SINGAPORE: 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.
To understand the present, we need to trace our past.
During the late 1960s, after Singapore was kicked out of
Malaysia, LKY practically was in a state of shock, was bitter
towards his new found circumstances, and took on a different tone
in dealing with a new set of challenges.
Even Toh Chin Chye had mentioned that LKY was not himself, and
the Singapore Government was without a helmsmen - with Toh Chin
Chye, Goh Keng Swee and Rajaratnam pulling the
Singapore State Government together.
In his
biography, Lee Kuan Yew stated that he did not sleep well, and fell
sick days after Singapore's independence. As the British
prime-minister at the time, Harold Wilson expressed concern upon
learning of Lee's condition from the British High Commissioner,
John Robb.
Soon after the failure with merger, LKY was seen
to resolve many problems through extreme measures, using
an over sized sledgehammer to drive a nail home, using an elephant
gun to shoot a mouse.
He was ruthless in many of his dealings with political
opponents, and seem to have lost the lofty democratic values that
he had preached - firstly to the British Colonial Government
in the 1950s, then again towards the Malay UMNO politicians
during the two years when Singapore was part of Malaysia.
After 9 August 1965, Singaporeans were subjected to a slew of
PAP new programs implemented in exact methods employed by the
Communist States - whom LKY had admired in secret for
their ruthless efficiencies implementing Central Command.
Against the better advise given by economic planners,
LKY had his own priority in dealing with his own nightmare of
having to face the challenges of a population growing in
geometrical proportions while he is handicapped with a
small state having no hinterland and no resources.
It was more then fate that LKY ignored those advise as he
got bogged in his own nightmares of personal survival,
even as he worry about developing an economy to sustain
revenue for his own programs after being thrown out of
Malaysia.
The nighmare began when -
Prior to Singapore being kicked out of Malaysia, the Malaysian
Government had considered arresting LKY and even the entire
Singapore Cabinet.
Immediately after 9 August 1965, LKY's first and
foremost priority was to quickly build up a credible
defense force with the primary task of protecting his
government first before the British completed their announced pull
out from the Far East by 1970 - (this date was negotiated to a
later date
Defense was and has been a Number ONE issue for Singapore since
9 August 1965 - with its origins from LKY's own nightmarish
close shave dealings with Malaysia.
Since then, Singaporeans had to make sacrifices to
accomodate and accomplish LKY's own fears, fetish and
vanity.
Besides the "Stop-at-2" program, LKY was uncomfortable with a
population that was over-educated that could challenge his
uncertain political position in the late 1960s.
By the late 1960s, Singaporeans desiring to enter University of
Singapore had to apply for a "Suitability Certificate" that is
given after the Internal Security Department has made background
checks on the suitability of the applicant.
After a long running battle to curtail the importance of
Chinese education at Nantah or Nanyang University, which
became a shell by the mid-1970s, Nanyang University was closed down
in 1980 - under the guise of stamping out Communist
infiltration and the pervasive communalism amongst the Chinese
educational institutions.
To cement his grip on Singapore Politics, a plan was developed
to have 90 percent of Singaporeans housed in government built HDB
units, and subjected to HDB set of rules and regulations
of ownership - (in which one can lose ownership if one
infringe any of the numerous PAP
amended legislations).
Public transportation in the hands of private corporations that
were family owned or partnership owned, or public listed -
were all nationalised under the false charges of poor
standards and inefficiencies; when in actual fact these private
businesses were anti-PAP to begin with - as LKY had supported
the Unionists during the Colonial Government.
Ironically, even as LKY persecute everyone whom he falsely
charge as being a Communist or Communist influenced, the Singapore
economic infrastructure is a mirror of the Communist
ways in Central Planning but with a twist, in that his plans
are executed through major Private Enterprises that are
all State Owned Companies.
These State Owned Companies controlling almost 90 percent of the
essential services provided to Singaporeans have
also become the major employer of Singaporeans.
With their own interests at stake, Singaporeans were "persuaded"
to accept short term employment contracts that are renewable every
3 to 5 years - the reason given to Singaporeans was that the
Employer should be given the flexibility to trim the work force
according to economic circumstances.
Without any control over our own future, can Singaporeans dare
to pro-create simply to satisfy LKY's own needs to sustain
Singapore ?
Singaporeans should start to look at the Swedish model to
discover why the Swedes are able to see an explosion of new births
even as Sweden is reputed to have the highest taxes imposed on
the Citizens.
