Obama Wants to Close Thousands of Businesses & Raise Unemployment
February 15th, 2013
Junior
Obama Wants to Close Thousands of Businesses & Raise Unemployment
February 15th, 2013
Junior
60% Greek Youth Unemployment
February 15th, 2013
Junior
Soros Makes $1 Billion Since November on Currency War
February 15th, 2013
Junior
Europe Woes Deepen as Economies Contract
February 15th, 2013
Junior
The Global Endgame: The Dollar’s Days As The Preeminent Currency Are Coming To An End And Escalating Currency Wars Are Throwing The World Into Chaos And Retaliation
February 15th, 2013
Junior
THE START OF 2008 ALL OVER AGAIN? Wal-Mart Says February Sales “Total Disaster”, Worst Monthly Start Since 2006, European Economic Data Disappointing, Two Billion Unemployed or Given Up Job Search Worldwide
February 15th, 2013
Newbie
MR B overlooked.....Originally Posted by Rysk
Thats why I already know long ago.. U need >50% by 2015.. & >60% by 2016.. In order to breakeven..
Your long term rental already cost your saving$$ to reduce by almost 10% each year
... if everyone hold tight tight...how to crash?
Senior
I'm finding less bad financial news in Internet in recent months, so chances are we are on track to a better economy this year. However I'm quite concerned about coming currency devaluation war and inflation. After CNY, prices seem to have crept up a bit more.
Junior
TWIST & TURN cum DIVERT ATTENTION EXPERT MR. B had advised all moron to hold tight tight when Luxus Hills 1.6-mio in 2008... continue to advise to hold tight tight till now Luxus Hills 3-mio..
Thank you MB B..
Music of the night
|
Beware, another 10y, Mr B will be camping under overhead highway or MRT track as proposed by HK academics
香港地少人多，住宅单位长期供不应求。有团体发起“天桥底行动”，建议特区政府修例，在全港天桥底下大建临时房屋，以纾缓劏房（即房中房）和笼屋的问题。
不过，有为香港政府提供房屋政策建议的人士认为，兴建房屋首先要考虑空气质素问题，因此这个建议的可行性不高。
近年香港楼价不断攀升，反映当地二手楼价走势的中原城市领先指数，昨天报121.73点，按周上升0.88%，再创历史新高。
香港房地产业界人士普遍认为，香港地少人多，每年推出的住宅单位数量远远满足不了市场需求，是造成当地楼价由2009年初至今持续攀升主要原因。
面对上述难题，有香港团体开始打全港近2000座行车及行人天桥的主意。来自工联会的立法会议员陈婉娴，联同中文大学建筑学院副教授郑炳鸿和文化人胡恩威，在前天宣布成立“天桥底行动”，推动善用天桥底下空间。
胡恩威指出，特区政府兴建公屋需要时间，如果在天桥底下建临时屋，只需数个月时间，可以迅速安置劏房、笼屋等居住环境恶劣的住户。此外，天桥底也可以兴建临时青年宿舍。
Ride at your own risk !!!
Senior
Fiat money over the very very long run returns to its intrinsic value.
Newbie
.....Mr B posts seemed to be fluxing between constipation and diarrhea.......
Junior
Unlike last time.. this time around TWIST & TURN cum DIVERT ATTENTION EXPERT MR B dare not make any more predictions as proven it was a FAILURE.. now only lan lan act blur post just the title in big red font.. hoping it will scare ppl off & quickly sell cheap cheap to him
Junior
25th Nov 2011
MISSED THE BOAT EXPERT MR B had promised us.. end of 2013 onwards.. River Valley pty will crash to $800psf..
Those who are keen.. please standby your cheque by Oct 2013..
If you can't find your RV dream units at $800psf never mind.. MR B had promised that he will "top-up" the different for us
Junior
MR B had promised us that condo/apt at RV from $1.5-2k psf now.. will crash to $800psf from between end 2013 to end 2014.. I'm keen on The Cosmopolitan25th Nov 2011
MISSED THE BOAT EXPERT MR B had promised us.. end of 2013 onwards.. River Valley pty will crash to $800psf..
