Written By: Gilbert Goh
Just when Singapore was celebrating the euphoria of Worker’s Party enormous victory at Punggol East by-election by a landslide margin, a deflated PAP counter-punched with the sickening announcement that they will go ahead with the white paper’s 6.9 million population by 2030.
Now, no one is talking about the WP’s infamous victory as all coffee shop talk switched to the 6.9 million population target – a very effective counter distraction indeed!
Many friends I knew discussed about the matter in disgust and discontentment and some even gesticulated wildy when they spoke to me about the implications of having another 1.7 million people on our tiny island – mostly incoming foreigners from third world countries around us.
Systematic way to replace local Singaporeans?
To achieve 6.9 million population by 2030, the government has to bring in at least 90, 000 foreigners annually without fail.
The total composition of our population from 2004 to 2010 is as follows:-
Singapore Population by Years | |||||
Singapore Residents | Non-Residents | ||||
Year | Total | Total (Residents) | Singapore Citizens | Singapore Permanent Residents | |
Number (Thousands) | |||||
2010 (Census) | 5,077 | 3,772 | 3,231 | 541 | 1,305 |
2009 | 4,988 | 3,734 | 3,201 | 533 | 1,254 |
2008 | 4,839 | 3,643 | 3,164 | 478 | 1,197 |
2007 | 4,589 | 3,583 | 3,134 | 449 | 1,006 |
2006 | 4,401 | 3,526 | 3,108 | 418 | 876 |
2005 | 4,266 | 3,468 | 3,081 | 387 | 798 |
2004 | 4,167 | 3,413 | 3,057 | 356 | 753 |
2000 (Census) | 4,028 | 3,273 | 2,986 | 288 | 755 |
1990 (Census) | 3,047 | 2,736 | 2,624 | 112 | 311 |
Source: Asia Singapore
I have being talking to many people since that fateful announcement three days ago but not many seemed to agree with me that the real sinister intention of this large-scale human trans-migration is for the loyal votes of converted foreign citizens.
You can seive through the thick 50-page white paper to sense the desperation of our government’s intention to get in as many foreigners as possible each year and try to convert the permanent residents into willing citizens for their precious votes to stay in power.
Its methodical, effective and ruthless…
In less than two decades, foreigners will replace local Singaporeans systemically as the dominant population in the name of economics and low birth rate.
Though not all foreign citizens will vote for the ruling party in GE 2016 due to various reasons, 80% of them will definitely vote for the ruling party – more out of loyalty than anything else.
Their children – born naturalised citizens here – will also be coaxed by their appreciative parents to vote for the ruling party when they turn of age.
After Punggol East fell in dramatic fashion four days ago, the ruling party knew that their days could be numbered however one wants to argue about the by-election effect.
Swift decline in popularity of ruling party
Their downfall is on the cards and its a matter of time when they will fall out of power.
They ushered in their last trump card by announcing the shocking 6.9-million population growth by 2030 – two days after the fall of Punggol East into opposition hands.
Many Singaporeans are already unhappy with the pro-foreigner policy even before the announcement of 6.9 million population target, high cost of living and detached nature of the government.
Already, 130, 000 new citizens have voted in the last GE 2011 and it has somewhat stopped the rot at the polls or the ruling party or else PAP may have gone below the 60% majority votes received.
We have a total of 2.2 million voters during last election and 130, 000 foreign voters represent almost 6% of the voting contingent – a sizeable group which can help in critical hard-won constituencies.
Each year since the early 2000s, the government has being converting 15,000 to 20,000 new citizens and by the time it reaches GE 2016, there will be another new batch of more than 100,000 loyal eager-eyed voters ready to cast their votes for their benefactor.
Add in the 130, 000 existing foreign citizen voters and you have close to 250, 000 voters ready to cast their votes for the ruling party by GE 2016.
It is not surprising that this new group of foreign citizens will vote in blind loyalty to their master as it has provided them with new BTO flats which they can cash out in five years’ time, good-paying cushy jobs in our gleaming ofices and a promising future for their young children.
No employment protection in place for local Singaporeans
Throughout the 50-page White Paper, there is no mention of any employment protection whatsoever for local or foreign citizens – making them susceptible to replacement by any new incoming foreigner.
