SINGAPORE:
Acting Minister for Community
Development, Youth and Sports Chan Chun Sing said there are two levels of
argument that Singaporeans need to tackle on the immigration issue.
He said
that one focus would be on challenges faced and the other would be on the emotional
responses to the issue.
Mr Chan
and REACH Chairman Amy Khor joined more than 100 students in a dialogue session
on Saturday.
Youths
in their teens and early twenties took part in the NUS Policy Studies Seminar
and Debate Series on immigration.
Mr Chan
said: "One is the tangible solutions that we can put forth to manage some
of these challenges that we are facing; whether it's getting a vibrant economy,
providing affordable housing, quality transport, education and so forth.
"The
other sets of issues have to do with the emotional responses that our people
have to grapple with in an environment whereby there are a large number of
foreigners living close to us. The solution that's acceptable to Singaporeans
will have to encompass both parts of it."
Mr Chan
added that it's important for policy makers to have frequent dialogues with
young people to help them understand the tradeoffs in policy-making.
But
he's quietly confident that the youths of today can rise to the occasion.
"Now
that we've understood the challenges as a community, the second step is really
to go forth and look for the diversity of solutions we think we can have,
debate among ourselves what those pros and cons are, and then finally try to
find consensus among the diversity of ideas."
Mr Chan
was heartened to note that young people were already discussing challenges they
might face in the future.
He said
it's important to look ahead in policy-making, as the solutions for today can
also "set a good foundation for problems that might emerge tomorrow."
-
CNA/fa
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