新加坡大选的五大焦点 Five flashpoints in Singapore's general election

Singaporeans head to the polls on Friday in what some observers have suggested is the city-state’s most important election since independence.

新加坡将于周五举行大选，一些观察人士表示，这是新加坡自独立以来最重要的一次选举。

Opposition parties are fielding candidates in all of the country’s 29 electoral divisions — the first time the People’s Action party has faced such a challenge in its half-century of unbroken rule over the tiny Southeast Asian nation.

反对党在全国29个选区均派出候选人参选，这是人民行动党(People’s Action party)在连续统治这个东南亚小国半个世纪以来首次遭遇此类挑战。

Here are five issues looming in voters’ minds.

以下是选民们较为关心的5个问题：

Immigration

移民

This is “the mother of all issues in this election”, according to Eugene Tan, political analyst and associate professor at Singapore Management University. “Immigration is the one topic that many, many Singaporeans are worried about.”

这是“此次大选所有问题中最重要的一个”，新加坡管理大学(Singapore Management University)政治分析师、副教授陈庆文(Eugene Tan)表示，“移民是很多新加坡人关心的一个话题。”

The loosening of immigration controls has helped drive the economy and propelled the population from 4.4m in 2006 to 5.5m in 2014. But that has put pressure on infrastructure and created domestic friction over jobs, even though the unemployment rate is still only 2 per cent.

放松移民控制帮助推动了新加坡经济，并使该国人口从2006年的440万人增至2014年的550万人。但这给基础设施造成了压力，并在国内引发围绕就业的分歧，不过该国失业率目前仍仅为2%。

Overcrowding, buoyed by 1.6m foreigners, has chafed with locals, a fact that Lee Hsien Loong, prime minister, has acknowledged. “We cannot close our doors completely. [But] if we let in too many foreign workers, our society will come undone,” he said.

160万外国人造成的过度拥挤激怒了新加坡本地人，该国总理李显龙(Lee Hsien Loong)也承认这点。他表示：“我们不能彻底把大门关闭。（但）如果我们让太多外国务工人员入境，我们的社会就乱了。”

Analysts at Bank of America Merrill Lynch note that Singapore’s “non-resident population growth has slowed to 2.9 per cent in 2014, down from an average of more than 10 per cent during 2005-2010”.

美银美林(Bank of America Merrill Lynch)分析师指出，新加坡“非居民人口增速在2014年放缓至2.9%，低于2005年至2010年期间逾10%的平均水平”。

Check on ruling party’s power

制约执政党权力

The 2011 election was noted by observers as a “watershed election” when the dominance of the PAP was tested for the first time in Singapore’s half-century of statehood.

观察人士将2011年大选视为一场“分水岭大选”，当时，人民行动党的统治地位在新加坡独立半个世纪以来首次受到考验。

Although the PAP won 81 of 87 seats, its vote share fell to 60.1 per cent — the lowest in history and well below the 67 per cent of 2006 — giving opposition parties their first significant toehold in parliament.

尽管人民行动党赢得了87个议席中的81席，但得票率降至60.1%，为历史最低水平，远远低于2006年的67%，这令反对党首次在议会获得重要立足点。

“Do I believe that it is healthy for a handful of people from the same political party deciding what is best for Singapore? The answer... no,” said He Ting Ru, a 32-year-old Cambridge university-educated solicitor standing on the Workers’ party ticket.

剑桥大学(Cambridge university)毕业的32岁律师、工人党(Workers’ party)候选人之一何廷儒表示：“我是否认为由同一政党的少数人来决定什么对新加坡最有利这种情况是合理的？我的答案是……否定的。”

While the PAP is almost certain to retain power on Friday, aided by a favourable block-voting electoral system, many observers believe a viable opposition in parliament will check the PAP’s near-autonomy — something against which Mr Lee has cautioned.

尽管人民行动党几乎肯定会在周五大选中保住权力（这得益于对该党有利的集选区制度），但很多观察人士认为，进入议会的反对派将制约人民行动党的准自主权——对此李显龙曾经警告过。

“For every one more ‘checker’ in parliament there will be one less doer, thinker and leader in the government to serve the nation and the people,” he said.

他表示：“议会中每增加一个‘制衡者’，政府就会少一位行动者、思想者和领导者来为国家和人民服务。”

Economy

经济

Singapore has long been an oasis of political stability and economic predictability, but its stagnating economy, and concerns over China’s stock market slump and neighbouring Malaysia’s political troubles have emerged as fresh worries.

长期以来，新加坡一直是政治稳定和经济明朗的乐土，但陷入停滞的国内经济以及围绕中国股市暴跌和邻国马来西亚政治困境的担忧成为该国新的隐忧。

Singapore’s industrial production contracted 6.1 per cent in July against a year earlier, compounding the 4 per cent fall seen in June. While it remains a vibrant financial centre, manufacturing still accounts for 17 per cent of gross domestic product.

