia, what are we left with? Those whom we might call “Pa Si Bey Chou” ( beat until death also refused to flee) and when you add these to our own talent pool, how does that add to total economic capital of talent in this country?? IT IS DILUTION AND ADDED BURDEN to future generations and heavy penalty cost of sustaining an unproductive immigrant influx for the present generation.
Migration from abroad is NOT going into foreign countries and pick and choose only the valuable quality stuff. THE SELECTION IS BOTH WAYS. A beggar is unlikely to find a RICH BEAUTIFUL BRIBE except in his fanciful hard-praying dreams. And even if we woo them over, they are not stupid to commit unless this place is definitely better than homeland. If they come voluntarily, there is a “push” factor for us to “pull” them in. But if we go soliciting like a desperate case, they is an unwilling “pull” factor, no voluntary “push” factor, they will dump us as soon as better horizon is open to them or returning to familiarity of home ground.It is just transcient stop to final destination or just reap the harvest while sun shines.
Mass migration by influx of foreigners can easily be seen by incoming PRs as we are desperate. Ask yourself this question – do you pick a desperate bride who have not already counted her own motivation?
Sheldon, the desperation showed that the Government has run out of ideas. We were caught without a strong external sector. TH was meant by its charter (now amended) to build our external economic arm. That failed far too diifficult to handle unlike South Korea which has a strong integrated export-oriented economy.
And to build that, WE SINGAPOREANS AND SINGAPOREAN BUSINESS MUST VENTURE OUT. DEFINITELY NOT FLOODED IN FROM OUTSIDE OF DUBIOUS POPULATION INFLOW OF NO CERTAIN QUALITY AND CONTRIBUTION POSSIBLE. Why is it so tough in here. Opportunities are limited here. Where is the opportunities in globalisation – the answer must be correctly – OUTSIDE SINGAPORE.
So it begs the perverse logic of bringing more mouths of population to fight for a smaller and smaller pie within Singapore when ALL THE OPPORTUNITIES ARE OUTSIDE SINGAPORE BECAUSE OF GLOBALISATION.
Our economic and population policies seems to WORK IN REVERSE OF THE TIDE OF GLOBALISATION AND EXPECT TO SURVIVE AND PROSPER.
How can that be possible, may I ask??
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To Anonymous on Tue, 29th Sep 2009 1:43 pm
Don’t quite understand your point. South Korea 48 million population. Singapore 3.2 million population.
Talk about tiger economies. Have you forgotten about the Asian financial crisis, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1997_Asian_Financial_Crisis#South_Korea?
At that time, Sg suffered but not as bad as the other affected countries. A quote from wikipedia “As the financial crisis spread the economy of Singapore dipped into a short recession. The short duration and milder effect on its economy was credited to the active management by the government.”
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Alternative, my key point is that South Korea started on the path later than Singapore. We had a very strong shiprepair industry ( and may I add some shipbuilding industry) and MM says it is sunset industry.Korea had no modern shipbuilding sector of any international measure at that time.
They built an industry from scratch and overtaken Japan a couple – the largest shipbuilding nation in the world. The success of South Korean shipbuilding indsutry epitomises the success of South Korean economic management.
Now South Korea has integrated industry from material sourcing to final end products selling to world markets. For example, they owns part of mines in Australia, USA, South America, Canada, and Philippines supplying raw materials to steel mills and smelters which they sell these steel products to their shipbuilders, car manufacturers even to your laptop and mobile phone manufacturers. From raw materials in ground to final end consumers on the global market, the South Koreans economy is at works – huge global scale industry.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TvZL5IsGSf0
Singapore DOES NOT have such home grown DOMESTIC SECTOR. So we are vulnerable to foreign investors pull out. If you noted carefully, the US dollar has fallen a lot globally in last few months, lesser so in Singapore. As the US$ falls, Singapore will be less attractive as a base for US investors and some might even shift out to China leaving our SME supporting MNCs no business to do. South Korea does not have to worry about this – they have domestic integrated industry.
Hope this little simple explanation helps. Dig more on the net if it interest you further.