Those who are keen.. please standby your cheque by Oct 2013..
If you can't find your RV dream units at $800psf never mind.. MR B had promised that he will "top-up" the different for us
Junior
http://sg.news.yahoo.com/huge-turnou...GlvbnM-;_ylv=3
4,000 turn up at Speakers' Corner for population White Paper protest
Yahoo! Newsroom – 16 Feb 2013
Yahoo! photo - An estimated 4,000 turn up for the protest despite a steady drizzle.
An estimated crowd of 4,000 people gathered at the Speakers' Corner at Hong Lim Park on Saturday afternoon to protest against Population White Paper which was endorsed by Parliament last week.
[SEE SLIDESHOW]
Organised by transitioning.org, a support site for unemployed, the nearly four-hour protest saw people of all age ranges and races turn up in the light drizzle, with umbrellas and some with home-made, colourful placards and posters. Many also came with young children and kids in tow.
While organisers put the official figure at 4,000, others compared the size of the crowd to that of Pink Dot 2013, in which close to 15,000 took part.
A total of 12 speakers, including former NTUC chief Tan Kin Lian, former presidential candidate Tan Jee Say, SDP's Vincent Wijeysingha, NSP's Jeanette Chong-Aruldoss also spoke at the event, mainly to hit out at the 6.9 million population figure mentioned in the White Paper.
Each speaker was given 10 minutes to address the crowd.
The peaceful protest was marked by poignant moments when the crowd sang "Count On Me, Singapore" at the midway mark, and also at the end when the National Pledge was lustily recited in unison.
Organiser Gilbert Goh told Yahoo! Singapore he was pleased with the turnout. Calling the protest "history-making, he said he initially only expected 200 to show.
"This protest event is meant for Singaporeans to come here in a peaceful manner to show their displeasure at the 6.9 million population target," he said.
"We also wanted to show Singaporeans that there's a place for you to come to legitimately protest against any policy that you have against the government. You don't have to sit behind Facebook and complain. You can show up in unity, in person to complain," he added.
Junior
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-0...migration.html
Singaporeans Protest Plan to Increase Population by Immigration
By Shamim Adam - Feb 16, 2013 6:49 PM GMT+0800
Thousands of Singaporeans demonstrated today against a government plan to increase the island’s population through immigration, saying the policy will erode the national identity and threaten their livelihoods.
Protesters gathered at Speakers’ Corner at Hong Lim Park at the edge of the city’s financial district on a rainy afternoon, many dressed in black and carrying signs opposing the plan. Lawmakers from Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s ruling party last week endorsed a white paper that outlined proposals including allowing more foreigners through 2030 to boost the workforce.
Today’s rally increases pressure on the government to slow an influx of immigrants that has been blamed for infrastructure strains, record-high housing and transport costs and competition for jobs. Singapore’s population has jumped by more than 1.1 million since mid-2004 to 5.3 million, stoking social tensions and public discontent that is weakening support for Lee’s People’s Action Party.
“The size of the crowd shows people are angry,” said Tan Jee Say, a candidate in Singapore’s 2011 presidential election, who joined the protest. “It will send a signal to the government and I hope it will react in a sensible way and see that people are concerned. The government should not push the white paper down Singaporeans’ throats.”
‘Not Herded’
Organizers estimated that more than 3,000 people joined the demonstration at the 0.94-hectare (2.3-acre) park that served as a venue for political rallies in the 1950s and 1960s. They sang patriotic songs. Some signs demanded a referendum on the white paper, while others said “we want to be heard, not herded,”and “waiting for 2016,” when the next general election is due.
Members of the opposition say the government’s policy to spur economic growth through immigration isn’t sustainable.
There may be as many as 6 million people in Singapore by 2020, and the government will boost infrastructure to accommodate a population of 6.9 million by 2030, according to the white paper that was published last month.
