Singapore Democrats

Despite a slew of cash incentives and tax rebates, more paid leave for parents and protection for pregnant mothers, Singapore’s fertile couples are still stubbornly refusing to add to the population. That caused Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong to devote a large segment of his annual National Day Rally speech on August 17 to announce another batch of programs to boost fertility.

“I think that we have to take a practical approach to this,” the prime minister said. “We’ll do more to help singles get married to the extent that we can. We have the SDU, we have the SDS – Social Development Unit, Social Development Service…I think we shouldn’t be so rigid. We should merge the two. Have one, more critical mass, more activities and hopefully more pairing ups, more weddings and more children.”

Now the government is offering to extend maternity leave from 12 weeks to 16, with an additional six days of paid parenting leave. A first-time “baby bonus” for new parents will be sweetened by an as-yet undetermined amount.

But Singapore’s young couples seem to view the government’s procreative prod with a jaundiced eye. The SDU was set up in 1984 to play Big Brother or Big Nanny by softly nudging Singaporeans towards romance, sex and babies. It famously began operating “Love Boat” cruises on weekends to put bashful males and females together in the 1980s.

This Valentine's Day, lovers who forked out US$140 got to dine at the Singapore Flyer, the world's tallest observation wheel, in an event billed as "Love in a Capsule." The Romancing Singapore campaign was launched in 2002 and has been managed by the private sector since 2005. In 2006 it launched the S$1 million (US$705,000) Partner Connection Fund to support dating agencies.

The island republic’s wags, unimpressed, said SDU stood for “Single, Desperate and Ugly.” The SDU also operates a website, Lovebyte (“A world of possibilities. Just a click away.”), that offers a mobile phone text message matchmaking service, as well as brochures advising that skin products are good investments and that bad breath turns people off. It offers speed dating.

It remains to be seen whether more will bite. And, the prime minister said in his address, maybe it’s because people don’t know how to meet prospective partners.

Sometimes, he said, “most dating agencies have more women than men, 60-40. That’s an encouragement for the men to sign up. But unfortunately, sometimes their social graces are not up to scratch. So the dating agency told me another story. They arranged for a guy to meet a date and the setting was a romantic dinner in a nice restaurant. The guy turned up in slippers. So he counseled the guy. The guy says, ‘that is me, I work in slippers, I walk in slippers, I come in slippers.’ So they talked to him, finally persuaded him to buy a pair of shoes, keep the shoes in his car. So before getting down at the date, he puts on his shoes, he meets, he goes for the date. And it worked.”

But not well enough. The CIA World Factbook ranks Singapore 209th of 222 countries for fertility, below Taiwan but above Hong Kong and Japan. Population growth is further marred by an increasing death rate.

Fretted the Straits Times, the daily newspaper that faithfully delivers up the government message: "The total fertility rate, that is the number of babies per married woman, has plunged below the replacement rate of 2.1 since 1975. The rate last year was 1.29, putting Singapore in the company of countries like Japan and Korea which also have dangerously low rates."

In the 1960s, having six children was common. But in the 1970s, the government grew concerned that the rapidly expanding population might strain social services like healthcare and cause widespread unemployment. So it launched its highly successful "Stop At Two" policy. Unfortunately, Singaporeans appeared to have stopped altogether. Even so, it remains the world’s second-most densely populated country after Monaco.

Some charge that there is a darker side to the SDU, that its policies are responses to the fear that a growing Malay population will overtake a shrinking Chinese one. An article in The Christian Science Monitor suggested that "to critics, the focus on 'educated' men and women today is merely a politically correct way of targeting the ethnic Chinese. In fact, in the early days of the SDU, the divergence in birth rates across racial and socioeconomic classes was a stated reason for taking action."

