http://www.todayonline.com/singapore/parliament-endorses-population-white-paper
Nominated Member of Parliament (NMP) Eugene Tan abstained from the vote.
Workers’ Party MP Low Thia Khiang called for division on the amended motion to endorse the White Paper. In a division, the vote of each Member is collected and tabulated through an electronic voting system.
Other than Opposition MPs, who all voted against the motion, NMPs Faizah Jamal, Janice Koh and Laurence Lian also voted ‘no’.
Explaining the party's reason for voting against the amended motion, WP chairman Sylvia Lim said the party "believes that the path proposed by the White Paper will further dilute the Singaporean core and weaken our national identity" and lead the Republic to " require unsustainable population injections in the future".
Ms Lim added that the party believes that the greater well-being of Singaporeans "lies in sustainable economic growth driven by increases in our productivity and in our resident workforce, rather than further increases in our dependency on imported foreign labour". Demographic challenges must be "addressed fundamentally and urgently" but focusing on increasing the total fertility rate and growing the resident labour force participation rate, she said.
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong pledged that Singaporeans would not be "overwhelmed" by a flood of foreigners and sought to assure Singaporeans that their interests are at the centre of all the Government's plans, and economic growth and population policies are just a means to improving citizens' well-being.
No comments:
Post a Comment