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Dear Winnie (29th Sep 2009 11:12 am):
“So why should we assume that there should be some sort of a cut-off year for immigration to stop?”
- If you read the articles and comments properly, nobody is asking for immigration to STOP, and nobody is asking to ban ALL foreigners. The problem is that the influx of foreigners is TOO FAST and TOO MUCH.
“If the foreigner refuses to become Singaporean then he/she deserves our wrath.”
- You have brought up a valid point that foreigners should try to integrate into their host countries. But is this happening here? Foreigners are sticking to their enclaves, esp in Geylang, Chinatown & Little India. Govt is spending A LOT of money to “help” them integrate, money that could have been better spent elsewhere. This is what happens when the import is TOO FAST and TOO MUCH.
“And if you are talking about difficulty in getting jobs, rising prices etc., before the global recession struck the job market here was not so bad. And a growing economy always sees some inflation – so prices going up was also normal.”
- I’m unsure if you have learnt economics before, but I’m sure you’re familiar with the basic ideas of supply and demand. When there is a sharp and sudden influx of foreigners, how can there be enough jobs? With such a huge labor pool, why would employers give higher salaries? So how can you blame everything on the global recession instead of the huge influx of foreigners?
Ditto for inflation. Inflation is normal but an inflation rate of 5 – 6% is NOT normal. HDB prices reaching a new high in the middle of a recession is NOT normal. And these are largely caused by a large spike in demand from the huge influx of foreigners.
Please, the numbers speak for themselves. When you are importing foreigners in at such a fast and furious rate, problems will surely arise in consumer prices, wages and employment rates.
“But I guess whatever I have said will make no difference – we will still be complaining”
- The way you said it, it’s like complaints are bad. But how can society ever improve if there are no complaints? I hope you will agree my “complaint” is a logical and rational one backed by sound arguments, and not just all noise and no substance. So yes, we will still complain, because we refuse to shut up and sit down.
“And we forget that we are much better off than most of the rest of humanity to whom our lives seem like a faraway, distant dream.”
- Chen Shui Bian says I may be corrupt but at least we are not as bad as Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe says we may have ridiculous inflation rates but at least we are not as bad as North Korea. North Korea says we may be starving a bit here and there, but at least we are not torn by war like Iraq.
Thus going by your argument, Taiwan, Zimbabwe and N Korea are perfectly fine countries with no need to improve. Which of course, is an absurd idea.
Please stop trying to say “At least we are better than others”. What is the point of comparing yourself with African countries and then patting yourself on the back?
The fact remains there is something very wrong with our system, and that needs to change. Ignoring the problem and focusing on our strengths elsewhere is just not acceptable.
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@Anonymous
It is true the MM saw not much a future in our marine industry. That was the case about a decade ago. Local marine companies have adapted quite well though.
Keppel Offshore Marine for example is the leader in FPSO vessel conversions. Singapore is also one of the leading builders of oil rigs globally. And as the MM so nicely noted recently in Russia, we are also a prime refiner of petroleum products. During the time when motorist were bleeding whenever they pump petrol. KOM were working day and night building new rigs and support vessels for said rigs. The local shipyards have also ventured into building pipeline laying vessels and other specialized vessels. Keppel now ventures as far as Russia and Brazil to capture new business deals. Though that pool has shrunk a fair bit due to onset of protectionism.
From what I recall, Hyundai ship building is a global leader in making super tankers (ships that we cannot build here due to lack of land), their innovative engineers have managed to create a system where by they can push out 13 completed vessels in one month. Everything is streamlined in the shipyard. They can even forge their own steel sheets from ore imported from Australia. Their scale of economy means their micro-economy is like our macro-economy.
