Tuesday, July 29, 2008

WHAT are the ACTUAL numbers??

Back in Feb 08, it was reported "Singapore is losing about 1,000 of its best and brightest every year and the numbers are growing, Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew has said.." and "Citing figures of Singaporeans who gave up their citizenship and took out their savings and CPF funds, he said this meant 'losing about, at the top end, 1,000 a year, which is about - if you take the top 30 per cent of the population - about four or five per cent".

Last week, it was reported that according to DPM Wong "In the last three years, an average of 1,000 Singaporeans gave up their citizenship each year".

So, is the MM and DPM citing the same figures?? If that's the case, does it mean ALL these 1000 are Singapore's "best and brightest"?? If its not, does it then mean they are citing two different figures, meaning about 2000 give up their citizenship??

For a government that collects so much information on its citizens, it strains credulity that they don't have the actual numbers.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

We cannot rely on this govt for true stats. whether it concerns the country's reserves, number of citizens leaving, number of foreigners coming in, number of jobs etc,etc. They have lost so much crediblity.
The only plausible way to know the actual numbers, [nearest 1,000] is to get info/statistics from Australia, NZ, USA, Canada, UK immigration depts. These are the likely countries that will be hosting the new immigrants. It will be a source for concern if the majority are relatively young people.

Anonymous said...

Does not surprise me. When late ex-President Ong asked for a list of assets held by GIC/Temasek they told him it will take 50 years to compile. Recently we were told that the information could not be revealed for security reasons. So, they can always cite security concerns to hold back information from Singaporeans, however ludicrous.

Sylvester Lim said...

The MHA can get the figures by compelling the Certificate of No Conviction issued that is a requirement of immigration to most countries. Duh... They should employ me instead of Wong Cunt Sing. It is obvious that the fgures must be so large that they are reluctant to reveal the true figures.