The government will take in between 15,000 and 25,000 new citizens and grant about 30,000 permanent-resident permits annually, according to the paper titled “A Sustainable Population for a Dynamic Singapore.”
Left Behind
Protesters expressed unhappiness with the policy that could see citizens, including new ones, making up only one of every two people on the island smaller in size than New York City by the end of the next decade should the population reach 6.9 million. Singapore is the third-most expensive Asian city to live in and the sixth globally, according to an Economist Intelligence Unit ranking of 131 cities around the world published this month.
“Instead of increasing the population of this country so quickly, maybe we should focus on those that have been left behind,” said Sudhir Vadaketh, author of “Floating on a Malayan Breeze,” a socio-economic narrative on Singapore and Malaysia. “A lot of Singaporeans are feeling a great sense of loss of identity. With continued high immigration, I worry about that sense of identity being diluted even more.”
Demonstrations in Singapore are rare as the government imposes strict controls on assemblies and speeches, limiting outdoor protests to locations such as Speakers’ Corner. Authorities say such laws help maintain social stability in a country that was wracked by communal violence between ethnic Malays and Chinese in the 1960s.
Shrinking Workforce
Speakers’ Corner was modeled after the section of London’s Hyde Park traditionally set aside for free speech.
The white paper was aimed at setting a framework to address Singapore’s demographic challenges of an aging population and a shrinking workforce. The island-nation’s first cohort of baby boomers turned 65 last year, and its number of elderly will triple to 900,000 by 2030, according to the National Population and Talent Division.
In a city with 3.3 million citizens and 2 million foreigners, complaints about overseas workers depriving locals of jobs and driving up home prices helped opposition parties win record support in the 2011 general election. Lee is under pressure to placate voters without disrupting the entry of talent and labor that helped forge Southeast Asia’s only advanced economy.
Ranked the easiest place to do business for seven straight years by the World Bank, Singapore is competing with lower-cost neighbors such as Malaysia and Indonesia for foreign investment as an uneven global recovery hurts demand for exports.
Since the 2011 polls, Lee’s party has lost two by-elections. The government “paid a political price” with the infrastructure strains as a result of a bigger population, the prime minister said last month.
To contact the reporter on this story: Shamim Adam in Singapore at [email protected]
Junior
http://www.tremeritus.com/2013/02/16...-need-for-fts/
MSM launch offensive to pursuade people on need for FTs
February 16th, 2013
Media push on need for foreign workers to help SMEs ignores other factors that hike up cost of doing business.
AS the government was pushing for a larger population of immigrants, a media effort was being launched to persuade people on the need for more foreign workers.
A spate of reports told of how local businesses were suffering as a result of a shortage of workers.
It was clearly to reinforce the official “open door” line to help Singapore’s small and medium enterprises (SMEs), an important segment of the economy.
It wasn’t something that serious journalists – East or West – would normally do: Leaving out important parts of a national story to slant its angle.
The reports said that some 40% of the 6,000 SMEs were suffering because of the shortage. No reference to the real threat of rising business costs
According to the reports, three in 10 SMEs (defined as having S$1-S$10mil turnover) were considering moving away from Singapore or closing down because of manpower shortage.
The government had reduced approval rates for imported workers in the wake of public anger that too many foreigners are taking away local jobs and over-crowdedness.
These reports were half the truth. The shortage was indeed a serious obstacle to SMEs but far from being the most threatening.
That was the climbing cost of doing business in Singapore, with factors including the following:
• High property rents. These contracts are generally revised after two or three years and property prices in land-short Singapore had risen by 50% in the last four years;So indirectly, the biggest woes to the SME are inflicted not by worker shortage, but by government policies and Singapore’s rising affluence that has significantly raised the cost of doing business.
• Cars. Singapore is also one of the most expensive places in the world to buy a car or truck. A certificate of entitlement (COE) – costing up to S$100,000 (RM250,300) that lasts only 10 years – is necessary before buying a vehicle; a motorist is charged electronically-deducted road fees during peak hours.
