That is not the reason. Not sure who told you this.
The Replacement rate is certainly a concern and in particular that of the Chinese Singaporeans. This govt is comfortable with race ratio from the time of independence. Attempts to get Malaysian Chinese via the Asean and local scholarships failed to get them to convert. A second attempt was made to get HKongers and that too failed. Now its the PRC market. That only addresses the repalcement rate for chinese.
The real reason was the effect of foreigners on the economy. Common sense will tell you that when there are more people, the economy with everything holding, will grow. They got their first taste in the early 90s when HDB prices shot thru the roof with a Maisonette going for $740K. It was fueled by FTs when resale rules were relaxed.
This government has always measured success using on economic KPIs and pretentding the social KPIs are internal to individuals. The easiest way to get economic KPIs racing is to ramp up the volume of consumers. We now have 4.60m residents and this obviously will tell you that it has nothing to do with the replacement rate.
The elites have coralled themselves into good class bungalow locations with interconnecting nodes. Golf courses dot the island despite land scarcity. The Apha society of the civil service is fast resembling a race. Bear in mind, you do not need to be a citizen to join the elite admin serice.
This country will start resembling India and China where the dispartity between the rich and the rest will grow. HDB Estates are clearly showing signs of stress, washing dishes along 5 foot corridors, goods staked along walkways and staircases, getting filthy and the signs of slums are not far away.