Ethnic Chinese constitute about 77 percent of the 4.6million population while Malays comprise 14 percent. Malays have the highest fertility rate at 2.1 percent – right at the replacement rate – but the Chinese have the lowest, at 1.07 percent. The island republic has about 1 million foreigners. Although most are domestic helpers and construction workers from India, the Philippines and Thailand, there are another 110,000-odd highly-educated expatriate professionals from across the world, particularly India and China as well as Europe and the US, Canada and Australia – many of them so-called “astronauts” – Singaporeans who migrated, got citizenship and came back. Partly because of immigration, the proportion of Indian citizens and permanent residents rose from 6.4% in 1980 to 9.0% in 2007.

In his address, however, the prime minister pointed out that the government birth-promotion agencies “are working on this, they’re doing a very good job. Now they’re catering to different markets, graduates, non-graduates. SDU graduates, SDS non-graduates.”

http://www.asiasentinel.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1403&Itemid=3

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Not in a hurry  -  Desperate PAP    Sat, 30 Aug 2008 4:58 pm PAP is worried that the number of next generation Singaporeans are falling and that there will be less people for them to exploit. In such desperation, maybe one day they will start fining us for not giving birth and making it indirectly compulsory. They can do this in the form of so-called tax relief. Family with no kids will have to pay a much higher tax than those with kids. Quote 13   4

Tan Tai Wei  -     Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:05 pm Shouldn't the government feel uncomfortable with its wanting to influence future demographic trends? Whatever the problems it anticipates, whether it be more more Malays compared to the Chinese being born, thereby upsetting "the formula that works" (whatever this means!)", or the future shortage of labour to man our growing industries, etc., surely the mandate to rule is only for governing over only the actual people in existence, and not to determine who and how many should and should not exist in the future, and how best to serve their interests. Government is called for only where people actually exist. Its role is therefore derivative, to look after existing people who, in a democracy, gives government its mandate to so rule. Future people do not as yet exist, need no governing, and haven't given anyone the mandate to rule over them. When they, in the natural, un-artificially orchestrated course of events, come into being, even with whatever their social problems, they at least have their existence, with their coming into being not tempered with, or deprived of. They will then have a life to live, and to solve their own problems with their own government. For us to engineer demographic trends is counter-productive to true "nation-building". Surely, for our identity as a nation to be maintained, the future people of Singapore must be those who would come into being in the natural course of things. An artificially crafted population would not be our true posterity. They would only be peoples being realised at the expense of all those sons and daughters of ours who would have a chance of life but for a few men in the PAP and their plans as to how a pragmatically beneficial Singapore should be, long after they themselves have ceased to be. Quote 10   5

Agnes Chia  -     Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:46 pm After so many national day rally speeches, as early as starting from 2004 I remember, todate, the government is still concluding that more baby bonuses and more maternity leave, or such similars are the formula to get a nation to reproduce. This is a totally pathetic assumption. Or I would rather think that the government do know what is the real and actual reasons to why Singaporeans do not want to procreate, but how are they to announce these real reasons are for which it will then become they whacking themselves out of that absolute power and control they are so obsessed and addicted over. Singaporeans are too fearful to bring more innocent babies and youngs to live in this autocractic regime where people are not allowed freedom of expression, freedom to chew bubble gums even, freedom to sleep on a bench in a park (you get fined by the national parks park if found sleeping on the benches)....etc, not the mention about the flop of the education system which we need to place these young ones in. How many can afford international schools? Scare to be living under a leader who said he rather people fear him then respect him....blar blar blar and many many more other reasons which are not simply monetary. The government won't possibly announce and say...ya, we know one of the main reasons behind the low birth rate is Singaporeans do not like the way Singapore is being ruled, they do not like the lack of freedom and the lack of tolerance from the government, they are disillusion and decide not to want to bring more innocent lives into this island to suffer. When the PM annouced on wanting to deal with the low birth rate and wanting to help boost birth rate, to me, he is not even sincere in wanting to deal with the issue. He was merely dealing with the issue of keeping himself and his party in full power and control. With the additional monetary benefits and benefits alike which he is going to mete out, such seem to depict that he is sincerely dealing with the matter...however, let's look into the underlying issues of the problems. The above paragraphs are but just some of those underlyings and the government certainly knows what these are but they just refuse to admit the mistakes which they are making and refuse to be humble and refuse to stand corrected and to change the real root to the problem of low birth rate. Quote 12   6

tan  -     Sun, 31 Aug 2008 1:39 am I have a daughter born in europe. She's no singapore citizen. when asked if I would bring her to S'pore to live, I said 'no way'. The education there is free, she's allowed to express herself.Even the Kindergarten she was attending organised a protest and I was there with her. The police was also there but their duties was to protect us and they were very helpful, unlike those in S'pore. So, how? you think people want kids in s'pore? PAP, wake up your idea first, you lost touch with reality. Quote 12   7