• The employer is also hit with levies for workers whom he employs, not to mention indirect taxes for supplies like Goods and Services Tax (GST).
With a per capita GDP of US$56,500 (RM174,700) the republic has become one of the richest cities in the world.
Last week the Economist Intelligence Unit reported that Singapore is now the sixth most expensive city in the world.
It climbed three places from a year ago, beating Zurich into seventh place. In Asia, the Republic ranks third – next to Tokyo and Osaka.
The high cost of living – and doing business – is one of the biggest sources of worry among Singaporeans.
Last year 61% of people said in a survey that this was their top worry. For businessmen, this, too, applies.
The recent media reports were not wrong in saying the SMEs suffer from the tight workers market.
Traditionally, they have been a big consumer of manpower, employing 70% of Singaporean workers.
The fact is that many SMEs, including restaurants, retailers and small contract firms, are marginal operators.
In the past decade many were forced out of business for reasons other than insufficient workers.
In my neighbourhood centre, nearly half the coffee shops have shut down in the past few years, forced out by high rentals and replaced by shops selling higher value products.
Two were re-rented out for higher rates to a bank and a mini-mart.
Increasingly some of Singaporeans’ favourite hawker foods have become extinct, including goreng pisang (fried bananas) and rojak. A vendor has to sell a large amount of both in order to pay for current rents.
The “Mom-and-Pop” provision shop has long been driven out of existence by the arrival of large supermarkets which could afford today’s business costs. Their disappearance had nothing to do with shortage of workers since most were operated by family members. The main culprits were high rents and changing tastes.
Not everyone may be sad to see them go provided these once-upon-a-time SMEs have found profitable alternative businesses.
The biggest spoiler is spiralling rents.
A friend of mine who operates a cake shop in the centre of Singapore has to fight frequent battles against rising rentals of his premises.
In 2010, a year after Singapore’s recession, his landlord served notice that rentals were to increase by 50%. After negotiations, the hike was reduced to one-third.
The uncertainty of rents is the biggest worry of small businessmen not any shortage of workers, he said.
“If the economy is good and rents are stabilised, we can survive the competition,” he told me.
Singapore had Asia’s most expensive hotels last year despite a 2% drop in room rates.
What is happening in Singapore had been anticipated more than 20 years ago.
As a journalist, I had attended numerous press conferences in which the government had talked about economic restructuring and business innovation to overcome worker shortage.
The former Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew had talked frequently about how as Singapore became prosperous, their operational costs would increase and competitiveness drop.
Singapore was following the way of advanced economies like the US and Europe, which began moving their manufacturing to Asia.
Singapore does not have enough workers to compete with large countries like China and India, Lee often told us.
In the 70s and 80s, Singapore had an average of seven jobs to every Singaporean applicant.
But his stand was “Let’s bite the bullet. Persuade the investors to go to Batam and Johor, and we move up-market,” I remember him saying.
Seah Chiang Nee
Chiang Nee has been a journalist for 40 years. He is a true-blooded Singaporean, born, bred and says that he hopes to die in Singapore. He worked as a Reuters corespondent between 1960-70, based in Singapore but with various assignments in Southeast Asia, including a total of about 40 months in (then South) Vietnam between 1966-1970. In 1970, he left to work for Singapore Herald, first as Malaysia Bureau Chief and later as News Editor before it was forced to close after a run-in with the Singapore Government. He then left Singapore to work for The Asian, the world’s first regional weekly newspaper, based in Bangkok to cover Thailand and Indochina for two years between 1972-73. Other jobs: News Editor of Hong Kong Standard (1973-74), Foreign Editor of Straits Times with reporting assignments to Asia, Europe, Africa, the Middle East and The United States (1974-82) and Editor of Singapore Monitor (1982-85). Since 1986, he has been a columnist for the Malaysia’s The Star newspaper. Article first appeared in his blog, http://www.littlespeck.com.
