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We are not against immigration, says NUS Assoc Prof

SINGAPORE — The Workers’ Party (WP) is not an anti-immigration party, even though its focus is Singaporeans first and the Singaporean core, said WP candidate Daniel Goh.

Mr Daniel Goh. Photo: Wee Teck Hian

Mr Daniel Goh. Photo: Wee Teck Hian

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SINGAPORE — The Workers’ Party (WP) is not an anti-immigration party, even though its focus is Singaporeans first and the Singaporean core, said WP candidate Daniel Goh.

The 42-year-old National University of Singapore sociologist was responding to a question during the party’s press conference yesterday about what tweaks can be made to Singapore’s immigration issues, and related concerns raised by residents.

“We don’t want a situation where immigration is treated as a way to cure whatever ailments of society, ailments of some economic policy in the past,”said Associate Professor Goh.

What the party wants is for the Government to focus on boosting the Singaporean core through birth rates or in employment, and its call to not use a population of 6.9 million people as a planning perimeter is meant to “guide policy”.

Once such a planning perimeter is set, it slowly becomes reality, he said. “We have to be very conscious to focus instead on the principle, and the principle is to always focus on Singaporeans first and foremost,” said Assoc Prof Goh.

A father of a three-year-old son, Assoc Prof Goh started volunteering for the WP after the General Election in 2011 and became a party member in January 2013. He is in the party’s central executive committee and president of the WP Youth Wing.

His son, he said, was his inspiration for joining the party and his motivation for staying committed to the cause of a balanced Parliament.

His aim, he said, is to empower the future generations of Singapore, and he hoped his son’s generation would be equipped with the tools and resources to realise their dreams.

Asked what kind of issues or policies he would like to raise in Parliament if elected, Assoc Prof Goh described himself as a wide-ranging specialist who can deal with any subject “quite confidently”, except for issues he does not have much knowledge of, such as defence. Of particular interest to him are education and urban redevelopment issues, he added.

Daniel Goh Pei Siong, 42

Associate Professor, at the Department of Sociology at National University of Singapore

FACT FILE:

• Married with a three-year-old son

• President of WP Youth Wing

• Holds a Master of Social Science (Sociology) from NUS and a Doctor of Philosophy (Sociology) from University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

• Been a supporter of the WP since 1988

HE SAID: “We need democracy of the rational, respectable and responsible kind to bring Singapore to the next stage of development. So that our sons and daughters will be empowered for their future. Our Workers’ Party Youth Wing’s tagline is to explore, experience and embrace democratic politics. If elected, this is what I will seek to do with all my abilities at the grassroots, in managing the town and in Parliament.”

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