In Malaysia, muslims are allowed to have four wives, though it
is not legally acceptable, many are keeping them subtledly quiet
about it and the population growth in the past decade was
impressive!
May be the Singapore government should try out such move to allow
Singaporean males(weekend husbands) who could afford it to marry
more than one wife and no government subsidies are necessary for
those babies born to such families. Such polygamous concept may
sound absurd but it can be part of a win win solution to the
procreation problem facing Singapore.
Many Chinese Singaporeans are worried that the latest measures will
'backfire' in the years to come as each racial family's interest
differs. It is openly known that Chineses are more interested and
working hard in making more money, whereas the Malays are more
family oriented and they love babies and usually they work very
hard in making more babies and they are very sucessful in that. The
Indian community are more balanced in their venture, they excel in
many respectable fields and their population growths are quite
moderate.
The ever changing policies of the ministry of eduation seems to be
one of the main deterence to the baby growth in Singapore as the
pressure it generated make many family think twice of having more
babies. The ministry should reconsider the necessity of those
school rankings, EM1, EM2, EM3, and streaming exercise which
brought tremendous stress to most Singapore families. Jack Neo's
movies might have highlighted some of them.
It may be too early to tell how successful those government
measures will bear fruits in the near future, unless or until more
life is added to the hectic working schedule of most Singaporean
family!