As for internal consumption economics, Singapore may never be able to build one. We import food, water and energy. This eliminates the prime foundations of a internal consumption based market. Lets say we slow down immigration and add some road blocks (like more scrutiny and a points system like Aussie one). Population tapers off at 5 million mark. Unless we can create a scenario whereby we consume about 1/2 of the goods we produce and export the other 1/2 a integrated market system will be hard to sustain. (Note that I am no economics expert much less a expert in macro-economics)
Manufacturing will eventually leave our shores. Components manufacturers will be looking to shift bases to China, S.Korea and India. This will leave lots of PRs (lets be frank they form the majority of people who work in that sector) without employment. As PR conditions are based on employment, they may have to go back home.
Then there is the push to turn the ship into a service industry based ship. This intention while good conflicts with some grouses of the populace.
1. Shift work. IRs and 24hr joints require shift-workers which even I do not wish to do.
2. Harsh conditions. By this I am talking about mean customers, that kind of stress everyday @ work? Add in normal pay level?
There are also factors like high turnover rates of citizens. Employers are resistant to hire locals not because they got NS, local business owners also need to commit to NS too anyway. They are resistant because people tend to leave in 1 to 1.5 work years as soon as a bigger fatter paycheck comes along. Then there are those who work 6 mths and figure that they do not like to work there anymore and just up and go.
The harsher the work conditions the worse the turnover. IT engineers, administrators and other entry to mid-level positions suffer from this in the worst possible kind of way. What a business owner will tell you is that normally a PR would stay for 3-4 years before considering changing while locals start itching within 2 (and those are the good ones).
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Can someone tell me what will happen when a more deadly form of H1N1 strikes our tiny island when our population density hits 20,000 people per sq km? Come to think of it, do we really want to live in a place where the population density is so high.
Time for CHANGE. CHANGE is now. It will be too late when true Singaporeans become a minority in our own country.
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Sturmtruppen on Tue, 29th Sep 2009 1:25 pm
I agree with you. Remember the ‘Stop at two’ campaign. Our parents did not do anything about it.
It is up to us now to put a stop to this ridiculous influx of foreigners. The most important statistic anyone should know is the population density and not the total population.
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csl. yes, glad you note MM did not see much of hope for our marine industry. However your date re-collection is wrong. MM made a national day rally speech in the early 1980s but almost 30 years on now, a cluster of niche marine sector thrives very well like Swiber, Ezion, Marco Polo, Jeya etc not counting the big international success of Keppel and to a smaller degree Sembawang. Land is a constraint but there is nothing in way of capital and management skills to work out such a huge success like the South Korean on foreign soil – be it within Asean regions. Our shipyards relied on foreign workers but if we had build such shipyard in Subic Bay, ex-US Subic Bay post-Vietnam War complex using our experience and skills in shiprepair into shipbuilding, we got a head start against Koreans.
Remember South Korean car industry stretch into China, Canada and USA either via jv or on their own. They ALSO started from scratch and now the 5th largest car industry in the world. Imagine how much support this size of industry would give to other supporting industry like integrated steel mills,engineering and design, technical and logistic services operating out of Singapore. Local Government Linked Companies hardly ventured abroad (with few exceptions) and if they did, it is often piecemeal and unsuccessful like Intraco and Jurong Cement etc into China.
And when it is spearheaded by Government – it is usually infrastructural with long gestation periods to earnings and land owned by foreigners – the failure of Suzhou Industrial Park showed how ill-equiped we are of international ventures for success. WE ARE NOT EVEN LANDLORD WAITING FOR INDUSTRIAL TENANTS TO COME IN BEFORE WE MAKE MONEY.
The South Koreans did it differently, they invest in income generating business or invest in resources development with income potential and security of supply of raw materials feeding their global industries – much like the Japanese did. What they lack in land and resources, they invest in these abroad and employing their capital, mangement and organisational skills to make it work, noting their car industry is so successful despite the collapse of much bigger US auto industry giants like GM, Ford and Chrysler.
As for domestic economy, it is stupid and poor economy. A population now of 3.4 million increasing to 6.5 million doubles the consumption level. Korea with a population of 48 million export at least 90% of it car manufactures to global market to prosper. So it begs the obvious – what real impact of economic value to industry and commerce by this doubling of population? Are there no costs to it in infrastructure support like transport, educational, medical,environmental management etc etc both as start up costs and also continuiing burden? If you double the population but does NOT DOUBLE THE GDP, what happen to GDP per capital – fallen of course. And then what?A much bigger national burden of welfare costs will emerge unless the Government made some decision to send you or me into Hitler’s gas chamber.
