TR EMERITUS

On this very day of celebrating our 59th National Day, we as a people, a country and the Singaporean Tribe are actually facing the greatest threat of losing our National Identity as a well defined Nation. For some "unknown reasons", our Citizens' birth rate just suffered a nose dive while Excess Deaths skyrocketed since 2021. The net effect is a staggering reduction in Total Fertility Rate to 0.97! Our net "Natural Increase" of citizens (birth minus death) was just 6,653 in 2023 as compared to 14,380 in 2021, the year which we suffered most deaths from Covid 19 infection. This is a drastic 46% reduction in Natural Increase! However, our citizen population has increased by over 56,000 in 2023 alone. This could only mean that the government gave out new citizenship to migrants aggressively last year alone (about 50K) to achieve such staggering increase in citizen population! And 50K of new citizens is equivalent to 1.3% of our citizen population! Back in 1980s, Hon Sui Sen and Lee Kuan Yew had warned about the social and national impact of over reliance on migrant workers. Even up till 1989, Lee Kuan Yew was still adamant in wanting to reduce our reliance on migrant workers. But when Goh Chok Tong took over, it's all about "Foreign Talent" policy. It is as if we can only find "Talents" in foreigners but not Singaporeans! As a small Nation, we can never form a solid National Identity when we keep relying on giving out new citizenship to foreign migrants. Instead of reflecting on the failures of their social economic policies, PAP Gov has chosen to put the blame on Singaporeans of not wanting to get married and have children. They have forgotten that it was PAP that imposed the short sighted "Two is Enough Policy" which discouraged Singaporeans from giving birth back in 1970s! The change in HDB pricing policy by PAP since 1980s, from the inclusion of land prices in HDB pricing, the unsustainable "Asset Enhancement Scheme" to the BTO policy, has created a ballooning impact on housing prices. This in turn created a huge hurdle for young couples to get married and have children early. The aggressive immigration policy which has given out tens of thousands of new citizenship every year since 2004 can only make up the numbers for the population shortfall. But it is neither helpful in forging a strong social cohesion nor able to build up a great National Identity. I am not against having new citizens at all. However, the priority of giving out New Citizenship has been distorted and illogical. In order to forge a strong National Identity, we need New Citizens to integrate as quickly as possible into our society. Foreign spouses of locally born citizens should have top priority of being converted into our new citizens unconditionally. But many Singaporeans complained to me that their foreign spouses could not get PR/citizenship even after decades of marriage! On the other hand, wealthy foreigners have been seen to get PR/citizenship very easily for their whole family as long as they throw money at us! Such lopsided and basically illogical population policy is undesirable for our country. I will address PAP's failure in Population Policy and provide People's Power Party's policy options to give our youngsters a headstart in setting up their family unit in my keynote speech during our Party's Anniversary Dinner next Friday. A country is made up of the basic family unit. We will be trending towards extinction and self destruction if we do not put enough efforts in nurturing our own indigenous, locally born citizens. There is really no quick fix to this. A small country that is over dependent on converting foreigners, who have no solid rooting in the country, into new citizens is not sustainable. Singapore will be turned into a Global Hotel instead of a Sweet Home for all of us. We will have to Make Singapore Our Home Again and Yes We Can! Happy National Day to All Singaporeans!   Goh Meng Seng    Read More →

Israel is facing a nerve-wracking situation as Hezbollah is expected to launch a major attack independent of Iran's impending retaliation. The militant group has re-released its "Hoopoe Mission" video, showcasing sensitive Israeli sites filmed by drones that eluded detection. This reissue suggests potential targets for Hezbollah fighters and raises concerns that any attacks could surpass the dangers seen on October 7. In response, Israel is on high alert, with its military prepared to counter possible Hezbollah retaliation. The reappearance of the video underscores the heightened threat amid full-blown war fears. Israel is facing certain retaliation from Iran for the assassination of Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran last week while Hezbollah has vowed to respond to Israel’s targeting of its senior commander Sayyed Fouad Ali in Beirut. It is believed that Iran is likely to attack Israel on 12-13 of August, in a joint operatiom with the other members of the axis of resistance, while Hezbollah may attack earlier.    Read More →

More Singaporeans eligible to vote in next General Election (GE)- CNA online 22 July 2024. There are a total of 2,715,187 registered voters, an increase from 2,709,407 voters eligible to cast their ballots in the 2023 Presidential Election. It is clear that the bulk of the increase in registered voters comes from new citizens. That, even my uneducated China born grandmother would have understood. I have said it in my past commentaries and I will repeat it here. Most new citizens are decent people and they contribute and add value to our economy. We welcome them, however however, each and everyone of them have done their sums, the pluses and the minuses vs remaining as citizens of their native country before they took the plunge to be called Singaporeans. Each one of them have their private agendas of becoming our citizens, be it for their business reasons, career advancement, the vast opportunities here that their native countries are unable to offer them, the conveniences, the safety and many, many more. Unlike our native born Singaporeans, their love for and loyalty towards Singapore are unlikely to rank among the top 5 reasons for taking up our citizenship. I believe that it will be an eye opener for Singaporeans if the pap government is willing to be equally transparent also to disclose just how many new citizens give up their Singapore citizenship and move elsewhere in the first 10 years after being granted citizenship. In the face of fast, fluid and changing circumstances, absolutely no policy should be craved in stone. Our national policies should be implemented with our national interest in mind, first and foremost and not the interest of the People's Action Party. ( Please read the last sentence again). I have always advocated that all new citizens must not be allowed to vote in our GE at least in the first 10 years after being granted citizenship. GE is not kid's stuff. The result of it will decide the kind and quality or the lack of it of our political leadership, the direction our country will embark, it will affect the employment opportunities of our people, their livelihoods, our safety, environments, housing, cost of living and much more. To allow large numbers of Newly Minted Citizens with untested, unproven and maybe even questionable loyalty, love and commitment etc to Singapore to influence our country's and our collective future in our GE is obviously utterly stupid and unwise, dangerous even. Think.   Simon Lim    Read More →