SINGAPORE — The marathon five-day debate on Singapore’s population roadmap wrapped up yesterday, with a 77-13 vote to pass the amended motion on the Population White Paper.

But the conclusion of the debate in Parliament, which saw 70 MPs rising to speak, does not mark a stop to the nation’s conversation on population, said Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong,

He outlined three areas for further discussion “over the next few years”: Getting Singaporeans to have more babies, restructuring the economy to be less reliant on foreign labour and to benefit Singaporeans more, as well as ways to strengthen the Singapore identity in an open society.

Much of the debate centred on Singaporeans’ fear that they would be overwhelmed by immigrants and foreigners. Mr Lee pledged that the Government will make sure Singaporeans “are clearly in the majority so that our identity is not diluted by new arrivals”.

“We will always put Singaporeans first, and make sure that the benefits of our population and our population policies go to Singaporeans.”

The final speaker yesterday before Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean closed the debate, Mr Lee sought to address public reaction as well as concerns that MPs have raised in the past week.

He said that Singapore’s population could not grow indefinitely, but felt a total population of 6 million by 2030 would not be enough to meet the country’s needs with an ageing society. The figure, however, should be “significantly below 6.9 million and beyond 2030, in the very long term, it should not increase beyond that”.

Its actual population will be something for future generations to decide, but the Government will build up infrastructure ahead of demand so people will not feel the strains of today, said Mr Lee.

That the Government is not deciding on the population trajectory or the population size beyond 2020 — but simply projecting for the purpose of land use and infrastructure planning — was reiterated by Mr Teo.

The discussion “should and must continue”, and Mr Teo urged the MPs to keep an open mind going forward.

“We must continually review our approach and adapt our strategies depending on Singaporeans’ changing social and economic needs, and how our domestic and external circumstances change,” he said.

‘Hard for some PAP MPs to support original motion’

As the debate drew to a close, Aljunied GRC MP Low Thia Khiang of the Workers’ Party (WP) called for a division of the motion, which means that the vote of each MP was recorded. More than two-thirds of all elected MPs voted in favour of the amended motion — 77 out of 99.

Thirteen said “nay” — the WP’s nine MPs (including its two Non-Constituency MPs), NCMP Lina Chiam and Nominated MPs Faizah Jamal, Mr Laurence Lien and Ms Janice Koh. NMP Eugene Tan abstained from the vote.

Over the five days, 61 MPs and nine Cabinet members — including Mr Lee and DPM Teo — weighed in on the White Paper. Three former Cabinet members — Emeritus Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong, Mr Wong Kan Seng and Mr Mah Bow Tan — also spoke for the first time since they stepped down after the General Election in 2011.

There were fiery speeches aplenty. The WP criticised the Government’s “half-hearted” attempts to raise the fertility rate and proposed lower economic growth as well as tighter inflow of foreign workers and new citizens than projections set out in the White Paper.

Ang Mo Kio GRC MP Inderjit Singh called for a five-year breather from the “relentless drive for growth” but said the Opposition’s proposal would spell doom for companies here that provided jobs for Singaporeans — a sentiment echoed by others such as Second Minister for Trade and Industry S Iswaran.

Holland Bukit-Timah MP Liang Eng Hwa on Tuesday tabled an amendment to the motion that included calling on the Government to prioritise resolving current infrastructure strains and carrying out medium-term reviews on population policies and assumptions.

Moulmein-Kallang GRC MP Denise Phua said yesterday that had the motion not been amended, “a number” of People’s Action Party MPs would “find it difficult to support it”. She was among several MPs who said the White Paper exposed shortcomings in the Government’s engagement of Singaporeans.

The WP released a statement last night saying the amendment captures some of its concerns, but believes the path proposed by the White Paper will further dilute the Singaporean core and “lead us to require unsustainable population injections in the future”. WP Chairman Sylvia Lim said demographic challenges must be addressed fundamentally and urgently by focusing on birth rates and growing the resident labour force participation rate.

Three groups of concern

In his speech, Mr Lee said immediate concerns and long-term population issues must be tackled together to create the most promising future for Singaporeans. Getting the population policy right is essential to take care of three groups: the elderly, the low-income and the young.

The elderly includes those of today, and tomorrow. There will be 2.1 citizens aged between 20 and 64 to every citizen aged 65 and above in 2030, down from 5.9 working-age citizens for every senior citizen currently. There will be a greater need for healthcare and support, as well as greater pressure on their families and society, he said.

“It is easy to say we stop immigration, we stop foreign workers coming in, ageing is a triumph of development … but is it so simple?” he asked. “Can one child look after two elderly parents, whether financially or physically? Is it sustainable? Is it fair?”

Mr Lee said low-wage workers fear excessive competition from foreign workers, but also benefit from a controlled supply of foreign labour. To provide good jobs, the economic pie must be growing, he said.

And Singapore needs the right population mix to be a city with buzz and opportunities, for the sake of youths. Two in three citizens are expected to be in professional, managerial, executive and technical (PMET) jobs by 2030. “Educating them as PMETs is not so hard. Finding PMET jobs for them to do to match their education is not so easy,” said Mr Lee.

If Singapore stagnates and becomes a “giant retirement home”, the young will venture overseas for opportunities, leaving their aged parents here — as has happened in countries such as Ireland and Greece, he said. “It will be very sad if that happens to Singapore,” he said.

It would have been easy to “kick the can down the road” – as WP’s Mr Low has criticised – and leave the population problem to the Republic’s next leader. But Mr Lee said it would have been irresponsible to do so.

Countering some MPs who said the White Paper’s theme is one of fear and vulnerability, Mr Lee said it is a discussion of a difficult problem, but also an act of faith.

“It is really an affirmation of faith in Singapore’s future. Believe Singapore has a future which is worth building, protecting, striving for. Believe that Singapore can grow from strength to strength and that next generation deserves to live better lives than this generation,” he said.