ESSAY QUESTION
Q2: Of the many issues facing Singapore’s politics, which, in your view, is the most fatal for the PAP and if unresolved, could severely affect the PAP in the coming general elections?
During the 2011 General elections, the PAP lost a GRC for the first time and the election was described as a watershed election by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. In the past 7 years, Singaporeans are getting increasingly unhappy with the ruling party despite enjoying relative peace and prosperity amid the gloomy global economic conditions. These issues ranges from foreigners influx, housing prices, transportation bottleneck, widening income gap, rising demands of citizens to the PAP governing style. Among these issues, the problem of foreigner influx is the most fatal as it is the root to many problems. The foreigner influx issue is indeed very challenging and if not tackled properly, can potentially affect the PAP adversely in the coming general elections.
Firstly, the foreigners influx issue, the core of the problems. To tackle the persistent low birth rate, Singapore have experienced an overwhelming influx of foreigners especially from China and India. According to the latest statistics, our population swell to 5.39m; foreigners comprising of 1.55m, and citizens accounted for 3.31m. Singapore has loosened its immigration policy to boost her economy and maintain her competitiveness. Singapore economy grew mainly due to manual labour capital without any real boost in productivity. With the announcement of the population white paper, Singapore population is targeted to reach 6.9m in 2030. With so many people in a tiny city state, the already dense nation faces bottleneck in infrastructure. The foreigner influx brings about a plethora of issues:
