Wednesday, 23 July 2008, 10:13 pm
Andrew Loh /
Deputy Editor of TOC
This article
is inspired by what Mr Wang wrote on his blog – a very
thought-provoking entry titled, “Human
rights and the Government baby incentives, Part 1”.
It
led me to wonder why exactly Singaporeans would want to have kids,
if they are treated as merely an economic necessity.
Mr
Wang argues that the Singapore Government’s motivation in wanting
to raise the birth rate is “purely economic; the aim is to generate
a steady stream of future workers for Singapore Inc” - if
Singapore
views human
rights as an ‘invention of the West”, having no relevance to us
in Asia. Mr Wang cites the UN
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination
Against Women (CEDAW) to illustrate an interesting perspective on
how human rights actually can inform national policies.
I
agree with what Mr Wang says.
In
his first
National Day Rally speech in 2004, Prime Minister Lee Hsien
Loong, said:
This is a matter of
values, not of incentives… We want people to have babies because
you want them and you love them. It’s part of a happy family
life.
Despite those words from the
prime minister, however, Singaporeans have become cynical about the
Government’s reasons. “It’s not because having kids will provide a
happy family life”, they might say. “It’s to bolster our economic
competitiveness and indeed, our economic survival. After all, no
babies means no workers for the future, right? No workers means our
economy will be affected.” That’s how the thought process goes.
That’s what the Government says all the time. It’s all about the
economy. The sweet-saccharine citation of “a happy family life” is
just packaging and PR.
This
is further reinforced by ministers’ public statements and
Government policies – such as allowing the influx of foreigners and
immigrants. Two years after the PM said it was a “matter of
values”, he admitted, in his
2006 National Day Rally speech:
We
are short 14,000 babies… We have to bring in new immigrants. If our
population shrinks, Singapore
will face a very serious
problem… To grow and flourish, we must welcome those who can help
us to reach our goals… That is the way to
build Singapore
for
Singaporeans.
And of course, we all know
that the only goal that matters here in our tiny island is the
economic one, above all else. Why? Because, according to Minister
Mentor Lee Kuan Yew, “as long as we have a
dynamic economy, we can solve our problems.” (Straits
Times). Do you understand now the Government’s obsession with
raising the birth rate? Think: Babies = future workers = economic
growth = dynamic economy = solving problems. That’s also the
Government’s and the People’s Action Party’s (PAP) political
legitimacy and relevance – if you’re not able to solve problems,
who would want to vote for you, right?
In a
nutshell, if we have money (economic growth) “we can solve our
problems”, and the PAP can stay in power.
Meaning lin
life
Therein lies the conundrum;
The Government sees Singaporeans as workers for the economy, while
increasingly Singaporeans want something more out of life than just
being feeders for the economy monster.
The
result is a declining birth rate because Singaporeans do not see
anything meaningful in slogging away all their lives on the
economic front. It’s a seemingly-endless struggle and competition
which makes them hesitate and then decide against having kids.
After all, if you are tired from the struggle, why would you want
to put your kids through it as well? Where is the meaning in
life?
That’s the key phrase:
meaning in life.
It
is so often nowadays that I hear my friends wonder what their lives
mean. It sounds almost like a crisis. “I work 15 hours a day and I
still am not sure if I will be able to retire. So, why have kids?
Just do what we can, eventually die, and that’s it,” one said to
me. “Why should I worry about the survival of the economy and
what-not when the Government sees us as just workers for the
monster? Life should be about more than just work, work, work!”
says another.
A
Government as obsessed with economic performance as ours cannot
understand such sentiments. But even if it does and tries to come
up with the solution, it will be an economic one. Thus, we see all
sorts of economic incentives being offered, including subsidies and
all. They have all failed.
See Singaporeans as
human beings. Period.
Perhaps what is needed to
solve the problem of a declining birth rate is to see Singaporeans
first and foremost and always as people, human beings – and treat
them as such. It is, as the prime minister said, about
values.
It
is about how much we as a nation value Singaporeans as human
beings. Period.
And
if we do, we will include considerations of the value of human
rights.
As
Mr Wang said:
In fact, babies are very
much like Temasek’s investment in Shin Corp or Merrill Lynch.
One day, they
might generate good returns, but that will have to be in the very,
very distant future. Meanwhile, they are just a huge, constant and
bleeding economic loss.
This is not an
obstacle if you view babies and parents as humans, and by virtue of
being human, automatically having human rights (like those under
CEDAW).
Maybe then Singaporeans will
see meaning in their lives and would want children with whom they
can speak of the amazing wonder of the experience of
Life.
At
the very least, the Government should pause and think about things
outside the economic and not dismiss things like human rights
casually or because of political or hegemonic reasons.
I think Singapore has
reached a point where it has a lot of economic success and now it
has some surplus, and it’s time to start thinking about the more
human element.
- Dr Angelique Chan,
Sociologist, National University
of
Singapore. (Channel
NewsAsia)
If
we are going to emulate
Swedish policies on raising the birth rate, shouldn’t we also
consider the Swedish approach to human rights as well? As Mr Wang
so eloquently argued, the two are not mutually
exclusive.
Indeed, it could be what
saves Singapore
from
oblivion.
