Thursday, January 31, 2013

White Washed Paper

The Population White Paper is really one piece of shoddy work. There's no bibliography, annotations or scholarly references cited to support it's preposterous arguments or constructs. Even if the authors were to package it with iPods, Mont Blanc pens or tailored shirts, no professor will give it a decent grade. It's fit for one purpose only. You are in the smallest room of the house, the paper is in front of you, then it's behind you. Don't forget to flush.

Seriously, anyone one can spot the white lies from Batam, Bintang or Johore Baru. Some snippets:

The young couple who bought the $2m Executive Condominium had to rely on daddy's help to finance the purchase. A fresh graduate starting work will have to count on his parents' assistance to afford that $100K Certificate of Entilement. The old folks probably had to downgrade their HDB flat to send his child overseas because the place in the local university was taken up by an alien. Welcome to the new normal. Thanks to the high cost of living, the young can no longer support the old, the old is now forced to draw down on his life savings to keep the family unit intact.

$400 million extra to encourage marriage and having children, $1.1 billion extra for more buses to accommodate the foreign hoards. Enuff said.

The government imposes ethnic quotas for Chinese, Malays and Indians in its public housing estates, to ensure a good interracial mix in residential areas. There's no such restriction for masses of North Indians taking over the condominiums in the East Coast. "I'm told in Australia, Sydney, there's one area which is a Vietnamese village... All the Vietnamese mafias are in that area, you go in at your own risk.  We have not allowed that to develop here." (LKY, Hard truths, page 272). The old coot obviously haven't ventured much out of Oxley Rise recently.

If immigrants share ethnic backgrounds, the curry wars would not have erupted. LKY heard the confessions of one middle aged new citizen from China on 95.8 FM: "How can I assimilate? I try. But I eat different food, different cooking, my life habits are different.  My children go to local schools, they'll become Singaporean naturally. But overnight, how can I change?" At least that guy was truthfully honest, unlike the ping pong player who scooted off with the medals and prize money, son in tow, before he reaches enlistment age.

Having our toddlers speak Tagalog because of close proximity to the foreign domestic is not complementary to our skill set. We don't need another Alvin Tan ASEAN scholar to encourage bedroom innovations. The CNB, SCDF and NUS have enough problems in that area. Look at what happened to Michael Palmer. Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin has been in the country for quite some time now, are we any closer to a new social network start-up?

This is the only honest bit of disclosure in the whole white wash. Except that the young are leaving not just for exciting and growing cities. They are leaving for countries where there's habitable living space, ample room for free expression, and money grabbing politicians can actually be voted out of office.

66 comments:

  1. This article is the real truth.
    Don't believe in white papers fit only for wiping excrement.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Tattler, can you add an "angry" button?
    I feel more furious than sad.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I second that. In fact, how about a "pissed off" button as well, and allow more than one tick, more than two...

      Delete
  3. First & foremost, how come they did not come up with any White Paper when they allowed so many PRCs, Indians & Pinoys to flood this island, causing so much irreparable damage to the whole society in the first place?

    Does It mean LHL & his team of running dogs did not give a damn to all of us previously? And why then bother now?

    Now this population target of 6.9 million say is achieved In 2030, what portion of it will age in another 20 or 30 years time thus compounding the ageing problem further? And then what is next needed to support the ever increasing aged population? 9.9 million population?

    Is this not going to be a never ending cycle?

    ReplyDelete
  4. The rigging of the $300 Trillion Dollar LIBOR Benchmark
    - and why it will never happen in Singapore?

    http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-01-28/libor-lies-revealed-in-rigging-of-300-trillion-benchmark.html?src=longreads

    ReplyDelete
  5. Can someone please tell me the rationale for targeting population increase ? If you keep increasing - are we trying to postpone our problem till a later date or are we looking at the future generations to solve it for us. What happens in 2050 then ? - 10 Million Singaporeans ?

