Watching the debate over the Population White Paper unfold from halfway across the world, and having the chance to reflect on just how fortunate Singapore is, is making my heart tear a little at the edges. I watched the PM’s speech on the White Paper recently, on Youtube. His heartfelt plea made me wonder why Singaporeans are increasingly opposing the PAP so vehemently, when there are many things that the PAP is doing which is right, even if it is not perfect. The PAP may have shown a lack of foresight before, and may have little experience dealing with the sociological aspects of change, but a simple condemnation of their failings is not going to address the many issues at hand.
More importantly, I wonder why the negativity towards immigrants is rising so rapidly, especially when we know our birth rate is an issue and it is necessary to find a solution to it. It makes me wonder if we are not just shirking our responsibility to address national issues together, and pointing fingers at the PAP just because they are the easy target. This line of thinking is never going to foster a civil society that can work with the government on issues its arms cannot reach.
PM Lee Hsien Loong made many good points in his speech. Not brilliant, but timely points that we need to keep in mind. One of these is that Singapore is an aging society. It’s easy to forget this, and to overlook the grey-haired amidst us. But it is obvious, and the possibility that there will be double the number of elderly to working population in future is a worrying thought.
I am studying now at the University of Toronto, where I see more black hair on the college campus than blond or brown hair. Toronto itself has a lot of immigrants, in addition to students who come from other parts of Canada, or who have immigrated from China or India or elsewhere. I am mentioning this for two reasons: first, the visual spectacle of seeing more Asian students than Caucasian students makes a huge difference. You feel immediately more at home, because of the sheer diversity of people. Accents matter less, and people don’t even question if you are an exchange student – because everyone sounds marginally different from each other anyway. Now imagine a Singapore in which we see more elderly than working adults. Elderly homes would dot every street corner; exercise parks and walkways would have elderly mingling together—and this is really the optimistic view. There is always the possibility that lower-income elderly remain shut up at home, because we are unable, or unwilling, to provide for them, whereas those with families or who had good jobs are able to access facilities through their own resources.
The second reason I bring this up, is the effect of immigration on Toronto itself. Before arriving in Toronto, I stayed in America for a bit, where the presence of the white majority is overwhelmingly felt. Coming into Toronto was a whole different experience—it is a much more multicultural space, not just because of its multiple culture districts, but because the racial imbalance is much lower here. People come to accept diversity; there is space to be culturally different – in both senses of the word. Toronto receives about 100,000 new immigrants every year, they come as students and working adults from both within and without Canada. The sense of vibrancy and life in Toronto, in its sub-districts and refurbished old buildings, would not be the same without this diverse population of mindsets and talents. A city in which different cultures can come together, overcome their differences and settle into something new and different creates unpredictable and exciting results. But these results are guided by much thought and action.
Singapore now is predicting the sort of population imbalance that Japan is struggling with. An aging population means fewer active young minds to power innovation, ideas and change. Innovation and change are vital to Singapore; without our technology, our human capital and fresh ideas, we have no resources to fall back on. This is one of the PAP mantras that I unabashedly believe to be true—that our minds are the only resource that we own. Economic success and world-class city status are not resources on which we can depend; they are the fruits of our labour, and are completely dependent on how well we negotiate the regional and global playing field. In order to cope with our rising senior population, we need to maintain our human capital any way we can.
———————————
Continue to Part 2…