Doubling population is false and stupid economic unless you are sure that efficiency gains will allow you to at least double your GDP. In overcrowding, everything gets slow down from road and transport jams to hospital wait to food buying at hawker centres to even jammed ports for shipping goods out…where is the efficiency coming from? Under the bed of some great scholars where dreams are made of? Or are we heading for unmitigated disaster of population burden like China and India and Nigeria?
Is that what we are waiting for??
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anonymous
thanks for the information, i appreciate it. but as your knowledge is too specialized for me, other than saying it makes sense, i will ask you a question.
imagine now you are appointed the economic masterplanner. given this current mess, what will you do? ( in as concrete terms as possible).
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sheldon:imagine now you are appointed the economic masterplanner. given this current mess, what will you do? ( in as concrete terms as possible).
Are you saying that Singapore is in a mess now? And that this happened under the watch of the present authority?
If that is what you meant, that the first thing that is needed is a change in leadership.
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time for change
of course we need a change in leadership lah. my question to anonymous is founded on that basis. the reason why i ask him is because i think he is knowledgeable enough to offer something.
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Anonymous
There are other factors at work when considering how much “phail” our local companies are when doing oversea expansion.
Since Sim Wong Hoo, have we seen a privateer make it big time? Not that I recall any. The lack of creativity and enterprising business acumen kills vibrancy in our small budding nation.
Then there is the lack of flexibility when it comes to working. Indonesia for example have rather draconian employment laws making difficult for SG firms to revitalize their working staff. Then there is the problem of supervision, administration red-tape and finally corruption.
Hyundai actually had people like current president Lee Myun Bak(sp) lead it as CEO before. Their rise and the demise of the big three is not a random occurance. Big 3’s lack of good products and terrible management is their major downfall. Entire production plants are run by individual unions with pension agreements, healthcare agreements and even retrenchment benefits. They ran up huge operating costs and added layers upon layers of red tape when trying to negotiate their way out of administration. Not saying that Korean employment acts and unions are any better, try even hinting retrenchment and you will get a big bad riot in Seoul. As a result their government has consistently handed out huge loans and subsidies to them allowing them to go out and undercut their competitors just so that their plants and factories can continue to operate.
Actually we have loads of services and domain knowledge expertise to tap on. No reason why Singapore Inc cannot go out and make the pie bigger back home. Have our economic strategies been going the wrong way? Hope our 3rd restructuring bears fruit.
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I have always accepted foreigners into Singapore. But when the ruling party is importing foreigners at the rate they are, more needs to be done. They seem completely oblivious to the integration process. They seem to think, we will just dump the people into society and they will take care of themselves. It is because our cabinet is filled with ministers with MBAs. We lack sociologists, social workers and activists, people who really care about society and understand the demands and challenges of social development.
The lack of policies and practices for the integration process and the development of Singaporean society shows their lack of understanding and control of the issue. The issue goes beyond fear of competition from foreigners. We are not like them. We do not live in fear and hole ourselves up in an ivory tower surrounded by the similar-minded ‘elites’. We live among the people and we understand the issues on the ground.
As Singapore develops as a society, even with the dumping of foreigners into our midst, the society in 2009 is no longer the simple entity it was in 1965. Survival today is so much more complex than Malaya and the water issue. The current ruling party seems unable to respond to the changes and the growth in our social development. They talk about it and say they have to change and grow, but they can’t seem to step out of the fear of dissenting voices, opinions and challenges from the new generation. Even with more educated and reasonable voices in the opposition and in society, the engagement is still superficial. How do I prove this? Where is the public forum on this issue? So far, all the comments issued from the ruling party has been repetitive statements, ‘We cannot fear foreigners. We need them for our survival. We need to live with them.’ As it has been for so long, they do not hear us.
