The Workers' Party says it does not endorse the White Paper on Population

The Workers' Party says it does not endorse the White Paper on Population and will oppose the motion in favour of it in Parliament. 

Speaking during the debate on the White Paper today, party Chairman Sylvia Lim disagreed with the trade-offs which the Paper says need to be made if Singapore is to have a high quality living environment. 

Ms Lim argues that the Government, in expanding the population to achieve its economic growth targets, has got its priorities the wrong way around. 

Instead of the 3 per cent to 5 per cent GDP growth projected from now till 2020, and the 2 to 3 per cent projected from 2020 to 2030, the WP is proposing that Singapore opts for a growth that is 0.5 per cent lower than the ranges cited. 

The Opposition MP says one million fewer people would be needed to achieve this more modest economic growth scenario. 

The result is a less crowded Singapore. 

Ms Lim also rejected the White Paper's position on immigration to boost the Singaporeancore. 

She says citizenship should be given to foreign spouses of Singaporeans, her point being that they are more likely to sink their roots here. 

Nor did she accept that immigration is needed to support an ageing and shrinking population. 

She says increasingly over time, our seniors will not be a burden as they will have resources to live on.