Oh La La  -  The Extinction of Real Singaporeans    Sun, 31 Aug 2008 8:07 am Very soon, our poor little dictated island would be populated by the chinese from china, India, Pakistan etc. Its not a bad idea as by then our ministers, prime minister and even president would be from those countries instead of the Lee family. I personally think it is a positive sign !!! ( just kidding ) Take a look at the number of chinese china women married to our local Singaporean men. In the near future, our new generation of children will speak perfect mandarin with perfect china accent !!! Wow, thats something which we should be proud of !!! wohahahaa..... Maybe if the Lee family can't manage their business, China could step in with their communist rule. Why not? There are so many china chinese in Singapore ! Long live Chairman Mao ! The whole idea of Lee try to promote having more children is rather simple. To have a bigger army, more CPF, more taxes - all for his own power. We as the real Singaporeans should stand up and said enough is enough ! We don't need a daddy to tell us if we should have children !!! We are grown up !!! If Lee likes children so much, he should ask Mrs Lee to fulfill his deep desire and not us !!! Who is he to even tell us what to do ? Oh for sure Mrs Lee could still get pregnant, coz she is on hormone medications !!! How do I know? I used to work for the doctor in the private specialist clinic she visit ! I often asked myself, why would an elderly woman like her still required huge dosage of hormone ?. Her husband is no difference ! He required blood transfusion regularly from youngsters like us ! Yet the blood bank claim that we are shortage of blood ! This is nonsense ! If Lee were to stop his blood transfusion, more lives could be saved! ! Singaporeans, we should stop donating our blood. For those who are, please take into consideration that your blood might be use for Lee and not for those patients who really deserve. I used to be a regular blood donor but now no more after knowing that the blood bank misuses our blood for the rich. Quote 9   3

lennylenny  -     Mon, 01 Sep 2008 1:51 am In combating the low level of fertility, I believe that we shall never use MONETARY incentives. Marriage and having children lie within the discretion of the individual and not whether it benefits them 'economically'. Having a child and getting married are not mere things that can be subsidized by giving grants; they involve more than that. Its bout matters of the heart! Quote 4   0

Uncle Ver SG  -  Racial agenda    Mon, 01 Sep 2008 3:45 am Quote: the focus on 'educated' men and women today is merely a politically correct way of targeting the ethnic Chinese. I would disagree with such an assessment - there are now many more educated Malays but I dont think they require the SDU for matchmaking. Its common knowledge on the street that its the PAP's policies on immigration that maintains the racial status quo in Singapore. Why the state wants intervention into people's private lives is beyond me. However, if they honestly want the birth rate of "native" Singaporeans to increase, best way to do so would be for the PAP is to abolish NS and reservist training altogether especially for men with young families. If the man is the sole breadwinner of the family and reservist training interrupts his work, how is he going to feed his family, much less think about having more children. His employer can replace him with a cheaper, no NS obligation "foreign talent". Or if he is self-employed as a small business owner with no one else that can take over temporarily, the state cannot compensate enough for the opportunity costs involved. Quote 3   0

stranger  -     Mon, 01 Sep 2008 10:01 am to completely abolish NS is not really good cos sometimes u nid juz that little defence at least lower the time served from 2yrs to maybe say half yr?oso NSman better have higher salary cos we are risking our lives during training,and wasting 2 yrs of our prime life. oso it would be better to have that policy whereby u can only hire FT when there is no suitable local found Quote 1   0

angry_one  -     Mon, 01 Sep 2008 5:15 pm Let's look at the fundamentals here. If you crowd a large number of animals in a small cage, and make life difficult for them, very few of them will breed. If you release them in a large tract of land with great living conditions and abundant resources, they'll breed like rabbits. This theory applies to ALL animals. Quote 2   0