    ----------

    According to Ponzi demography, population growth — through natural increase and immigration — means more people leading to increased demands for goods and services, more material consumption, more borrowing, more on credit and of course more profits. Everything seems fantastic for a while — but like all Ponzi schemes, Ponzi demography is unsustainable.

    When the bubble eventually bursts and the economy sours, the scheme spirals downward with higher unemployment, depressed wages, falling incomes, more people sinking into debt, more homeless families — and more men, women and children on public assistance...

    --------------

    I served 2.5 years of full-time and 13 years of reserves national service to defend my country against a foreign invasion....

    ReplyDelete
  6. Luckily for the PE which they lost, otherwise it would have been 10m in 2030, and 7m in 2016.
    The 10m was designed for doubling of the MRT lines in 2030.
    The white paper is trash. Where is the risk analysis? Where are the global business projections and response? etc tsk...tsk.... lousy piece of paper that would not even meet a honours degree standard.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh I see...! So they have one set of powerpoint with 7m, another with 10m, depending on PE results? They shudn't have bothered then. So they have this "If... THEN ... ELSE" line, just like the quarterly GDP has a "goal seek" condition...

      papers are getting sloppy, it means scholars pen-pushers at the ministries are having more nites out on Fridays at Boat Quay while their dpty secs and perm secs are growing fat and lazy after their long vacation in the Riviera... hmmm

      Delete
  7. Simply said, we cannot trust the PAP government anymore. Not even if they throw goodies, not even if they modify the Population White Paper. LTK is correct in saying we cannot place our implicid trust anymore for they have eroded it severely on their own accord. For the sake of your children, vote the PAP out or get out if they are still in power.

    ReplyDelete
  8. It's beyond outrage!!! VOTE THE PAP OUT in 2016. They have lived beyond their useful life, expired already so chuck them out. Singapore needs a new direction, PAP is not the one to provide. If not, come 2030, we will only have standing space and the poor will have to live in the caged home like in Hong Kong island.

    ReplyDelete
  9. For those of you who are critical of the lack of references for the "WHITE" Paper on Population.

    The references & authority is implied.
    Please go to National Library and look for books under the author name 'Lee Kuan Yew".

    ReplyDelete
  10. //They are leaving for countries where there's habitable living space, ample room for free expression, and money grabbing politicians can actually be voted out of office.//

    Well said. We leave because there's room for free expression without being served demand letter by lawyers. And where we can see residents have the rights to protest their unhappiness and unjust treatments without being summarily packed home and the politicians can actually be voted out!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Going by my conversations with several young Sporeans studying abroad, many are planning on not coming home after their studies because of the crowds. They come home for the holidays and are put off by the numbers, in malls and public transport. They are also finding people here much ruder than those in other countries.

      Delete
    2. "Young people would leave for more exciting and growing global cities. This would hollow out our population."

      The last I checked, Singapore had the highest emigration rate in the world. More than half its youth want to migrate to another country although I doubt "more exciting and growing global cities" is a key reason. Perhaps PAP should find out why Singaporeans are a unhappy lot. Perhaps people want more space and having more immigrants will only make the problem worse and cause more to pack up and leave?

      Delete
    3. "More exciting and growing global cities" is a version of the story told by the mainstream media and pro-PAP supporters to foreigners living in Singapore and Singaporeans who stay on there. I have lived in comparatively 'boring' cities in Canada, the USA and now NE Asia, and think that the real reason for such moves include serious structural unemployment issues among the young adults who graduate from university. I stand as a living example of such a move myself. Hence, I do not believe that this policy is meant for anything except to fatten the pockets of the PAP elites.

      Delete
  11. Shocking. With all thew scholars in their ranks and they produce such trash. But then, was it better under LKY? Recall his hard-sell of his "two is enough " policy. He gave the example of a family having to share a cake - if you have only 2 children, each one will get a quarter. If you have more than 2 children, each one will get less.No one would dare tell him that he was being too simplistic.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. SMU, NTU and NUS are filled with PAP lapdogs - they just take their pick to have these lame academics write this Toiler Paper.

