By Terence Yeo
The 6.9 million person population is indeed the defining question of our times.
There are indeed powerful arguments on both sides of the fence, pro and against the population increase.
We need a radical out-of-the box solution.
Let’s negotiate with the United Nations (UN) – and come to a global consensus – making Singapore the first Global Capital Of The United Nations.
This would not be so far-fetched if you think about it and is in keeping with the current momentum of making Singapore the hub for ‘everything’.
With a projected population of 6.9 million people by 2030, we would be ideal as the UN Global Capital, especially since we would boast a strong cosmopolitan core of global talent.
The UN lacks a Asian HQ. New York City is situated in the Americas, Geneva in Europe, so Singapore could host a UN Asian HQ !
Singapore as a State-City with a relatively large population would be ideal as a sample size and test-bed for UN programs before they are implemented on global scale. For instance, global standards on the environment , financial regulations, model laws, etc could be debuted in the controlled environment of Singapore before they are launched world-wide.
In exchange for Singapore becoming a UN Global Capital, the UN could then grant Singapore citizens privileges – chief of which would be the right to enter, reside and work freely for any duration of time in any of its member states without restriction. Thus if any time any Singapore citizen feels that the socio-economic environment is too competitive in Singapore, he or she can then migrate at will to anywhere on the planet, and individual UN member states would have to respect this and accord Singapore citizens within their territory with equal privileges and rights as their own citizens. In effect, Singapore citizens would have the first global citizenship !
Becoming a UN Asian HQ would also yield other advantages, Singapore would then become a neutral ‘global’ territory meaning that the prospect of a foreign military invasion would effectively be neutralized. It follows that defense spending can be drastically reduced, thereby allowing more financial resources to be allocated to healthcare and education.
So there you have it – a win-win solution. Singapore’s population can grow to 6.9 million and Singapore’s citizens would not feel constrained in their 710 sq metres as they would now have the world as their playground if ever they feel things are too hot to handle in Singapore.