Global recession is coming....
I had already said long ago and for many times, the commercial and industrial properties markets are in bubble and need cooling measures! however, these has not been done. Instead, we see cooling measures consecutively only for the private residential property market only... These people are probably not living on the ground to know where the bubble really is!
Senior
They are living up in the mapletree
Senior
i am just very curious
you joined in Dec 2012 ....
yet you comment like you have been around long enough to know the history of Mr B ... ?
are you another forummer who post with many names ?
Newbie
...you are funny....
.....is this a closed forum where non-registered member could not read?
Global recession is coming....
Mapletree? Oh right, Is Mapletree earnings lots of money from commercial and industrial properties bubble?
Junior
http://www.nbcnews.com/id/50831722/ns/business/
Rare Singapore protest against population plan
By FARIS MOKHTAR
updated 2/16/2013 1018 AM ET
Singaporeans gather at their speakers' corner in a protest against a paper passed in parliament last week that suggests continued immigration that would raise the total population to 6.9 million by 2030, a 30 percent increase, on Saturday Feb. 16, 2013 in Singapore. The paper was aimed at alleviating the falling birth rate and aging population has been met with much criticism as Singapore copes with a swell of immigrants that already tax current infrastructure and has caused much unhappiness among citizens. (AP Photo/Joseph Nair)
SINGAPORE — Nearly 3,000 people held a rare rally in Singapore on Saturday to protest a government plan to increase the city-state's population by admitting more foreigners, voicing concerns that it will worsen already strained public services and push up the cost of living.
Such demonstrations are rare in the Southeast Asian country, known for its image of political stability and efficient governance, with the ruling People's Action Party stifling opposition voices and placing tight controls on public protests.
The chief organizer of the rally, Gilbert Goh, said the protest was a display of citizens' unhappiness over the population plan, which was endorsed in parliament on Feb. 8. "They want to tell the government, please reconsider this policy. The turnout is a testimony that this policy is flawed and unpopular on the ground," he said.
According to the plan, the government will bolster infrastructure and social programs to accommodate a projected population of 6.5 million to 6.9 million by 2030 — a marked increase from the current population of 5.3 million. Of the projected 2030 population, non-foreigners would form between 3.6 and 3.8 million, slightly more than half of the total.
The issue triggered five days of intense debate in parliament, with both opposition and some PAP legislators expressing concerns that an immigration inflow would hurt public infrastructure and dilute the Singaporean identity. But the plan was eventually approved by a wide majority.
The plan to admit more new citizens comes amid government concerns that the current population will not help ensure the economy remains robust, as Singapore grapples with a falling birthrate and aging baby boomers.
"In my view in 2030, I think 6 million will not be enough to meet Singaporeans' needs as our population ages because of this problem of the baby boomers and bulge of aging people," Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said in parliament on Feb. 8, adding that 6.9 million was not a target but a number to be used to help plan for infrastructure.
Although Singapore continues to bring in hundreds of thousands of immigrants from countries such as Indonesia and China to work as maids and construction workers, it also attracts thousands of higher-income foreigners who find the country's high standard of living and stability appealing.
But the influx has strained public services, with complaints of transport overcrowding, and caused property prices to escalate, sparking concerns among locals about the rising cost of living and fostering a deep resentment toward foreigners.
"Immigrants come at such a fast pace that they're not able to assimilate," said Samantha Chia, 32, one of the rally speakers. "It's unfair for them as well and a lose-lose situation."
Although economic prosperity has turned Singapore into a bustling metropolis, critics have noted the government's continuous pursuit of growth at all cost.
"We want the government to put the vast resources that are at their disposal at the service of us, the people," said one of Saturday's protesters, Vincent Wijeysingha, a university lecturer and member of the opposition Singapore Democratic Party. "Because we are not machines and our neighborhoods are not factories, and our island is not a hotel."
Global recession is coming....
