A letter from one of our readers.
Mohamad Khan -
Recently the local papers have been telling us “great” news. The information I gathered from the articles I read are about how our economy is booming and how we as a nation are poised to take over the world as the fastest growing economy provided we let in 100,000 foreigners.
I’ve got many foreign friends and I agree out of necessity we do need them. But we are bursting at the seams here. Our infrastructure just isn’t able to accommodate this rapid massive increase in population. No government in the world can prevent floods but they could have prevented this flood of immigrants. Now Singaporeans and Foreign Talents (FTs) are battling it out. It’s like the proverbial line, “This town isn’t big enough for the both of us, someone’s gotta go – and it isn’t gonna be me.”
It’s too crowded here. I mean it’s already bad enough that squeeze into the trains and buses like sardines in a can. Getting a seat is a thing of the past. Somehow being handicapped, elderly or pregnant also does not guarantee you a seat either. I mean I am no economics graduate. I’m just a simple guy giving my laymen’s point of view. There just isn’t any space and it’s getting worse.
You see guys maybe I’m being selfish for wanting a little personal space. Maybe I am not being far-sighted enough for failing to recognize the importance of being an economic powerhouse. All I see is that with higher GDP it means less space for me.
I’ve got evidence too. We are officially the 3rd most populous nation in the world. We can expect more to come. Best part is we are targeting the 6 million mark which means it gets worse. Of course we are told (by the powers that be) to be thankful and compare ourselves to Macau and Monaco which are in 1st and 2nd spot respectively. Well I don’t think Monaco residents and Macau residents have to worry about taking long train journeys and such. The area of Macau is only 29.3 sq km. Monaco is even smaller with just 1.95 sq km of land (See here). So you can literally walk from one end to the other. No need to jostle for space on trains or buses for minutes to close to an hour. So now we can clearly see that it is getting crowded around here.
I mean so what if our GDP is skyscraper high? I don’t understand it one bit. All I see are things getting more expensive while sadly our median salary remains the same. So is this high GDP growth any good to you or me? Food getting more expensive then drinks eventually it’s our flats. What else is going to rise in price? Why can’t our salary reflect that? Since there is so much GDP in the “air” shouldn’t I be seeing bonuses? Or a big fat increment?
So forgive me if I don’t share your enthusiasm when I’m told of this wonderful GDP increase because every time it occurs things just get worse.
Related posts:
- Myths and misconceptions about pursuing high growth indefinitely
- Growth at all cost
- High cost of living – what the government can do
- Labour Day: Economic growth should benefit all, not just the rich
- Don’t focus solely on GDP growth, NMP says
This is a vicious cycle of a story that is built on another story, which itself began from another taller story.
It never ends.
It begins with a fake story line that insist on a fake economic expansion of 13 to 15 per cent – which dictates the necessity of another 100,000 immigrant talents or the economy will overheat(??).
With an additional 100,000 imported citizens to become a catalyst to generate another boost to the economic activities, it will surely boost the next round of GDP growth.
With no economist in the present government formed by the Pro Alien Party that can be compared to the talent of the late Dr Goh Keng Swee, can this government appreciate the other factors that should follow GDP growth ?
Is it any wonder that even as the Pro Alien Party gloat over its unsubstantiated claims of GDP expansion by 13 to 15 per cent, the trickle down effects of such an expansion is not felt by the heartlanders ?
The Ministers from the Pro Alien Party is enthusiastic with GDP expansion – without consideration to its effects to ordinary Singaporeans – as their wage increases are dubiously pegged to the GDP performance.
I will be enthusiastic about GDP growth when I finally can have my salary pegged to GDP.
me too see the need for real foreign talents. i think we really need to be selective here. for starters, NO EX-CONVICT PRs or FOREIGNERS shld be allowed to stay on in Singapore.
start a facebook group “NO EX-CON PRs or FT”!
You already mentioned the repercussions as many of us has too, something has got to give. Met a friend yesterday, he just got retrenched, yes from an aero-support company servicing the airlines. This high GDP is only going to last only for a short while, and then what!!!Going through another round of depression?I think they should aim for lower but sustainable growth where all in the population can benefit. These are dreams, it is not in the interest of the PAP.Something going to pop soon, I’m fearful. US is not doing good, Europe is not doing good, China follows suit. I’m not economist too but I think the whole economic model has to be changed, relooked, can’t go on like this. World energy is changing.
