MM Lee on Singapore's social future
TODAY newspaper, March 21, 2009
TOP NEWS
========
WILL WE BE LAST OF THE MOHICANS?
--------------------------------
Without more babies, S’pore must take on new citizens, PRs and challenges
that they bring
EVEN after the millions spent on Baby Bonuses and other parenthood
incentives, policy-makers are confounded by a problem that goes to the
very heart of survival: Singaporeans are still not reproducing themselves.
And on Friday, Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew reflected on this challenge
:at the National University of Singapore Society’s (NUSS) dialogue on
"Singapore and Singaporeans: A Quarter Century From Now".
In Singapore, he said, it is becoming a "lifestyle choice" for women past
the age of 30 to stay single as they are well-travelled and have no one to
worry about.
"My daughter is one of them. What can I do? When she was in her early 30s,
my wife used to tell her, what you want is a ‘MRS’. She did not think it
was funny.
"Now she is 50-plus, her mother is bedridden, I’m on a pacemaker, I got
this rambling house. Everything is looked after now. What happens if we
are both not there?...
"She says, "I’ll look after myself’. But we know she has not been looking
after herself all these years. When she went to Boston for training, her
cooking was to just to put her salmon into the microwave."
Mr Lee added: "But that’s life. It’s a choice that she has made, and a
choice that 30 per cent of our women are making. Who am I to complain?
Society lives with the consequences it is making."
The problem that this trend creates: "Without new citizens and permanent
residents, we are going to be the last of the Mohicans. We are going to
disappear".
But immigrants bring their own challenges to a society.
Some Singaporean parents have complained about migrants entering schools
and competing with local children. He urged parents: "Would you want them
to compete against you or with you as part of the team? If you don’t have
them with you as part of your team, they will be on the Chinese and Indian
team."
Some of these migrant students, he acknowledged, use Singapore as a
stepping stone to other countries. So "why are we so stupid" in allowing
this?
"Because more than half (of these students) do not make the grade to go to
America, and the second tier is not bad for us."
Singapore needs to draw from a big talent pool beyond its own shores, "so
that we can continue to punch above our weight. No other way".
"Would you want the pie to grow? You want a small pie with your children
taking the last portion, or a big pie where you get a bigger portion, even
though the talented person may get a bigger slice? That’s life. If you are
afraid of talent, you will not succeed."
One catch he foresees: Even as the second generation of today’s immigrants
become more Singaporean, one dubious habit they might also adopt, is to
have only one child.
"So we got to make this breakthrough, otherwise we are going to have a
constant problem.
"We got to get people to realise that if we don’t have 2.1 (babies) to
replace ourselves, we are always dependent."
Earlier in the evening,Mr Lee officially opened the new NUS Alumni
Complex, which comprises the redeveloped NUSS Kent Ridge Guild House and
Shaw Foundation Alumni House.
TOP NEWS
========
WILL WE BE LAST OF THE MOHICANS?
--------------------------------
Without more babies, S’pore must take on new citizens, PRs and challenges
that they bring
EVEN after the millions spent on Baby Bonuses and other parenthood
incentives, policy-makers are confounded by a problem that goes to the
very heart of survival: Singaporeans are still not reproducing themselves.
And on Friday, Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew reflected on this challenge
:at the National University of Singapore Society’s (NUSS) dialogue on
"Singapore and Singaporeans: A Quarter Century From Now".
In Singapore, he said, it is becoming a "lifestyle choice" for women past
the age of 30 to stay single as they are well-travelled and have no one to
worry about.
"My daughter is one of them. What can I do? When she was in her early 30s,
my wife used to tell her, what you want is a ‘MRS’. She did not think it
was funny.
"Now she is 50-plus, her mother is bedridden, I’m on a pacemaker, I got
this rambling house. Everything is looked after now. What happens if we
are both not there?...
"She says, "I’ll look after myself’. But we know she has not been looking
after herself all these years. When she went to Boston for training, her
cooking was to just to put her salmon into the microwave."
Mr Lee added: "But that’s life. It’s a choice that she has made, and a
choice that 30 per cent of our women are making. Who am I to complain?
Society lives with the consequences it is making."
The problem that this trend creates: "Without new citizens and permanent
residents, we are going to be the last of the Mohicans. We are going to
disappear".
But immigrants bring their own challenges to a society.
Some Singaporean parents have complained about migrants entering schools
and competing with local children. He urged parents: "Would you want them
to compete against you or with you as part of the team? If you don’t have
them with you as part of your team, they will be on the Chinese and Indian
team."
Some of these migrant students, he acknowledged, use Singapore as a
stepping stone to other countries. So "why are we so stupid" in allowing
this?
"Because more than half (of these students) do not make the grade to go to
America, and the second tier is not bad for us."
Singapore needs to draw from a big talent pool beyond its own shores, "so
that we can continue to punch above our weight. No other way".
"Would you want the pie to grow? You want a small pie with your children
taking the last portion, or a big pie where you get a bigger portion, even
though the talented person may get a bigger slice? That’s life. If you are
afraid of talent, you will not succeed."
One catch he foresees: Even as the second generation of today’s immigrants
become more Singaporean, one dubious habit they might also adopt, is to
have only one child.
"So we got to make this breakthrough, otherwise we are going to have a
constant problem.
"We got to get people to realise that if we don’t have 2.1 (babies) to
replace ourselves, we are always dependent."
Earlier in the evening,Mr Lee officially opened the new NUS Alumni
Complex, which comprises the redeveloped NUSS Kent Ridge Guild House and
Shaw Foundation Alumni House.
Comments
Well, low birth rates is a direct relation with affluent societies with high stress and long working hours....so unless we want to go the other way, I don't think much will change. I guess it will come to a point of time where the government will simply 'reward' child bearing woman with a huge load of $$$ and those _ _ months of maternal leave + benefits + more $$ + etc etc... only then will Singaporean 'understand' the importance of child birth. hahaha
Hey wait, maybe we should have the same Reward scheme for the 30 plus Woman as well :)
What a great way to solve our social problems...
Cheers mate!
Singaporean
In Sydney
Use to play Judo with Alex....
thought you where the Russian guy that myself and Guo Cheng did Judo with. haha