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Singapore to introduce more policies to tackle challenges
of ageing
By Wong Siew Ying, Channel NewsAsia | Posted: 07 October 2006 2134
hrs
Singapore will be introducing more policies in the months ahead to
tackle the challenges arising from an ageing population.
Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong said if the situation was left
unchecked, the country's population structure would be
unstable.
He was speaking to residents at the completion ceremony of the Main
Upgrading Programme at Marine Terrace on Saturday.
The eight blocks in the precinct were upgraded at a cost of S$31
million.
It now has landscaped gardens, lifts on every floor and more
elderly-friendly features among others.
But upgrading flats alone is not enough.
SM Goh said more attention should also be paid to ensuring the
community remains young.
This could be done through encouraging couples to have more
children, attracting foreign talents to work and live in Singapore
and working beyond the current retirement age of 62.
There was also a need to provide facilities to cater to the
elderly.
SM Goh said: "Beyond the physical side, very importantly is what I
will call software infrastructure, the services side, how do we
cater to the old. I think first we got to change our mindset that
when you get old, it's better to stay at home, you don't want to be
seen, you don't want to be a problem for others. I think that is a
wrong attitude to separate the old from the middle age and the
young. We should function as one community." - CNA/ch