Some time
ago, I wrote a blog piece jokingly suggesting that we change our name from the
Lion City to the Crane City. Actually, I was lamenting the ugly fact that
everywhere you turn in this country of ours, you find construction works and
destruction of greenery. Of course, we all try to bear with it hoping in the
back of our heads, that things would settle down. But with the publication of
the government’s White Paper on Population, and the dreadful news that
Singapore’s population could reach a suffocating 6.9 million, all such hopes
have vanished. Crane City will apparently be a permanent label for this beautiful
city I grew up in.
I really
would like to urge our leaders to consider lowering that figure to, say, 5.3
million. We are already bursting at the seams. Please lah ..… Just dispel that option of a 6.9m scenario
from your plans and go back to the drawing board. I have faith in you.
Frankly,
I’d rather retire in some obscure town outside Singapore than to burden my
children with another two decades of constant knocking down of perfectly good
buildings, scrapping of cars that run perfectly, widening of roads everywhere;
and noise and crowds and litter everywhere they turn. I want “leave them a blue
sky”.
PS – I
fully support the idea to have a referendum on this matter. I want to have a
say.
4 comments:
Thanks for speaking up... I have been out of singapore for the past 6+ years (the worst years of the current crowdedness issue) and frankly cannot fully say I understand the overcrowdedness, even though I've read all the "noise" made online. For someone as moderate as yourself to speak out on this issue conveys to me a lot the seriousness of the issue.
Thanks sgporc.
Our PM once warned Sporeans of the 'slowly-boiled frog' syndrome. I feel that this problem of over-crowding us quite similar. Slowly our roads get more crowded, the amount of ongoing construction increases etc. and people become immune to it and become unaware of the detrimental effects on our physical and mental health.
This is all I have to say to the PAP govt -
Either give us a referendum with 'yes, we support the White Paper' or 'no, we do not support the White Paper' (and if the majority votes 'no', the decision is respected by the govt) OR
Come the next GE, I will vote my PAP GRC MPs out, hopefully along with enough others to force the PAP to govern with less than a 2/3 majority.
Blogs like yours become more important. I have been away from Spore for 6 years now. I do visit every year. These last 6 years I have seen dramatic changes in the social and physical landscape. A lot of it leaves me feeling cold and confused. I read your blog to remind me of the Spore I grew up in. While I acknowledge that change is important, I bemoan the fact that people will eventually forget what Spore was about. That is why your blog is important. Good job!
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