www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/253054/1/.html
Half of
Singaporean youths think premarital sex is okay:
survey
By Pearl Forss, Channel NewsAsia | Posted: 17 January 2007 1845
hrs
SINGAPORE : Forty-six percent of youths think it is okay to have
sex before marriage, and 55 percent of youths feel that life will
not be complete if they do not get married and have children.
These are just some of the findings from a Singapore Polytechnic
survey of 800 youths, aged between 15 and 29 years old.
Despite having gone through national education at school, 37
percent of Singaporean youths say they are not patriotic.
In fact, more than half want to migrate overseas if given a
chance.
Indian youths are the most ready to migrate, at 67 percent,
compared to 60 percent of Malays and 49 percent of Chinese.
"After coming back from travelling, they find that other countries
have much more to offer than Singapore, which is very boring," says
one youth.
60 percent of youths are also not interested in local politics, but
half of them want to see more opposition members in
parliament.
The survey also looked at issues of social concern.
54 percent of youths surveyed think it is okay to use vulgarities
when talking to friends, and half find homosexuality
acceptable.
"To youths, it's common knowledge that homosexuals exist in
Singapore. In fact, if you ask any youth, he'll say that he knows
at least one homosexual friend," says another youth.
"There is gap between me, the way I think and the way youths in
Singapore think. But I'm not surprised because they are under so
much more different influences than what I went through. They've
got 100 movie channels and they've got the Internet," says V
Maheantharan, director of School of Business at Singapore
Polytechnic.
46 percent of youths are on the Internet for five hours or more a
day, and 56 percent say they are not bothered by copyright issues
related to downloading movies off the Internet.
40 percent of respondents also blog and 48 percent share original
content, for example, artwork, stories and videos.
12 percent say they don't go to the cinema as often because they
are downloading movies off the internet.
When it comes to money and career, half of the respondents say that
remuneration is the most important factor when choosing a job, and
47 percent aspire to be an entrepreneur.
Youths also say that the three things most important to them are
family, freedom and health. - CNA /ls