Druid  -  Population Growth    Mon, 01 Sep 2008 10:11 pm Target - 6.5m Present - 4.5m Difference - 2m Fertility rate - below replacement level Solution - foreign injection Result - Cultural erosion? Dilution of National Identity? Quote 2   0

Uncle Ver SG  -     Mon, 01 Sep 2008 10:18 pm Quote: to completely abolish NS is not really good cos sometimes u nid juz that little defence at least lower the time served from 2yrs. I disagree. Ask anyone who is working in the private sector whether does NSman training or worse still Remedial Training reduces a person's competitiveness in the workplace. The SDP should focus on the needs of families and not a purely psychological assurance for the state. Its not as if the army is abolished when NS is abolished. I am sure many people would join the army rather than face unemployment. Similarly from a voting perspective, the people who are pro-NS are mostly regulars anyway. Why would you otherwise alienate male voters by continuing conscription and reservist training? Quote 0   0

gail  -  re:    Tue, 02 Sep 2008 7:34 am tan wrote: Singaporeans, we should stop donating our blood. For those who are, please take into consideration that your blood might be use for Lee and not for those patients who really deserve. I used to be a regular blood donor but now no more after knowing that the blood bank misuses our blood for the rich. Hi, I'd just like to ask, where did you get this information about the misuse of blood from? I do donate blood once in a while and I'd really like to know, thanks! Quote 2   0

Disappointed Citizen  -  Bread And Butter Issues    Mon, 08 Sep 2008 5:12 am Dear Readers, I have contacted my friends back in Singapore while I am out-stationed. Many fellow Singaporeans are concerned about high inflation and the daily bread and butter issues that concerned their lives. I am equally worried about the economic situation back home and more elderly people are losing their jobs or have their wages "squeezed". On the other hand, the civil servants get their wages increases and 3-months confirmed bonus in lieu of tx payers monies; irregardless their porformers at work; playing a pushing games via emails at work etc; kia-su and kia-si..many of my personal acquaintance with them back in my early days. My concern for my fellow Singaporeans are really "bread and butter issues" that their jobs are securied and upgraded with good real courses. Not many Singaporeans are forthunate and come from a wealthy family. They got to work for their meals and fight for roof over their heads. While the other hand, the Govt are highly paid and paid to tax its citizens; impose power on the less fortunate ones and more time to learn how to fix them rather solving economic problems for fellow Singaporeans who fed them; many more things that I really have no heart to pen it further. The Govt should give the help to the normal citizens of to encourage business start-ups instead of raising the property costs; and business costs. Go global....Go! The better educated ones should be a leader to help the less fortunates instead of self-centered. I have met many in my personal expereince with them. They just care for themselves only..if being asked for donations to the charities or fight for the countries; they will be the ones to run away. Today economic situation round the globe is a different one. Dont just stay back and waiting for the lotteries. Move around and learn to do businesses with other counterparts...it could start as a very simple business but will benefit with mutual exchanges. As a kind hearted Singaporean, I urged our Govt to have a kinder heart to help Singaporeans move ahead in this global economy. Many developing countries also want to learn from our nation-buildings stories, and please the Tamasek-led companies overseas, do support your countrymen when we meet. This has not happened, unlike other nations like Koreans or Taiwanese; they supports their countrymen in terms of business opportunities when go overseas. My only wish, that for Singapore to go ahead; to have a different opinion in the parliments to have alternate voices and look into the needs of fellow Singaporeans especially the less fortunate ones; instead of forcussing on how many ERPs to turn on, how to make monies from its citizens etc. Go overseas and bring in investments and jobs for the people. Sometimes I really lost confidence in our country system and how it can provide better days for its people. Go Singapore! Go Democracy! Go SDP! Disappointed Citizen Quote 0   0

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