Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew has scaled down a projected 6.5 million population – mainly through immigration – by some 20% “to preserve a sense of comfort”.

He now prefers an optimum size of 5 million to 5.5 million, down from the 6 million to 7 million that he wanted two years ago. Currently the population stands at 4.6 million, so expansion has only a little way to go.

In 2005, he told a surprised nation that he foresaw a thriving global Singapore of 6 million to 7 million people by 2030.

That would place Singapore’s size just behind major cities like New York (8.2 million) and London (7.6 million). The time span for achieving this was revised from 30 years to 40-50 years.

Lee’s climb-down is as abrupt as his idea was two years ago; none received prior discussion in Parliament. He is now obviously convinced that there is not enough space in Singapore for such large numbers.

The Minister Mentor said last Tuesday: “I have not quite been sold on the idea that we should have 6.5 million. I think there’s an optimum size for the land that we have, to preserve the open spaces and the sense of comfort.”

Lee told a think tank seminar that he did not want to see Singapore going the way of Hong Kong – “just solid buildings, one blocking the sunlight of the other”.

The revision is more than to keep aesthetic values; it follows the adverse impact of the rapid demographic change in the past few years.

In some areas, there is serious over-crowding, especially on the roads and in public transport, as well as universities and hospitals (a fourth is being planned), which are straining public tolerance.

(Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong recently warned of potential friction between newcomers and locals.)

Singaporeans are fearful of being muscled out by foreigners in their own country. Critics have accused the government of treating them better than citizens on issues such as jobs, national service and education.

Others are worried about the future of this small city-state, which has the fourth densest population in the world.

Concerned at being pushed out of their comfort zone, more Singaporeans now opt to work or settle down abroad.

The brain drain is even hitting close to his family, Lee recently said.

His grandson Li Hongyi, who is studying economics in America on a government scholarship, recently advised his younger brother not to accept a scholarship.

The advice was apparently aimed at telling brother Hao Yi not to tie himself down by a bond to work for six years in Singapore, which is a condition of the financing.

It implies that the son of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong may be planning to work abroad after graduation.

The economy is also declining.

Job creation, which has always determined the rate of immigration here, is expected to slow significantly from almost 200,000 in 2007 to 60,000, a Citigroup research says.

The expected drop in employment this year is bound to slow down the number of foreign arrivals, irrespective of what the government wants.

Meanwhile, the authorities are tackling some of the public woes – packed trains and crowded roads during peak hours.

From 7.30am-9am and 5.30pm-7.30pm some stations are so packed that commuters are left standing to wait for the second or third train before they can get on board.

“Going to work every morning is a nightmare. It’s virtually impossible to be able to catch the first train that comes along. There are so many people in it,” said a clerical assistant, who has to start her day half an hour earlier.

Sometimes she would have to join others to make an extra trip upstream in order to make it.

A S$20bil (RM45.7bil) plan has been announced to double the length of MRT tracks from 138km to 278km by 2020 by building two more lines, one of which will run underground.

Buses are also feeling the strain of the increase in population and a major revamp is under way.

The roads are getting clogged as people withstand some hefty costs (the most expensive in the world) to buy and operate a car.

To get motorists to use public transport, cars are taxed electronically every time they pass under some 71 gantries built across the island, the costs depending on location and time.

Recently, as the number of cars increased, more and more gantries were built and they moved from crowded highways to some residential neighbours.

One motorist who lives in non-congested Upper Bukit Timah Road complained that one was erected not far from his house. “This means that every time I drive out of my gate I pay a fee.”

o Seah Chiang Nee is a veteran journalist and editor of the information website littlespeck.com

                                                      Home