      That's why academics all over the world look down on Singapore-based universities academic integrity. And that's why Yale had the person who suggested the Yale-NUS enterprise resign.

      Delete
  12. The best that I have read so far.

    ReplyDelete
  13. nothing is more true that what tattler has written. nice work mate.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Why is the population of aged increasing by 900k by 2030?
    Ans: Because they brought in 400k of new immigrants from China and India between 2008 and 2012, who each brought in one parent in their 50 s and 60s. Don;t believe: visit your neighbourhood park every evening to enjoy the sights of happy grandpas and grandmas from China and India cuddling their grandchildren.

    Why won;t the intellectuals comment on such a shoddy piece of work which can only come from the wonderful graduates of oxbridge? I know UK make shoddy cars like the london cab, but now I know they can also make intellectually dishonest scholars. See, the PAP is creating a problem with their "solution", the increase in elederly is a bruden heaped on us today by the PAP's import of FT citizens.

    ReplyDelete
  15. The captain of the Titanic just checked into an iceberg on Foursquare with 6.9m other people...Twitter, 2030

    Hopefully twitter will still be around.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Our megalomaniac planners are basically disguising the BabyTFR/Eugenics program behind a so-called Population/GDP plan.

    Essentially, this is a paper where locals who refuse to breed fast enough will be shoved aside into reservations to make way for several million young, energetic and obedient foreigners, carefully selected for their willingness to mate with university graduates. Ah Kong's gift to humanity will gain its 6.9 million population target and thus be assured its 1,000 years of magnificence.

    Just remember, he had been wrong before..he might be wrong again. Afterall, who is to know he won't be cryogenitically frozen so he can wake up from his grave again, and that stem-cells innovations in 10 years time won't allow us to clone multiple of our elite A Team Singapore to reproduce ourselves?

    HK's Donald Tsang dictated once that to be truly World class city that can compete with NY, Tokyo, London and Shanghai, HK needs 10m people...he didn't get it done before he was booted out. Now the hung-ho SG politicians who hold majority think they can trample this over..with 2m more of people with no money, no property, no skills and no education are the sort of welfare needy hungry people that will drag us to a brighter future! Pretty obvious isn't it?

    ReplyDelete
  17. What happen to all the PAP trolls ? Suddenly they disappear once by-election over. Are they worry that their troll job been taken over by foreigners, or are they MIA, or they still waiting for permission from the top to post propaganda, or they really paid 50cents per comment since by-election is over thus no need to comment nonsense anymore ?

    Any PAP trolls can tell us why the sudden disappearance ?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. "So I will await what the PM has decided before seeing where else I can contribute."
      Dr Koh Poh Koon
      The arsehole doctor who lost

      Likewise;
      "We will await what the PM has decided before seeing where else we can contribute."
      PAP Internet Trolls

      What is good enough for our arsehole doctor,
      is also good enough for us internet arseholes.

      Delete
  18. Singaporean cannot just 'bo-chap' anymore and leave every decision making to G, this crazy growing of population will affect the lives of not just us, but our children and our grand children. There should be a Referendum to let all Singaporean have a say on this.

    Frankly, I have a very unease feeling about why our G is doing this? The ruling party knows their days are numbered and are thinking of packing up and go and leaving 'shits' behind for the successors? I don't know....

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It is not to leave a legacy of trouble. It is in order to import more potential new citizens who can vote for them to keep them in power, so that they can continue to enjoy the benefits of a high GDP from the corporate profits.

      Delete
  19. How about asking this question to G. Since everyone of us here has a stake, plus the argument that we are also a migrant society blah blah blah, then every 3m of Singapore borne family is allowed to nominate one family from their ancestors home. Be they from Malaysia, India or China (since most of our roots come from there)..instead of letting MOM do the "editing & qualifying" of "talents"..at least, everyone get 1 chance to bring in their own familial talents. Sort of a word-of-mouth or references. That way, it is our own chosen talents and we meet the numbers and everyone happy?

