Despite the best efforts of the government and the state media to hard-sell its immigration policies to Singaporeans, public opposition to it continue to rise.
According to one participant who attended a Town-Hall meeting with Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean and two other ministers to get ‘feedback’ on the nation’s population policies and ways to reverse the declining birth rate in Singapore, many of the participants appeared to be fed up with the current situation and were merely there to air their grievances.
“The mood in the hall was pretty somber as the participants voiced their concerns, grievances and anger one after another such that at one point, the moderator has to interject to calm them down…..The ministers appeared to be answering from a script – the same standard template reply. They don’t give the impression that they will change the policy. They are just there to explain the rationale behind the immigration policy and to sell it to us.”
After DPM Teo reiterated the importance of Singapore continuing to import immigrants to boost its falling birth rates, sighs could be heard among the participants with one irate man standing up and walking away on the spot, prompting him to say: “I could see that, just watching the faces of the audience; some of the things, people nodded their heads while some shook their heads. This represents the kinds of dilemmas and difficulties that we have, as the government, to try and meet the aspirations of our people.” Full story