今年7月，新加坡工业产值同比下滑6.1%，6月为下滑4%。新加坡仍是一个富有活力的金融中心，但制造业仍占其国内生产总值(GDP)的17%。

The government recently pared back its 2015 GDP growth forecast to 2-2.5 per cent from 2-4 per cent previously.

新加坡政府最近将其对今年GDP增速的预期从之前的2%至4%，下调至2%至2.5%。

In neighbouring Malaysia, worries over religious radicalisation and the scandal engulfing Prime Minister Najib Rajak have made an unwelcome addition to the mix. After being ejected from Malaysia in 1965, Singapore has outgrown its neighbour but it is still closely linked through its reliance on water supplies from the north.

在邻国马来西亚，对于宗教激进化的担忧以及总理纳吉布拉扎克(Najib Rajak)卷入的丑闻也是新加坡不愿看到的问题。自1965年脱离马来西亚后，新加坡的经济增速一直超过马来西亚，但新加坡对马来西亚水资源供应的依赖仍让两国紧密联系在一起。

“If Malaysia is troubled, unstable or divided, it will affect our economy, our society and our security too,” said Mr Lee.

李显龙表示：“如果马来西亚陷入困境、形势不稳或出现分裂，这也会影响我们的经济、我们的社会以及我们的安全。”

Pensions and housing

养老和住房

Known as the Central Provident Fund, Singapore’s system of financing pensioners is based on mandatory savings by households, which are in turn micromanaged by the state. CPF allows account holders to make withdrawals for housing, medical and education fees — something some opposition parties oppose.

新加坡的养老保障体系被称为中央公积金制度(Central Provident Fund)，它基于家庭强制储蓄，并受政府的微观管理。该制度允许账户持有者为住房、医疗和教育支出提取公积金，一些反对党反对这点。

A minimum S$161,000 (US$113,000) must remain in a CPF account when a person reaches the age of 55, placing a clamp on the assets of poorer Singaporeans.

在本人55岁时，其中央公积金账户中必须最少保留16.1万新元(合11.3万美元)，这对低收入人群的资产形成了限制。

More than 80 per cent of Singaporeans live in flats built by the country’s Housing and Development Board, with more than 90 per cent of those owner-occupied. However, many of the opposition parties complain that the fixed prices of HDB flats — known as Build-To-Order flats — are too high for poorer Singaporeans.

超过80%的新加坡人居住在由该国建屋发展局(Housing and Development Board)建造的组屋中，其中超过90%房屋为自住。然而，多数反对党抱怨称，对于较为贫穷的新加坡人而言，建屋发展局建造的组屋——被称为预购组屋(Build-To-Order)——偏贵。

Singaporeans who qualify — and who are prepared to endure multiyear waiting lists — can obtain government subsidies of as much as S$60,000 to buy BTO flats on the far outskirts of Singapore. Prices range from S$75,000 (US$53,000) for a 36 sq m two-room flat in Sembawang near the Malaysian border, to S$576,000 for a five-room flat in more central Clementi.

那些符合资格（并准备忍受多年排队等待）的新加坡人在远郊购置预购组屋可以获得最高6万新元的政府补贴。房价差异很大，靠近马来西亚边境的三巴旺36平米两居公寓7.5万新元(合5.3万美元)，更靠近市区的金文泰五居公寓57.6万新元。

Transport

交通

Singapore’s 5.5m people are crammed into 720 sq km, making it the most densely populated sovereign state after Monaco. The squeeze has placed strains on the country’s infrastructure, with the metro system, for example, suffering several high-profile breakdowns in recent years.

新加坡550万人口挤在720平方公里的土地上，这令该国成为继摩纳哥之后全球人口密度最大的主权国家。这给该国基础设施带来了压力，例如，最近几年，该国地铁发生了多次引人注目的瘫痪事件。

“When infrastructure doesn’t work like it should, Singaporeans get very annoyed about it. They don’t seem to accept it like in, say, the UK or Australia,” said David Black, managing director of Blackbox Research, a market research group.

市场研究机构Blackbox Research董事总经理大卫布莱克(David Black)表示：“当基础设施运行不畅时，新加坡人感到很恼火。他们似乎不会接受这种事情，不像英国或澳大利亚。”

A July poll from Blackbox found that “the recent spate of train disruptions, including a major breakdown during rush hour that affected close to 250,000 commuters” had weighed on voters’ confidence in the government’s ability to handle transportation issues.

Blackbox在7月的一项调查发现，“最近一系列轨道交通停运事件，包括一次影响近25万通勤者的高峰时间的大面积瘫痪”，影响了选民对政府处理交通问题能力的信心。

Overcrowding on trains has also raised Singaporeans’ ire, which some have blamed on the island’s growing population. The government has responded by building new lines and adding hundreds of new buses to the roads.

地铁乘客过度拥挤也让新加坡人感到愤怒，一些人将其归咎于不断增加的人口。新加坡政府做出回应，修了新线路，并在地面增加了数百量新的巴士。