    If G/PAP says no..that they want to have a say on which talents they approve, then you really have to question their motives! I believe this is the best way to go about equitably.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sorry. The idea is that we do not want population increase. Not with the current over crowding of transport systems and lack of hospital situation. No thak you.

      Delete
    2. well..you like it or not, they are going to push ahead.
      so if the suspicion is on new voters to replace the old voters, then the above is not a bad idea. but i suspect this is not the case. they have given up on the baby tfr long ago. They are paying lip service to raise the ratio if you just look at how much they would rather spend on the billions of infrastructure (on the pretext/excuse of not under providing) as opposed to how much they are willing to spend on the software to promote work/life/childcare/baby incentives etc. Since they can't tell the foreigners/PR openly about their eugenics and voters recruitment scheme, they have to counch it in a GDP/population growth goyok. Unless everyone is still blind, then the one-eye dragon is still king in this instance.

      Delete
  20. Instead of standing on the railroad and shouting ONCOMING TRAIN ! - that is about to hit you.

    What can one do to ride the new normal ? - the train isn't going to stop.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Perhaps they really want us to vote them out cos they have already emptied out the reserves.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That is why they need new citizens to vote for them. Saved again.

      Delete
  22. Dear Singaporeans.
    Let's get one thing perfectly clear.

    THERE IS NO POPULATION PROBLEM.

    This is just another piece of PAPig propaganda.

    Yes, the PAPig wants a 6.9 million population.
    For what, we don't know.
    They are not very transparent people.
    PAPigs call it a "problem" to con us into supporting their policies.

    Don't believe them.
    Just as you should not believe that;
    "You own you HDB flat"
    "PAP is on the side of Singaporeans"

    ReplyDelete
  23. IF SIA can't even guarantee jobs for just 76 pilots NOW, so how is Singapore going to find jobs for additional 1m+ people in Year 2030 ?

    Is our Prime Minister talking cock now ?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You need to take what he says with a huge dollop of salt. Snatches of what our moral leader said:

      PM Lee (May 2012): “We won’t bring in too many foreigners too fast. We’ll work hard to integrate them with our people. We are not planning to make a 6+ million population. Not trying to get there. Dont worry.”

      PM Lee (Sep 2012): "Six million. That's the total number of people Singapore can afford to accomodate in the near future."

      Delete
  24. The Blind Men & the White Elephant1/31/2013 8:27 PM

    Let me get this right. The PM who just 2 days ago admitted his Team PAP has no 20.20 foresight is now claiming he has one now that will lead its people into a vision that is 17 light years ahead to 2030! Wow.

    When the blind man carries the banner, woe to those who follow.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Please lah. Show me you can fix all these probelms we have listed in the next 3 years then you come and talk. If you deliver, then the citizens will give you another 5 years mandate as it comes. No point talking so far ahead. I really don't want to make decisions on behalf on the young children today that is going to affect them down the road. Just like how i hated my previous generations of voters who keep allowing the absolute power of PAP to reign that we currently live in such oppression! Let every generation make their own choices and decisions. No one is a saint..no need to try and outsmart nature here.

      Delete
  25. There's one word to summarize the Population White Paper: deceit. The deceit is so thorough, so Orwellian, that it brazenly calls something that is unsustainable, 'sustainable'.

    You don't have to read the whole paper, it's right there on the cover page 'A SUSTAINABLE POPULATION FOR A DYNAMIC SINGAPORE'.

    I sincerely hope that even the most ardent PAP supporters out there will rethink their unquestioning support for the PAP.

    A traitorous and treasonous government transcends beyond party lines. Stand up, do the right thing for the country and vote the PAP out.

    ReplyDelete
  26. The white paper i written by the ruling elite for the elites.

    ReplyDelete
  27. How can importing foreigners in their 30s or 40s help in raising our lack of babies??? In 30 years time, these foreigners would be as old as us, thereby compounding the problm of our geing population!! The govt shoud be import foreign babies instead!

