Population
Bigger is better
Up 60% in 15 years and it’s just middle of curve as Singapore aims to achieve optimum use of land-and-people. By Seah Chiang Nee.
Dec 10, 2006

AFTER years of friendly policies towards foreigners, Singapore has increased its population faster than most other nations, raising it by two-thirds in 15 years.

In 1990, it stood at only 2.7 million; it is now 4.5 million, thanks to an open door immigration strategy.

The huge jump in such a short time has stirred the nation, including Singaporeans who feel that permanent residents are better treated than them.

Few nations have worked harder than Singapore in luring “foreign talent”.

Even for this migrant society, already the world’s third most densely populated country (next to Monaco and Macau), the recent influx has been of historic proportion.

Today’s 4.5 million was forecast years ago for 2030. Singapore’s demography has followed the pattern of a developed country hundreds of years ago.

“The difference was in the compression of time spread over a 30 to 40-year period instead of 200 to 300 years in developed economies,” a strategic report said.

Some 80% – or 3.6 million – of Singapore’s population today are citizens or permanent residents, the rest (some 875,000) being foreigners who are working or studying here.

However, the sustained inflow of around 35,000 PRs a year (nearing the 35,500 births) has political, as well as economic and social, repercussions.

Singaporeans’ complaints focused on PRs “stealing” their jobs and opportunities and lowering wages while enjoying unfair benefits have finally prompted government action.

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong announced last week that non-citizens would in future have to pay more for education and health care.

He told a People’s Action Party’s conference that “while we have non-Singaporeans here, citizens always come first”.

What has angered local men – with some justification – is that these foreigners enjoy similar rights as citizens, like in education and healthcare, but do not need to undergo compulsory national service or reservist duty.

“No matter what arguments are forwarded, as long as the foreigners’ policy discriminates against and causes hardship to Singaporeans, it is unjustified,” exclaimed one critic.

But modern Singapore still relies on immigrants as much as it had in the past. Its birth rate of 35,500 babies a year is 20,000 short of the minimum needed to replace the population.

Without immigration, Singapore – with an ageing citizenry – will gradually, and then speedily, decline as a nation probably a lot faster than Japan.

The time is drawing near when arriving immigrants will outnumber the number of Singaporean babies born to Singaporeans, which will be a landmark transformation.

The debate is not whether immigration is needed – that goes without saying – but how much and how fast.

Another is: How should they be treated? That they are exempted from serving the two-year national service (although their children are not) puts them on a special platform over citizens.

The government’s reason is “Talent is widely sought after, and NS will turn them away from Singapore.”

Will the new measure turn them away? Most PRs are here for jobs or financial benefits, so a slight increase in school and health costs is unlikely to deter them.

But it may cause some foreigners with large families to take up Singapore citizenship faster than intended.

For the same reason, it may not persuade many critical Singaporeans to change their minds and support the immigration policies. “We will watch future government action and count the statistics,” was a common response.

Some, however, felt reassured by PM Lee when he said: “We have to treat visitors well ... but citizens have to be treated better. Citizens come first in our priorities, in our thinking.”

Unlike PRs who will still get partial subsidies, foreign workers will have to pay the full cost of treatment.

Bright foreign students will, however, continue to be offered scholarships or grants that locals with fewer A’s do not get. This is a cause of alienation among youths here.

Last year, foreigners were given a high 46% – or 492 – of 1,074 bursaries awarded by the National University of Singapore.

For needy Singaporeans whose children cannot afford university but watch foreigners benefit from these bursaries, emotions can understandably run high.

This may not even be money well spent since many foreigners are using Singapore as a stepping-stone to the West, after benefiting from the stay.

Backbenchers’ feedback to PM Lee paints a picture of discontent. One MP said: “Even our own supporters are asking that if everything is equal among citizens, foreigners and PRs, what’s so special being Singaporean?”

One letter said, “If the president (S.R. Nathan) has to go on public to say we had to treat our own people better than outsiders, then something is seriously wrong.”

The new measures are unlikely to have lasting impacts on immigration or the plan to become an economic hub and a heaven for talent. The future flow will depend on its economy.

Some observers, however, believe it could lead to a faster effort to turn more PRs into citizens. At the moment, several years of permanent residency stand in the way of granting citizenship.

The long-term plan is for a Singapore of six to seven million people by 2030, possibly more.

This means that granting of PRs could rise from 35,000 to 50,000 a year. But the creation of a cohesive nation, the bonding of its citizens, will be a harder and longer task.

Ronny Albeus, president of the Filipino Association of Singapore, who lives here with several children, said he might become a citizen because of the new measures.

But, he added, “Even if I were to acquire Singapore nationality, I will always remain a Filipino.”

(This article was published in The Sunday Star on Dec 10, 2006)