Atobe – well said.The situation here is really sickening. In a trading company and things are not what they seem to be, some sectors are slowing down and companies are struggling to survive.
See, GDP is co-related to Minister’s salary. At least 7 months pay bonus this year end for them. Do the sums, who wants to be a millionaire?
It all boils down to the fact that Singaporeans are too dumb to know the difference between GDP and GNP.
To put it simply,
GNP = GDP – income earned by foreigners in country + income earned by citizens abroad.
Here’s an example: Suppose an Ang Moh comes to Singapore to open an integrated resort. He makes $100 million but he only has to pay $1 million to the Singapore government for a license and another $1 million to Kwa Geok Choo’s nephew for getting him that license.
The full $100 million will count towards Singapore’s GDP but only the $2 million (Government’s + KGC nephew’s) will count towards Singapore’s GNP. This is of course assuming that KGC’s nephew is a Singaporean, otherwise the contribution to Singapore’s GNP would only be $1 million.
Now do you know why the PAP has stopped reporting GNP figures for so many years and only reports GDP figures? When they hoodwink you about economic growth, they are using GDP growth, not GNP growth.
Much of Singapore’s GDP growth is construction. And if they stop construction, the GDP growth will go negative quickly.
That’s not going to happen because here, people are rewarded at almost every level of government for making their economic growth numbers. The easiest way to do this: put up another building.
So Singapore is really hooked on this sort of heroin of real estate development.
That is why most of us are living next to a construction site, our ministers get big discounts from developers and most of our friends are property agents…
There is enough land and Singapore has the money to spend on infrasture to improve the residents’ lives.
The big question is why should the PAP spend that extra money?
Do we benefit from GDP growth? Do we see pay hikes like the group of some people?
Some people are just interested in GDP growth, not for the people, but for themselves
Supercharged GDP figure? Not sure where that come from. Definitely not from tourism nor pharmaceutical as claimed. Manufacturing collapsed in June by 24% and retail sales for April and May were worse than 2009. In any case, it is from a very low base in 2009 and 2011 will settle to below 5% GDP. Anything to crow about to justify bringing in another 100,000 on political consideration rather than current economic needs? Anyone see plenty of advertised position in the media unfilled?
All this but education is not free, national servicemen paid peanuts, law enforcement not about justice, judiciary … Wait … Better not say anything. See! I’m a coward but I admit it. Not like some rats.
i totally agree with the writer. citizenship and quality of life are not simple calculations based on how much we will earn. While acknowledging that the standard of living for sgreans is very much dependent on our export-oriented economy, FDI, cheaper labour, in a nutshell, foreigners, too much of them simply lowers the quality of our citizenship. For example, vaccines available for locals are taken up by foreigners, places on trains as in schools snapped up by the smarter competition.
Importing so much competition may be good for the economy, but how is it good for the locals? i think govt protection should ensure local priority in certain essential mentioned areas. Talk about a sense of belonging and a stake when treatment are accorded solely and only by merit.
At risk of oversimplying the issue, meritocracy as a core pillar to strengthen sg has to be coupled with citizenship ‘breeding/protection/some close-mindedness’ to amplify sg’s potential capacity for self-sustenance as well as attractiveness, esp for the locals.
ACACIA, well-said. sustainability is definitely calling for protectionism for its citizens,much like how US/Europe restrict imports from other countries to boost the nation’s Gross NATIONAL product. Sg’s only ‘resource’, the locally born citizens, should be afforded some protection so that the starting line can be levelled against the foreign companies with fatter wallets, more savvy foreigners profiting from the ‘world is your oyster’ outlook.
50yrs ago, perhaps GDP figures are very important in evaluating a country’s success. Not 2010. We should use the happiness index instead. To measure how happy the citizens are. So what if we got good GDP figures when the people are not happy?
So now our government has forgotten all about the problems of ‘Aging Population’?
They are accelerating the median age of current workgroup by importing foreigners to work here, while ignoring the fact the action itself will cause the ‘Aging Popultation’ be more difficult to handle.
Current government is simply too engrossed with GDP growth, compromised with the well-being of our future generations.