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