This is the point:
“We do not fear foreign imports. We know they work hard. We are living with them, more than you are. We are just asking for more reasonable entries at any one point in time and better and more thought-out integration policies and practices.”
And this is difficult for them – to listen to us when we make sense, to understand our challenges on the ground and to develop policies and practices to address the issues we have brought up. They are scholars, the elite class who have minimal if not zero contact with the foreigners they are dumping into Singapore society. They studied overseas and have MBAs. An MBA is a worthy thing, but a country cannot be governed by management practices. Singapore is 44 years old. We have come a long way – as a people and a society. Leaders who only have MBAs will not understand what that journey entailed and the challenges of a growing society.
That is why we are having all these issues. It is not the PAP per se. It is the elitism. That is why they do not listen and do not understand. We might well be ants to them, milling around while they watch from their ivory towers.
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ever thought the reason we did have a critical mass of creative thinkers with creative thinking and sound ethics has something to do with the way the education system is set up….
if LKY in his youth has gone thru the singapore churn me out robotic worker drones and NS….i don’t think he will amount to much too…maybe at most he become a teacher, a middle manager [can be replace once passed 40 if want to cut cost or want to get foriegner buddy buddy into singapore], a engineer or a middling planner at most…
i am talking about the lost generations and our generation too…if the education system focus on the right education policies which is to teach people to think, to create and to question…
instead we have real intelligent elite scholars no thanks to our education system who thinks they are the best [a number i know are truely are "real" intelligent [real IQ with EQ] but choose to stay in the background due to the kiss my boss so faster promote, get all the credit even though it is not mind and keep in line else kena condemmed], many of these so called elite scholars when not protected by the system and go to private sector are literally “losers” except due to their outstanding paper qualifications or so call i am confirmed better then you don’t amount to much in the overall scheme of things…
wonder if singapore future education has enough to make corrections to their policies…but doubtful as long as the current party still remains in power and call all the shots…
We could have fullfilled our full potential as human beings…no thanks to some of the inane requirements of our education system…
i know a good friend who scored straight As out of 12 subjects at “O” levels…except he failed in his english…so what if he won a science award in physics and has fantastic imagination/creativity…he could not go to local uni…he could not beat the system set up this way…so he gave up his dreams to be a scientist…now he is just a senior technician and he is having problems to make ends meet for his children and family…it is so painful to see this…there is a lot of other singaporeans i believe who are like my friend…they can be so much more…but singapore education system only see them as economic digits and worker drones…while other less deserving are protected and channel via the elitism policies of the education system…and many of them are only paper intelligent…
sad.
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C’mon guys, the keyword to all this wayang is VOTE. PERIOD!
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cls, you are right of many of the US car industry. Yet South Koreans have invested in a US$1 billion car manufacturing facilities there – same union rules and same social political climate. What Americans can’t do in the home turf, the Koreans are trying to do a lot better – product, management, organisation and of course NEWER TECHNOLOGY. American car industry stuck with EMBEDDED technology the same way the Japanese got stuck with embedded technology in shipbuilding which create opportunity gaps for South Koreans to overtake them.
South Korean Government is very aggressive – they BACKED their domestic industry BUT PRESSURED THEM LIKE HELL to go FOREIGN and if you don’t, don’t bother us with your business problems of red tape, financial or other support. You will die natural deaths from crowded domestic sector as we backed those who will grow international in support of Korea International Inc.
Our GLC? fat as pigs and lazy of risks as public servants filling its corporate jungle, how can we progress? Our economic model is like someone said ” cockcroach capitalism” – living on the crumbs of supporting MNCs business here and getting paid employment working for foreigners banks and financial institutions. Singapore Inc is only GLC dominating local economy on non-level playing fields. So when our economy gets hollows out, it will be a shell of HDB housing units, nice buildings and great infrastructure evidenced by a handful of construction companies, property developers and two lovely casinos plus plenty of foreign prostitutes walking our streets.