    ReplyDelete
  28. COE would by $500,000 with 6.9 million population. Only the very rich (including our ministers and PAP MPs) can afford to own cars here

    ReplyDelete
  29. KHAW's famous last words:

    "Actually the answer is yes. It's possible, you can have a larger population and yet better quality of life but conditions must be right. "So what are those conditions - one there must be planning, which means good long-term planning and secondly, there must be good infrastructure that must be built ahead of demand.

    "So if those conditions are there then you can achieve this seemingly difficult problem how to achieve better quality of life despite greater or larger population and we are confident because we have time because we are talking about the future, 2020, 2025, 2030 and as planners our mantra is Boy's Scouts' motto - 'prepare for the worst but hope for the best'. "So in fact, from the planners' point of view we need aggressive projection. The figure 6.9 sounds aggressive but from the planners' point of view, we need aggressive figures, aggressive projections, so that we can prepare for the worst. The worst is if we plan for the best and then the worst comes, then you'll be under providing as what happened in the last few years."

    ReplyDelete
  30. If PAP loses more seat in GE2016, i hope these PAP pigs don't attributes this to a fluke. It is because people don't want to talk anymore, you just want you out period.

    ReplyDelete
  31. Why good money is spent on these idiots, i live in punggol east and we have taken first blood, let us send PAP out of parliament in GE2016.

    ReplyDelete
  32. In the Year 2030, who do you think will own and manage Singapore Inc. ?

    Everyone else are workers.

    ReplyDelete
  33. Who owns or controls the
    water that you drink,
    food that you eat,
    electricity that you need,
    shelter you call your house,
    transportation that you use,
    communications, information,
    judiciary, police and army ?

    Welcome to Singapore Inc.

    ReplyDelete
  34. Where is the old coot anyways, no picture no sound, even the MSM never mention about him before and after the BE.

    ReplyDelete
  35. Yeah I never think of this flaw. How much more singapore can increase in people after 7 million.

    ReplyDelete
  36. You are a frog in a slowly boiling pot. The difference is you know the temperature is rising and can do something about it before it boils over. Unlike you, the frog is doomed. Best.

    ReplyDelete
  37. Unable to comprehend that all these super talents can be so blind to think we have the land and resources to sustain more and more people on this little red dot.

    Planet earth will die a quick death - deplete of all resources if all governments think like them.

    ReplyDelete
  38. Instead of white, should come out with a green paper on how to sustain our little red dot with the finite resources of planet earth - not creating more problems with over-population and kicking the can down the road for our children to live with.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. they have no social responsibility as citizens of earth, they think money can buy them everything.............our carbon foot print would be erroneous........shame on this MIW.......

      Delete
  39. The Mayans said end of world is 2012. They were wrong. There is another end of the world for Singapore - 2030. Lets see if it comes true.

    ReplyDelete
  40. It is very ingenuous of PaP to shaft this White Paper down our throat, along while the so called NatCon is going on. That way, they can say this has been socialized heavily based on the feedback and input from the people, and we just put it into parliament for rubber stamping! That is the only reason I can think of why they would so blindly choose this time to go ahead with 7m push, right after PE. What Lim Swee Say said is very instructive...imagine we had this natcon 10 years ago about bring this population to 5.3m, there will have been less angry people today, don't you think?"...

    alas, they are doing this once again, not for genuinely wanting to listen to us...because if they had, they would have heard it loud and clear from the NatCon that people want them to slow it. Instead, they just want to hit it while the iron is hot, so they can say it's been discussed and talked about. That evil motive is very clear, Mr Teo Chee Hean. Your plan is for your own self interests - self preservation. BC if you truly care to listen, there would have been a Green Paper to start with to get our collective views, not a White Paper which is already a done deal and a PR exercise!

    One Word - FUCK YOU!