Why so many people don't look like native singapore citizens to me? Looks like races not native to Singapore?
http://www.nbcnews.com/id/50831722/ns/business/
Rare Singapore protest against population plan
By FARIS MOKHTAR
updated 2/16/2013 1018 AM ET
Singaporeans gather at their speakers' corner in a protest against a paper passed in parliament last week that suggests continued immigration that would raise the total population to 6.9 million by 2030, a 30 percent increase, on Saturday Feb. 16, 2013 in Singapore. The paper was aimed at alleviating the falling birth rate and aging population has been met with much criticism as Singapore copes with a swell of immigrants that already tax current infrastructure and has caused much unhappiness among citizens. (AP Photo/Joseph Nair)
SINGAPORE — Nearly 3,000 people held a rare rally in Singapore on Saturday to protest a government plan to increase the city-state's population by admitting more foreigners, voicing concerns that it will worsen already strained public services and push up the cost of living.
Such demonstrations are rare in the Southeast Asian country, known for its image of political stability and efficient governance, with the ruling People's Action Party stifling opposition voices and placing tight controls on public protests.
The chief organizer of the rally, Gilbert Goh, said the protest was a display of citizens' unhappiness over the population plan, which was endorsed in parliament on Feb. 8. "They want to tell the government, please reconsider this policy. The turnout is a testimony that this policy is flawed and unpopular on the ground," he said.
According to the plan, the government will bolster infrastructure and social programs to accommodate a projected population of 6.5 million to 6.9 million by 2030 — a marked increase from the current population of 5.3 million. Of the projected 2030 population, non-foreigners would form between 3.6 and 3.8 million, slightly more than half of the total.
The issue triggered five days of intense debate in parliament, with both opposition and some PAP legislators expressing concerns that an immigration inflow would hurt public infrastructure and dilute the Singaporean identity. But the plan was eventually approved by a wide majority.
The plan to admit more new citizens comes amid government concerns that the current population will not help ensure the economy remains robust, as Singapore grapples with a falling birthrate and aging baby boomers.
"In my view in 2030, I think 6 million will not be enough to meet Singaporeans' needs as our population ages because of this problem of the baby boomers and bulge of aging people," Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said in parliament on Feb. 8, adding that 6.9 million was not a target but a number to be used to help plan for infrastructure.
Although Singapore continues to bring in hundreds of thousands of immigrants from countries such as Indonesia and China to work as maids and construction workers, it also attracts thousands of higher-income foreigners who find the country's high standard of living and stability appealing.
But the influx has strained public services, with complaints of transport overcrowding, and caused property prices to escalate, sparking concerns among locals about the rising cost of living and fostering a deep resentment toward foreigners.
"Immigrants come at such a fast pace that they're not able to assimilate," said Samantha Chia, 32, one of the rally speakers. "It's unfair for them as well and a lose-lose situation."
Although economic prosperity has turned Singapore into a bustling metropolis, critics have noted the government's continuous pursuit of growth at all cost.
"We want the government to put the vast resources that are at their disposal at the service of us, the people," said one of Saturday's protesters, Vincent Wijeysingha, a university lecturer and member of the opposition Singapore Democratic Party. "Because we are not machines and our neighborhoods are not factories, and our island is not a hotel."
Junior
http://sg.finance.yahoo.com/news/lar...130300142.html
Large crowd braves rain to denounce Singapore population plan
Reuters – 16 Feb 2013
* Critics say immigration policy paper could change the island's character
* Protesters denounce income disparaties
* Ruling party has suffered dents to popularity
By Kevin Lim and Teo Jion Chun
SINGAPORE, Feb 15 (Reuters) - At least 4,000 people braved showers to stage one of Singapore's largest ever protests on Saturday, a further sign of discontent over immigration policies and growing income disparities under the long-ruling People's Action Party (PAP).
Parliament in the highly regimented city state last week approved a white paper that said the island's population of 5.3 million could grow by as much as 30 percent to 6.9 million by 2030, mostly through foreign workers to offset a chronically low birth rate.
