Three Submissions

“Singapore Documentary: Should I Stay or Should I Go?” Kevin Lim produces a video about Singaporean students and whether they would prefer to stay in the U..S. or return to Singapore. Besides the video, he also summarises reasons for staying and leaving. (Theory is the reason)

“The Branding of the Lion” Coffee Banana, “It appears that the Singapore Government has been bitten by the branding bug. It is not enough that we are Uniquely Singapore, the Garden City and the Hub of Everything. It was reported in the Straits Times (2nd September 2006, Saturday, Article Titled: Wanted a Single Brand for Singapore) that the Government of Singapore has decided Singapore needs One Unified Universal Brand. A brand flexible enough to promote Singapore in the Tourism Arena and gets scientist to work in our Life Sciences labs.” (Cobalt Paladin)

“All That Flux about Population and Immigration” Xtralicious, “Know what? I am so sick and tired of this immigration and citizenship loyalty hooha that the whole world that is Singapore is going on and on about.” (Cobalt Paladin)

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Monday Morning Reads for 4 Sept ’06

“Taxi Drivers and Teachers,” A Singapore Teacher’s Life, “I am glad I am a teacher. I put that in bold because I don’t want people to get a very wrong picture of what teaching is all about.”

“No Laughing Matter” Mr Wang wonders “whether we will ever learn to laugh a little at ourselves,” when he reads that some NSmen may get into trouble for releasing videos made during training to the public.

“Why do we have so many flag days in Singapore?” by EntityX “I am not trying to be anti charity here, but don’t you think that there is just too much of these flag days?”

“Stand Up for Singapore. Who? Me?” After Midnite “ Yet looking around, more than half present are not of Singapore. … And while a concert in the park may attract a select few, this same scene is not unlike a microcosm of the possibility of what Singapore will look like in the future, with just as many ‘non-natives’ as there are sons of the soil each claiming their patch.”

George Yeo blogs his third post! @ ephraim loy’s blog (thx to wert for the permalink)

Citizenship and Loyalty

“While the KTM is pro-immigration, he is of the view that granting citizenship is an altogether different matter from allowing people to come in to work. There were two letters that appeared in the Forum Page two days ago (29 Aug 2006) on this matter.

In the first letter, the writer questioned if we have granted citizenship to foreigners from countries for which it would be easy to have his/her citizenship reinstated. In the second letter, the writer is trying his luck in making a plug for the Garmen to relax the current no-dual-citizenship stance.” …more (KTM)

The Population Problem (Suggested Solutions)

“It is not just Singapore having the problem of aging population. According to UN 2005 Human Development Report, this is an issue faced by (except only 18 countries) every country and region across the globe. It is such a major problem that coincidentally, Newsweek’s feature story for the current issue is “Whatever happened to having babies?“.

There may be many reasons for the decline in birthrate. The more commonly cited reasons were generally financial concerns, the inability to find time to balance work and family, job stress, career etc.” …more (Cobalt Paladin)

Of Wild Goats and New Citizens

“A Goatherd, driving his flock from their pasture at eventide, found some Wild Goats mingled among them, and shut them up together with his own for the night. The next day it snowed very hard, so that he could not take the herd to their usual feeding places, but was obliged to keep them in the fold.

He gave his own goats just sufficient food to keep them alive, but fed the strangers more abundantly in the hope of enticing them to stay with him and of making them his own. When the thaw set in, he led them all out to feed, and the Wild Goats scampered away as fast as they could to the mountains.” …more (Dr Huang)

Also, a reply by Whispers from the Heart

Immigration

“The world is facing the problem of population aging. This problem is not uniquely Singapore (sic). It is a natural phenomenon occuring more acutely in developed countries. We may have given too much credit to the government’s “two is enough” policy. In retrospect, without the introduction of the “two is enough” policy, Singapore will still have an aging population problem as it moves from third world to first.” …more (Cobalt Paladin)

Selling Immigration

“One of the chief topics in Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s National Day Rally speech (20 August 2006) was the need for foreign talent, and by extension, immigration. Predictably, the Straits Times then annoyed me (and perhaps many others) by featuring “new Singaporeans” – you know, happy nuclear families, doing well in life. More importantly, they all sang praises of Singapore: this is great, that is great and that’s why I relocated my family here, and took up Singapore citizenship.” …more (Yawning Bread)

On Foreign Talent, Immigration and Jobs

“The KTM has been busy and haven’t had very much time to spout much nonsense on the Prime Minister’s National Day Rally speech. Overall, the KTM thought that PM Lee did a decent job at articulating the challenges facing the country and the strategies that we are going to be adopting as a country in the near future.

The Prime Minister has however attracted a great deal of flak for his announcement of our new (?) pro-immigration policy. Actually, the KTM was quite surprised at the great length that the PM spent in trying to justify why Singapore needs to be more open to immigration.” …more (KTM @ Singapore Angle)

Kway Teow Man replies to Mr Wang

“The KTM stupidly said that he would comment on Mr Wang’s blog entry on PM Lee’s National Day Rally speech at the Intelligent Singaporean. Actually hor, given that the KTM is quite tired after spouting a great deal of nonsense on the immigration issue, that certainly wasn’t a particularly intelligent thing to do. Nevertheless, a promise is a promise, so boh pian, got to make good. :-)” …more (KTM)

Mr Wang Bakes Good Babies

“I am in my thirties and I have two kids, aged four & two. Having a 3rd child is something that Mrs Wang and I talk about from time to time. We like the idea, but it requires careful consideration.

For us, the real constraint is time. If you want to raise kids, you should do it properly. To do it properly, you need time. I think we currently do a respectable job as parents of two kids. But the way I see it, if No. 3 comes along, then Mrs Wang has to quit her job to be a full-time mum.” …more (Mr Wang)

Strategic Uses of the “Population Problem”

“For many years already, Singapore is facing the problem of an aging population. This problem is not new at all. But why the recent fuss/farce (sorry, Molly’s English isn’t very standard) about “the population problem?”

Not long ago, it used to be cast as the problem of an aging population. Now, it is just the population problem. Why?” …more (Molly Meek)