Basically, in economic management, we failed but keep bragging wonders and MSM abetting this hoax like selling detergents cleaning this dirty hoax of economic achievements when those on the grounds faced increasing hardship, declining standards of living and a lot of them under pressures to put food on the table after the life have been mortgaged to expensive housing needs.
As for third restructuring, will work or not. I hope it will but it is a lot harder now. THE MACRO PICTURE IS SHIFTING EVERYDAY AND FASTER. So it is difficult to formulate ecnomic strategy when grounds change are shifting of seismic proportion.
Can you imagine what our economic landscape be like in 2 years if US Dollar fell to sub S$1.10 currently at S$1.40,? How many MNCs still around? How many pulled out? How many SMEs still surviving then? Unemployment 15% plus PLUS AN OVERLOAD OF NEW MIGRANTS??
I fear for a lot of Singaporeans tommorrow. Don’t you?
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sheldon, Thanks for sharing of thoughts on Wed, 30th Sep 2009 9:48 am.
What will I do from the hypothetical position of change? I will CHANGE THE ENTIRE MINDSET – change leadership because people who are tested have failed.
I see Singaporeans venturing out now and Singaporean business too. That is very pleasing. I will used state reserves AND BACKED ALL THESE COWBOYS to success including dual citizenship for those who are big and successful. It makes their residency and travel convenient to work on success already achieved.
The old game of investing in foreign equities needs rethinking. We lacked information, expertise and industry knowledge ( changing all the time) to be able to invest successfully for meaningful return. Petroleum industry for example has new technology for discovering deep sea oil deposits previously unattainable and so its mining exploration technology for discovering efficiently deep-seated mineral deposits. Investing from the invory towers of MBA’s office suit cannot be successful of outcome. We need people who are on the grounds with true hands on experience like Goodyear type material – the real tested and proven.
We need to invest IN BUSINESS, not infrastructure to support business. Infrastructure is immovable and is like a beggar standing on the roadside looking for a toll payment business. Business moves everywhere where there is money to be made. Let someone supply the infrastructure. The South Koreans invests in mines in Australia, Canada, USA, South America – the same way Japanese and Chinese now doing aggressively. We must be in the food and materials industry – EVERYTHING WE EAT AND USE IS EITHER GROWN OR MINED. These are demand that cannot die as long as civilisation exists and in a resources constraint world, they are worth increasing fortune as population expanded.
We will be targetting medical technology, and communication sector. Business cannot move without communication and all ageing population needs medical.
To get there, I will change the charter of TH and GIC, distribute shares to Singaporeans and let Singaporeans invested in them and used those proceeds to invest in equity stake in PROJECTS in real business globally in joint venture with foreign companies. We can learn the ropes of business by direct participation beyond equity shares – te kind of mistakes the rich Saudis and Middle Eastern oil rich companies buying into GM, Ford and the “old” economy business.
Of course, I take foreigners in to bring new skills and new industry cluster. We grow with them but no mass senseless influx of migration to double this population to build a peanut domestic economy which even very successful economy like South Korea knows it is worthless – they need to export to survive. Domestic economy is just chicken shit.
I looking for a politically and economically very vibrant society. There must be a rigorous challenge of ideas, political thoughts, politics and government and law reforms to allow for a far more open society. Government has no monopoly of wisdom and must be prepare to evolve with changing times. There is no sacred cows anywhere. We want the best and open to accept the best including those very critical of us.
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actually the Japanese and Korean car manufacturers had a rather torrid time adapting to US market.
The Big 3 tried to make them leave by lobbying for legislation that outlawed the import of car below a certain CC level. The other American businesses having suffered under the Japanese dumping rush helped the lobbying along. To adapt they came up with their big car models.
They are also much more flexible when it comes to hiring in their plants. Their union agreements are also a bit more flexible than the ones the Big 3 got themselves into. Having perfected the way to streamline their manufacturing process, the foreign plants are also much more capable of producing more, faster and cheaper. Add in aggressive marketing strategies and appealing fuel consumption that makes middle class americans more willing to switch to a Japanese car or Korean car they plotted the downfall of the Big 3 slowly and surely.
