In previous posts we have described at length (this is up to the point of nausea) why is that any and all immigration policies, conventions, restrictions, manipulations and otherwise management and modification is absolutely, positively and definitively idiotic and stupid (see for example Immigration Policies Are The Ultimate Monopoly.
But of course, nobody listens to us; well… our cat does but she is a clever cat with an IQ far superior to any politician's. BTW, have you noticed how cats have no immigration/emigration policies? They go and stay wherever they want. Good for them! But we digress…
And what has this got to do with anything? Well, according to the newspaper Today (Singapore), the "Integration Council explores ways to bring new immigrants, Singaporeans together". Aha. Uhu. Let's see. We were actually reading the article when we were rudely interrupted by the bullshit alarm system going off (we alarmed our house after the 2008 great bullshit flood). Upon review, the readouts from our 360 degrees omni-directional bullshitometers (all rights reserved - patent pending) did indeed indicate that we have reached dangerous toxic levels of political bullshit and our brain may begin to suffer from acute bullshit poisoning. Luckily enough, we are prepared for such emergencies. Faster than a politician chasing a vote, we grabbed the emergency baseball bat we have conveniently located at the side of our desk for just such emergencies and started to hit the computer monitor until all traces of the webpage disappeared (along with all traces of a working monitor - some prices are worth paying). Relieved that the immediate danger subsided, we decided to seek a second opinion. Upon discussing the issue with a fellow colleague, we came to the conclusion that we will be OK. Our exposure to political bullshit was sub-lethal, although it may take us several days to recover. And so, if there is a gap in our articles, you now know why.
THE SITUATION
The People's Association and the National Integration Council of Singapore will do some some stuff to "bring new immigrants and Singaporeans together". And… that's basically it!
THE COMMENTARY
On the surface this seems like a fairly content-devoid article and if so why bother? Because if we explore these news at a slightly deeper understanding, the full force of government nonsense resurfaces.
The twin wastes
The People's Association (PA) was established to "promote racial harmony and social cohesion".
The National Integration Council (NIC) on the other hand, was established to "to promote and foster social integration among Singaporeans, new immigrants and foreigners".
There are two elements worth analyzing here. The first one is the purpose and the second the target.
The purpose is to promote "racial harmony" and "social cohesion" for the PA while to foster "social integration" for the NIC. Now, integration seems pretty close to harmony and cohesion to us. We will give them the benefit of the doubt… until we check the demographics. What they tell us that Singapore is composed of:
Chinese 74.2%
Malays 13.3%
Indians 9.1%
Others 3.3%
This demographic distribution does not seem too bad since there is a majority group and a few minorities. However, what these numbers fail to disclose is that the Malays are the original population of Singapore, not the Chinese. In other words, native citizens are in a minority at an approximate rate of 6 : 1 !!!
Hummmm… let us put it this way, if your entire civilization would depend of immigrants who do not share your culture, wouldn't you be interested in fostering racial harmony, social cohesion and integration? Of course you would!
But there is something else, since Singaporean society is multi-racial and the original citizens are in an overwhelming minority, it is not possible to "promote racial harmony and social cohesion" without including immigration. But once we include immigration, this is exactly the same as to "foster social integration among Singaporeans, new immigrants".
In other words, the PA and the NIC have exactly the same functions. What separates them is semantics, not statistics, logic or rationale.
This is a classic example of one of the most important bureaucratic rules:
Why have one organization at an exorbitant price tag, when you can have two for twice the expenditure.
Remember that the goal of any government bureaucracy is to grow because it is the only way to climb the hierarchical ladder. In addition, since money is no object (your money, that is) there is no actual, real impediment to do so.
The oscillating government
Up to WWII the population in Singapore was growing rapidly but not at a large rate. After WWII, the population began to accelerate. By 1960, the government saw this as a problem and decided to "do something". They funded "family planning practices". By 1965 the Family Planning and Population Board (FPPB) was established to provide "clinical services and public education" on family planning. During 1970, the total fertility rate stood at 3.07.
Note: the total fertility rate is the average number of children a female has over her lifetime. Because child bearing years are limited, the replacement fertility rate is about 2.1. This means in practice for population to keep steady (neither growing nor decreasing), a total fertility rate of 2.1 must be maintained.
By 1970, the "Stop at two" campaign was unleashed from the government implementing incentives and dis-incentives to control population. By 1975, when everything was going according to plan, the fertility rate dropped below the replacement level (2.1 births per woman). Ups…. It would seem that the "master planning race" got this one wrong.
But not to worry, the bureaucracy is here. By 1983 the "Graduated Mothers' Scheme" (or Eugenics-R-Us) was implemented in order to attempt graduated females to procreate while under-graduated females were "encouraged" to get sterilized. This was done, of course, for the common good since it is widely known that for a nation to best develop and avoid hardship is to have as many intelligent children like us, not like them.
By 1986 the Great Marriage Debate was over, and the all-powerful, all-knowing, bureaucracy reversed gears and started the "Have Three or More (if you can afford it)" program. As expected and right on queue, this program offered cash and incentives to have children.
In 2001, the government started the "Baby Bonus" scheme.
After 2006, the government launched several programs to raise the fertility rate with no effect whatsoever.
By 2011 the fertility rate dropped to about 1.2 (very much below the necessary 2.1).
Since 2011 the Singapore government has changed its immigration policy and it is now actively seeking candidates. In 2013 a White Paper was approved by parliament calling for a more active immigration welcome system to attract skilled and less-skilled workers.
Allow us to summarize: In Singapore there are too many people and therefore population must be decreased unless it has to be increased. Got that?
This is yet another classic mechanical systematic government screw-up. It contains all its basic elements: messing with nature, using retarded ideologies to control human behavior and arrogance.
The back story
But the thing does not end here. There is much more to it. Consider this; Singapore is the second densest country in the world, surpassed only by Monaco. That's right; Singapore is more populated than Hong-Kong!
The population in Singapore has been growing since 1945 at a rapid pace. Today, there are about 5.4 million Singaporeans living in a tiny island of about 687 kilometers square. Anybody that believes that this is a good idea is an idiot. However, as bad as this is and all things remaining equal, the population will rose to between 6.5 and 6.9 million by 2030.
In other words, Singapore is bursting by its seams in people, yet the government insists in increasing demographic density!
Why is that?
To answer this question we need to look at the "baby boom" generation. By 2030 a full 25% of the population will be retired baby boomers, which means that the ratio of workers per retirees will drop significantly. In 1980 there ratio was 17, today it is 6 and by 2030 it will be 2.
Considering that most pension plans and other government plans (let's remember that Singapore is a planned society) have been drawn in the 70's and 80's where the population was growing or at least steady, it is no wonder that the ratio decreases so does the available money.
It is quite simple. Less workers means less money to spend which translates to fewer services which means more dissatisfaction which means fewer votes which leads to loss of political jobs.
And there you have it; the root cause of the problem.
It isn't that there are too few people in Singapore (this is clearly not the case) or that Singaporean economy is not working (it clearly is) or that there will be too many retirees by 2030. The issue is simply the loss of political jobs. Yes; it is that simple.
The truth is that Singaporean politicians are willing to sacrifice Singapore in order to retain their jobs.
This is the background upon which the PA and the NIC (the organizations that started this article) operate.
Note: please see the Glossary if you are unfamiliar with certain words.
Continue to Disintegration in Singapore - Part 2
