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SINGAPORE: Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has promised a more calibrated flow of immigrants into Singapore. This comes after a surge in recent years, following an exceptional boom up to year 2007.
He said that the country needs to work on absorbing new arrivals while maintaining the "tone" of society. Mr Lee was speaking at length on Tuesday evening to some 1,500 students at the Nanyang Technological University on Singapore's immigration policy.
Tackling the dialogue theme - "Is there room for more", Prime Minister Lee said that Singapore's critical constraint is not with physical space but with people.
And with more good people, the country can generate new and creative ideas to expand the space.
Mr Lee said he is bringing up the long-term issue of immigration with these students as it will eventually be decided by their generation.
He said: "This is not a one problem you can solve one off, just answer an exam paper and settled. But it is a continuing issue with no final solution, where you have to manage it, decide, adjust your policy from time to time and as circumstances changed, adapt it in order to keep on going forward.
"And it's a problem where what we do doesn't just depend on the government or the government's decisions, but on how open our society is and how well Singaporeans adjust to and integrate new arrivals. And that depends on you, as your enter the workforce, work, settle your families and become the next generation of Singaporeans, what kind of Singapore you want."
He said that while Singaporeans understand the need for immigrants and foreign workers, they still have some concerns given the large inflow in the last few years.
When the Singapore economy was booming, the country admitted many foreigners - more than 100,000 per year in recent years. Mr Lee, however, said the country will not continue to admit people at this pace as the nation cannot expect to continue booming as in the last few years.
He said: "We were in an extraordinary situation. We permitted the surge to respond to this extraordinary opportunity. We always knew we could not sustain this inflow indefinitely although we knew in the long term, we needed to bring a continuing flow of immigrants.
"But we have to do it in a way which is mindful of how quickly our society can absorb and integrate these new arrivals and to keep the tone of society. So we have to continue bringing people in but we will adjust the inflow so we will not dilute our national identity or weaken our social cohesion."
Mr Lee had this assurance for Singaporeans.
"In the midst of all these discussions about Singaporeans and non-Singaporeans, I should emphasise one point- that is, in Singapore, the interests of citizens have to always come first. Not a short-term interest but a long-term interest," he said.
"It is to safeguard the long-term interest of Singaporeans (that) we must have a sustained, calibrated inflow of immigrants. We will make this differentiation sharper over time to reflect the responsibilities and privileges of citizenship. But we cannot make it so onerous for PRs and non-residents that nobody wants to come to Singapore."
At the start of his speech, Mr Lee also had a word on the Singapore economy for his audience. He said the third-quarter economic forecast did not look bad. But he cautioned that the nation must be psychologically prepared for a slow pickup and even surprises like a W-shaped recovery.
- CNA/sc/ir
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