Hong Lim Park Protest Against the Population White Paper in Singapore

The event started at 4pm.

I looked out of my window at 3.55pm and it was drizzling lightly. Should I head down to Hong Lim Park to take a look?

I was skeptical about the turnout as Singaporeans are very busy people who need to go shopping, watch movie or indulge in other leisure activities over the weekend.

Then, I turned to Facebook and Twitter and saw many pictures of crowd gathering at Hong Lim Park. An estimate would put the turnout at easily over a thousand.

Wow.

This has got to be the largest non-partisan protest ever in Singapore since 1965! It is history in the making.

I cannot miss this.

I quickly made my way down to Hong Lim Park, leaving my wife and son at home, not wanting them to get caught in the rain.

I reached at around 5pm.

Once I stepped out of Clarke Quay MRT station, I found myself surrounded by Singaporeans everywhere in Hong Lim Park. This was a stark contrast to the sea of foreigners I encountered in the MRT train on my way there (an all too common sight these days).

There were Singaporeans of all ages – grandparents with their grandchildren, parents with kids, young adults, teenagers and couples. There were Singaporeans of all races – Malays, Indians, Chinese, Eurasians and Sikhs.

These people have all braved the rain and sacrificed a precious Saturday to attend this protest.

I wonder if our ruling government can finally hear us now.

I love Singapore and I believe so do all the Singaporeans who show up today at Hong Lim Park.

We are not xenophobic and we should not and do not hate the foreigners who are here living and working alongside us, contributing to the progress of our nation.

We just want our government to listen to us and let us have a say in the future we want for ourselves and for our future generations.

Veteran politician, Chiam See Tong and a PAP MP, Inderjit Singh have spoken against the population white paper. So have many economists, bloggers, professors, both prominent and ordinary Singaporeans.

You said you heard us, but have you ever listen?

I am not so much concerned about what the speakers have to say when I went down to Hong Lim Park. What needs to be said had been repeated many times through various discourses.

I just wanted to see how many Singaporeans will be pissed off enough with the 6.9 million population white paper to show up at Hong Lim Park.

There are many and they come from all walks of life.

I will let my pictures do the talking:

Finally, watch this video taken at the end of the protest:

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I have not felt so much pride in a long while hearing my fellow Singaporeans sing our national anthem together. Have you?