Ford effectively helped themselves and is much better for it. Their products are still not as competitive but its better already. GM and Chrysler are in bad bad shape. They need reform which will be painful for the whole state of Detroit.
As for our big local firms. Its high time the government stop feeding them so much. Break up ST Technologies into smaller companies under a umbrella group so that the sensitive stuff stays local while the rest of the businesses have to go abroad. Our InfoComm Sector is mature enough to be a region leader but yet ST stagnates just because they got loads and loads of government linked projects which half the day do not even achieve much.
Then there is Singtel, actually I feel that as an ex-government owned entity it has actually done quite well though it should really take a closer look at the damn fine print when acquiring firms abroad. Their Optus arm is doing good though.
Then there is problem of not giving our SMEs a boost. Like the place where I work now, we are actually involved in a number of well used webapps in Singapore. My boss was even selected as one of the recipients of the recent SG Developers award. He once mentioned that joining those awards cost more than its worth as there massive amounts of paper work, testimonials and other admin related stuff to get through. I for one is not sure why we put our entrepreneurs through this kind of hell when deciding on who to get an award. After all, its just a photo opportunity with a minister and a so called gala-dinner.
Regarding MM blowing the trumpet all over the place, I saw one clip yesterday of him talking about how we have not developed the potential of the middle layer in the pyramid. I agree, the top has been well developed but the middle layer seemed to have tapered off and the dilution of talent (yeah I am going with the I hate PR crowd here) has like he said not realized their potential.
I am inclined to believe that those who are good in that layer have gone on to other places where their talents are fully utilized instead of trying to farm out their climb in a SAF like environment. ST’s one comes to mind here. Late bloomers simply do not seem to exist in Singapore. Exceptional cases like what Sturm brought up should have been given an exception. Provided that proper assistance be given to boost the EL1 score later on. I do feel that Sturm’s friend gave in too quickly though, as a physicist he should idolize Eisenstein who was deemed too stupid for school too. Sure Eisenstein’s mother did not give up on him but neither should he on himself.
I know its hindsight 20/20 to be saying that in the way I did but “what could have been if he was given a exception” is a “what if…”. Pointing the finger at the scholar system is using a strawman to attack the inadequacy of our education system.
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The simple truth is within this little red dot – OPPORTUNTIES are very limited without land and resources. It depends on foreigners investing here. The landscape has changed. Obama is spending the next 8 years (maybe) rebuilding and greening America. Europe is a sunken titanic in the Atlantic.
Singaporeans must INTERNATIONALISE its opportunities OUTSIDE SINGAPORE and NOT let an influx of foreigners CONSUMED THE CRUMBS of the domestic economy of no opportunity.
There is no sanity of going against the global economic tide -IMPOSSIBLE OF SUCCESS whatever the hidden political agendas. Even the Chinese and Indian economies are heading the foreign shores BEHIND THE JAPANESE AND KOREANS in that order for Asian economies. Taiwan is caged in by its political prison of outcast forced upon it by PRC.
And yes, Koreans and Japanese car industry is going through torrid times because of slackend demand globally. America and Europe copped it a lot worse. The Chinese got it better.
THE COMMON THREAD IS EVERY STRONG EMERGING ECONOMIES OF JAPAN, KOREA, CHINA AND INDIA HEADING OUT TO DISTANT SHORES.
And we are drowned by a flood of PR population explosion burden of no proven advantage either now or the future. They are demanding to reap as deep and aggressively as our generosity will permit or our sacrifice will tolerate.
The Government does NOT want to push GLC to go international. SME got very little help to drive their fortune in foreign soil WHERE THERE IS LAND AND RESOURCES WE DON’T HAVE!
Even TH charter of growing Singapore international Inc codified a few years earlier is now ABANDONED. We have chickened out in failure despite all claims of talent dominating our economic landscape!
It beats believabilty of all claims.
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anonymous
wow. thanks for sharing your ideas. allow me time to digest them.
a question flew across my head while reading that part of the new technology for deep sea oil
so, is there a market for alternative energy, like let’s say research and manufacturing of solar panels?
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