I have also heard that for any couple who has migrated here, only one party will convert to citizenship so that there will be another partner who still holds the homeland passport for a quick back-door retreat if things go awry here.
To ease things for this group of new citizens to apply for new BTO flats, HDB ruling allows only one citizen and the other partner can be a permanent resident for the application processing.
If both parties are permanent residents, they can only buy HDB resale flats.
More significantly, these new citizens’ votes will effectively cancel out any upcoming swing votes that the population will throw up in three years’ time.
Six percent of the population for the previous election swung their votes to the opposition parties – numbering almost 1300, 000 voters in a 2.2-million electorate effectively reducing the majority percentage votes of the ruling party from 66.6% to 60%.
For the recently-ended Punggol East by-election, close to 10% of the voters swung their votes i.e. almost 3, 000 voters switched camp from PAP to WP.
If the same six-percent vote-swinging precedence takes place in GE 2016, we can expect PAP to decrease their majority percentage votes to around 55%v from the current 60% mark.
And if this voting pattern persists, they will be out of power in two elections’ time or they may be in power but fail to enjoy a parliamentary majority forcing them to go into a coalition government with another dominant opposition party.
New foreign citizens maintain stronghold of PAP power
This slide however is effectively negate by the incoming foreign new voters – representing almost 120, 000 of new voters for the overall electorate of 2.2 million but efffectively mostly pro-government as they will vote out of loyalty to their master.
We must also not forget the 130, 000-strong pre-GE 2011 new citizen voters who may continue their loyalty to the ruling party by voting for them in GE 2016 though my belief is that after staying here for close to ten years, they may feel disenchanted with the country’s stifling environment and stressful work condition.
The next election will also adds in another huge new problem for the ruling party - close to 80, 000 – 100, 000 young voters from those coming from the more vocal Generation Y batch and mostly anti-government will join the new electorate which will further help to bring down the majority votes of the ruling party.
With many pro-PAP voters wanting to swing their votes now due to the WP’s trusted brand as a viable opposition party and fresh anti-government votes coming from the Generation Y group, PAP is really in a fix now and could lose power within two to three elections’ time if things go their natural way.
My take is that with 120, 000 new foreign votes coming on board every five years ready to vote for the ruling party, they could maintain power for as long as they want abeit in a less dominant way even though more opposition seats will be taken up during each election.
One must also remember that due to our slow birth for the past decade, there will be lesser new Generation Y voters coming on board every five years and local Singaoreans will also pass on but on the contrary, from now till 2030, 20, 000 new foreign voters will be there each year to steadily replace us till their voting representation supersedes that of the local voters.
From now to 2030 – which is a 17-year journey and with a conversion rate of 20, 000 new citizens a year, there will be almost 340, 000 new voters joining the electorate in a enlarged voting population of close to three million by 2030.
Each year, 20, 000 new citizens and another 20, 000 new Generation Y new voters will join the electorate effectively boasting the registrar by another 125, 000 as we must also take away an average of 15, 000 new local Sngaporean death each year i.e. 25, 000 X 5 years = 125, 000 new votes for each election period.
The only sickening fact of this whole voting conumdrum is that with each passing year, more pro-government voters are added to the registrar via the foreign citizenship conversion as more and more pro-opposition local Singaporeans will pass on.
By 2030, local Singaporeans may even form less than half of the voting population, effectively handing over the voting advantage to the new citizens – provided they do not swing their votes to the opposition camp after living here for more than ten years.
Conclusion
We have not even discuss the 200, 000-strong Singaporean contingent living and staying abroad now and its a huge largely anti-government group out there who do not have accessible opportunity to vote due to the lack of voting stations.
I am speculating and making alot of wild guesses that most of the foreign citizens will vote for the government but surely this is the PAP’s last trump card of which there is a reasonable mathematical chance of ensuring that they will stay in power longer than usual.
No government in the world has managed to stay in power for more than 50 years though and I am sure that the PAP is fully aware of their swift popularity slide and they will do anything out of the ordinary – even at the expense of sacrificng their own citizens to do that.
Power can destroy the morale conscience of any government and we have seen enough tragedy at the world stage to ignore this blatant truth.
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