WP asks for update on White Paper’s population projection
SINGAPORE — The Workers’ Party (WP) has called on the Government to clear up whether the Population White Paper and its 6.9 million population planning parameter still stands today.
Speaking to the media during a party walkabout at Bedok South yesterday, WP candidate for East Coast GRC Daniel Goh said the People’s Action Party (PAP) is “sending mixed signals” by cutting back on foreign labour growth without clarifying its current stand on the Paper.
“Why is (the 6.9 million parameter) still there if you’re cutting down on foreign manpower and making economic adjustments ... If you’re really focusing on Singaporeans, what then is the (Government’s) planning parameter?” Dr Goh asked.
Released in January 2013, the paper projected that the Republic’s population may increase to 6.9 million by 2030. All nine WP Members of Parliament voted against it in the House, and the party published its own policy paper that made the case for a freeze on foreign-workforce growth and a 1 per cent resident-workforce growth rate per year.
While Dr Goh acknowledged that the Manpower Ministry, now helmed by Mr Lim Swee Say, his PAP opponent in East Coast, had taken steps to tighten inflow, the WP man noted that two-and-a-half years had elapsed since the White Paper.
“Has the PAP changed any direction and policy ... Are they still intending to open the floodgates in the next three, four, five years? What’s the scenario?” he questioned.
Dr Goh added that the WP is not pressing the PAP to commit to an absolute population projection, and highlighted that planning parameters in the past have often become a reality before the estimated time frame.
“We have to bring up the talents and skills, free up the Singaporean labour to really perform and excel in their own field. So focus on Singaporeans, forget about the number,” he said.
In response to Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam’s comments that some parties have avoided talking about the higher taxes needed to execute their proposals, WP candidate Leon Perera said the overall budgetary impact of the WP’s policies would not be negative or impinge on national reserves.
“We take into account that in a typical year, there’s a budget surplus of a few billion dollars, setting aside exceptional years such as 2014, when the entire future cost of the Pioneer Generation Package was expensed in one single year ... and it’s not a small surplus,” he said.
Mr Perera, who is also standing in East Coast, noted that more fiscal resources will be added with Temasek Holdings’ inclusion into the Net Investment Returns (NIR) framework.
It is estimated that the total NIR contribution to the Budget will be raised from 2 per cent of gross domestic product to 3 per cent on average over the next five years.
“That will lead to an injection of, it is estimated, between three and four billion dollars, perhaps more,” said Mr Perera. “Taking into consideration this budgetary position, the net effect of our proposals are not in any way fiscally irresponsible, it will not lead to deficit and it will not touch the reserves.”
He added that while the WP supports the Government’s moves “in the right direction” in the past four years to strengthen social safety nets, such as the Silver Support Scheme, there is still room for improvement.
“The bottom line is that, so long as there’s the ability to spend more to invest in strengthening Singapore and Singaporeans — not just social safety nets, but also skills, productivity and so on — we should take a long, hard look at that and see if we should be spending that,” he said.
WP chief Low Thia Khiang and the party’s remaining East Coast candidates were also present at the walkabout yesterday. KELLY NG