    ReplyDelete
  41. Anyone who is on the national conversation should just exit now.
    The only way singaporeans can determine their future is to either

    1) exit PAP in the next GE
    2) exit yourself/family from this red dot

    You can choose to fight or flight, your choice. But there's also another choice for those who stay. I hesitate to bring up the "Spring" word as I suspect a plane load of FTs are already on their way to the new homes that our Minister Khaws and pte developers are building for. All signs that the govt is ready to run-road, and make the last dash $.

    http://asiapacific.anu.edu.au/newmandala/2013/02/01/managing-voice-exit-and-loyalty-in-singapore/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=managing-voice-exit-and-loyalty-in-singapore

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. But maybe these people are PAP men?

      Delete
  42. "Human rights don't assert themselves. Freedom doesn't preserve itself all alone and democracy doesn't succeed by itself."

    German Chancellor Dr Angela Merkel at an exhibition on Hitler's rise to power.

    ReplyDelete
  43. Despite a “national conversation”, many Singaporeans feel the government does not listen

    http://www.economist.com/news/asia/21571159-despite-national-conversation-many-singaporeans-feel-government-does-not-listen-limits

    ReplyDelete
  44. You are right that the Population White Paper is a piece of shoddy work.
    They cannot come straight out to tell the citizens that they are being screwed yet again for the benefit of those with the right meritocratic genes to squeeze more money from this little red dot and let the serfs be damned when there is no more standing room.

    Saycheese

    ReplyDelete
  45. The solution to this population woes is very simple. Stop voting for dead frogs and they will go away.

    ReplyDelete
  46. From another good blogger.

    My biggest disagreement with the PAP is on the account of this. Why do they care so little about the people to want stability for investors, but not stability for citizens' well-being (even though the latter contributes to the former)?

    http://jeremy-chen.org/blog/201301/why-i-cannot-support-pap-today

    ReplyDelete
  47. Good article.

    I am in conflict with certain views. In fact, I am in conflict with myself with regards to accepting the foreigners into our land.

    Firstly, I share the same frustration of many Sporeans. We are losing identity. Our culture is eroding at an alarming pace. Everyday I wake up, I find myself in a more and more foreign country.

    Secondly, as an employer myself, I second the need for foreigners to take on some jobs. My business creates job opportunity for Singaporeans. But it wouldn't be possible if I have no foreigners in my company.

    The reason is this. Singaporeans of our generation are trained to take on white collar jobs. And I'll be happy to have Singaporeans fill our team. The reality, however, is that there are jobs that are not wanted by Singaporeans. Particularly in the service or logistics front. We have advertised for the job candidates, to no avail. There are just enough Singaporeans to fill jobs like these.

    Of course, this sounds like a job employer's selfish motivation to keep the business alive. But it's more than that. The white collar jobs and the blue collar jobs are closely tied. When one fails, the other crumbles.

    So, I'm at conflict. Because if we say yes to foreigners, we have a reduce quality of life, competing for space and resources.

    However, if we say no, I can also see the chain effect that will affect Singaporeans jobs. Not visible at this point, but it will be.

    I don't know what to vote for in 2016 :(

    Z

    ReplyDelete
  48. Yeoh Lam Keong, adjunct senior research fellow at the Institute of Policy Studies (IPS) and Vice President of the Economic Society of Singapore, said this about the toilet paper, "The problem I have with the white paper is that the tradeoffs considered between good jobs and economic dynamism, and population and workforce growth are overly mechanistic, economically simplistic and astonishingly sociologically and politically naive. In short, it proposes trading the birthright of our basis for national identity and social cohesion for the dubious pottage of 0.5 to 1 per cent extra workforce growth on the narrow, unsubstantiated belief that it somehow makes for a more secure and vibrant economic future."

    ReplyDelete
  49. MIW (Men In White) whitewash White Paper!

    60% Singaporeans - WAKE UP at next GE 2015-16 and make it TWO-THIRDS non-PAP in Parliament.

    WP - WAKE UP as ONE-THIRD non-PAP in Parliament is no longer applicable.

    ReplyDelete
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