Critics say the island is already too crowded, with a population density exceeding that of rival Asian business centre Hong Kong. They blame the flood of foreigners over the past decade for stagnant wages, crowded trains and rising prices that put housing beyond the reach of the average Singaporean and say further inflows would change the very nature of the island.
Uniformed police were all but absent at the rally at Speakers' Corner in a park on the edge of Singapore's glitzy financial district -- exempt from strict controls on assembly.
"You cannot bring in foreigners to compete with your people when you do little to look after them," said Leong Sze Hian, a financial planner, blaming lax immigration for stagnating real wages.
"It's not just low wage earners who are suffering. Median incomes are affected too and that's the people in the middle," he told Reuters.
Tan Kin Lian, former CEO of Singapore's largest insurance firm, told the rally that Singaporeans needed "adequate wages, dignity in employment for all sectors of the workforce. Wages must be enough to raise a family."
Singapore, with a land area of 714 square km (275 sq miles), is one of the of the world's wealthiest countries with a per capita GDP of $50,000.
It has been ruled since independence in 1965 by the PAP, credited with transforming the island from a British colonial outpost into a global business centre with clean streets, an efficient civil service and the world's highest concentration of millionaires.
INCOME INEQUALITY
Income inequality is among the highest in the developed world, however, and many Singaporeans struggle on an average monthly wage of about S$4,100 ($3,300). The cost of housing has doubled over the past decade and the cheapest new car costs about S$110,000 due to taxes aimed at curbing vehicle ownership.
The PAP holds 80 of 87 elected seats in parliament despite recent electoral setbacks, including a dip in its share of the popular vote to about 60 percent in the 2011 general election.
As the rally proceeded, authorities said former prime minister Lee Kuan Yew, the driving force behind Singapore's development and father of the current prime minister, was being treated in hospital for an irregular heart beat. It said Lee, 89, had recovered but would remain in hospital for a few days.
Authorities remain wary of social upheaval. A wildcat strike last year by bus drivers brought to Singapore from China, the first such work stoppage since 1986, led to the deportation of more than 20 of the strikers.
The government says without new immigrants, the working-age population will start shrinking in 2020 while the total number of Singaporeans will begin to decline in 2025.
The paper has prompted worries that further immigration could alter the character of the island.
Singaporeans acccount for 62 percent of 5.3 million residents, down from 75 percent in 2000 and the government plans to give citizenship to between 15,000 and 25,000 foreigners each year. Based on the white paper, the percentage of Singaporeans, including new citizens, will shrink to 55 percent by 2030.
Tan Jee Say, a former top civil servant turned opposition politician who also addressed the protest, accused the PAP of being obsessed with economic growth and ignoring the social costs of its immigration policy.
"The white paper will completely change the character of our nation -- not just for 18 years but forever," he said.
(Reporting by Kevin Lim; Additional reporting by Jion Chun Teo; Editing by Ron Popeski)
Junior
http://www.scmp.com/news/asia/articl...t-independence
Singapore protest biggest since independence
In rare show of anger, crowd voices opposition to policy of increasing immigrant numbers
South China Morning Post
Toh Han Shih in Singapore
Sunday, 17 February, 2013, 12:00am
Thousands of Singaporeans braved drizzle to attend a rally yesterday to oppose the government's plan to increase the population by bringing in more foreigners - a rare example of protest in the tightly controlled city state.
An organiser, Kwan Yew Keng, estimated that 3,000 people took part, making it the biggest demonstration in Singapore since it gained independence in 1965, barring election rallies.
Rally leaders, who used Facebook and other online platforms to organise participants, openly attacked the People's Action Party (PAP), which has been in power for more than 50 years and controls 80 of the 87 seats in parliament after losing two byelections in the past year.
"The large crowd here shows the PAP government that they [the protesters] are not afraid any more. They don't want to hide behind a moniker on Facebook to show their displeasure," said one of the organisers, Gilbert Goh, a former opposition candidate for parliament.
One sign, apparently directed at Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, read: "Ah Loong sweetheart, 6.9 (million) is a kinky number, but quality, not quantity," referring to his comment that the country's population could reach 6.9 million by 2030. A speaker at the rally, Kumaran Pillay, said he wanted his country to be led by "a man with vision" and did not want Singaporeans' lives to be controlled by "number Nazis".
Another speaker, Sem Teo, a banking executive, said: "Singaporeans should stop being afraid and speak up for change."
Rally participant Tan Jee Say, an ex-civil servant now in opposition who ran for president in 2011, said: "The prime minister has failed us. Make way for a new prime minister."
Additional reporting by Agence France-Presse
Junior
http://edition.cnn.com/2013/02/16/wo...iref=allsearch
Singaporeans protest plans to increase immigration
By Liz Neisloss, CNN
February 16, 2013 -- Updated 1406 GMT (2206 HKT)
(CNN) -- Singaporeans don't normally gather in public protest. Decades of single party rule and an iron hand when it comes to dissent has shaped a somewhat meek public. But a proposal by the government to allow more immigrants to come to Singapore in the next few decades to make up for a population shortfall has emboldened citizens to go public.
On Saturday, several thousand Singaporeans gathered in a small downtown park near an area known as "Speaker's Corner" to vent their anger. Organizers estimated the crowd to between 3,000 and 4,000 and said it was the largest gathering since post-independence Singapore in 1965. Singapore police told CNN they don't give crowd estimates.
At the heart of the issue is a so-called "White Paper on Population" recently issued by the government that proposes allowing the population to rise from 5.3 million to as high as 6.9 million by 2030 in order to keep the economy growing and to keep it a magnet country for business.
The government also says foreigners are needed to take care of the country's own rapidly aging population.
Protesters on Saturday insisted they didn't fear foreigners but worry about the loss of Singaporean jobs to foreigners, depressed wages and overcrowding that has taxed Singapore's infrastructure, including housing and transportation. Protesters also say the government's plans will make them a minority in their own country.
"Imagine a place where you can be a stranger in your own home," a protester said.
Like many developed nations, not enough people are having babies. For more than three decades, the country's fertility rate has been below replacement level, meaning Singaporeans aren't having enough babies to replace themselves. This has had a huge impact on a tiny country striving to be a booming economy.
The government has relied on foreigners to fill executive ranks, as well as to perform low-wage jobs from construction to cleaning. While the country is one of the world's wealthiest, it also has an enormous income disparity between rich and poor. Protesters say Singaporeans would have more babies if they were more confident of their economic prospects, and that the government should rely less on cheaper foreign labor and improve the wages of Singaporeans.
Junior
http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/20130217_02.html
Singaporeans protest new immigration plan
NHK World
Thousands of Singaporeans have staged a rare protest against a plan to accept more immigrant workers. The government claims the move is necessary because the birth rate has declined to 1.2 children per woman.
Immigrants currently account for nearly 40 percent of Singapore's population of 5.3 million. Last month, the government announced a plan to raise the total to 6.9 million citizens by 2030.
An NGO addressing job security issues organized the event and used social media to invite participants. The group says about 4,000 people gathered on Saturday in a central city square.
Citizens complained that an influx of immigrants is causing real estate prices and education costs to soar. Meanwhile, they say the quality of services is deteriorating at hospitals and public transportation systems. They feel that accepting more immigrants would put too much pressure on people's lives.
Some participants said it's unbelievable that the government plans to accept one million more immigrants. Others said they are angry with the government for not listening to public opinion. Organizers plan to coordinate more public demonstrations.
Large public protests are rare in Singapore because political activities are strictly regulated under the single party rule.
Feb. 17, 2013 - Updated 00:01 UTC (09:01 JST)
Junior
Why don't u create another thread call Bad News....just a suggestion if u can hear.
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