and what this professor is saying is bloody bullshit!
http://sg.news.yahoo.com/concerns-on-immigratio…
So did he oppose the ultimate supreme grand master of asia's
"stop at 2" policy during 1970s?
June
21, 1987
SINGAPORE — A lengthy campaign to persuade parents in Singapore to
"stop at two" children has worked too well, and government
officials are now offering a package of financial incentives in an
attempt to spark a baby boom.
But the major policy shift has left parents
baffled, mothers indignant, sociologists skeptical and private
employers nervous about potential costs.
"Are we being told to have more children for the sake of the
country or for ourselves?" asked J. D. Indran, the father of a
2-year-old boy.
"It's not just a question of finances," Indran said. "A baby must
be wanted mentally and spiritually. It would basically be a
disservice to the country to bring up an unwanted child."
'Laughter and Silence'
"These rules are made by men who have no concept of what's involved
in raising children," said Thio Su Mien, a mother who had three
children "when it was antisocial to have them."
"My reaction (to the policy change) is laughter and silence," she
said.
Government officials say that the call for more children was
sparked by alarm over an increase in the number of adults who do
not marry and a rise in the number of married couples who postpone
having children. Without a change in the birth rate, officials
contend, there
will not be enough young people paying taxes by 2030 to provide
services for the 800,000 residents 60 years old and
above.
"In order for any nation to survive, it has to change in accordance
with changes in circumstances," First Deputy Prime Minister Goh
Chok Tong said. "For us, it is even more necessary."
1960s Program
Goh cautioned couples who cannot afford larger families to refrain
from having more children. But he said that most can support three
children and those "who can really afford it" should have more.
The government, fearful of a runaway population overwhelming the
job market, housing and health care facilities, embarked on its
population control program in the 1960s. After the Family Planning
and Population Board Act was passed in 1965, young people were bombarded with
government slogans such as "Girl or Boy--Two Is Enough" from
officials, teachers and other advisers. At the
time, four or five children per family was the norm, and experts
warned that the population would climb to a staggering 5 million
people by the year 2000, overwhelming the 239-square-mile
city-state.
To help convince parents that fewer were better, the government
legalized abortion and encouraged voluntary sterilization. Hospital
fees went up as a woman had more babies, working mothers were
allowed only two paid maternity leaves and a family's third, fourth
and subsequent children were given a lower priority in the choice
of and admission to schools.
The measures had an immediate effect. Birth rates dropped sharply
in the first four years and continued to decline. The small family
grew in appeal as more people were educated, women joined the work
force and incomes rose. The fertility rate--the number of children
each woman is likely to have--dropped steadily from 4.7 per woman
in 1965 to the planned level of 2.1 in 1975.
Campaign Backfired
But the campaign then began to backfire. The decline in the birth
rate did not level off. Officials say that the average Singapore
woman is likely to have only one or two children today.
They predict that the population will peak at 3
million in 2020 and then decline.
Goh said that the government could not have anticipated the
problem. If
every woman had married and had two children, the population would
be replacing itself, he said.
"It's because large numbers of people remain unmarried and the
better-educated ones who are married have fewer than two children,"
Goh said.
Married couples now have "to make up for those who are not (having
children) or who are under-producing," Goh said, while the
government seeks ways to encourage single adults to marry.
Tax Rebates, Subsidies
The package of incentives is aimed at reducing the financial burden
of having more children, he said. It includes special tax rebates,
subsidies for child-care centers, priorities in
government-subsidized housing and the removal of earlier
disincentives discouraging more than two children.
Seeking cooperation from employers, the government is encouraging
part-time and flexi-time employment for women with young children,
extended maternity leave and the retraining of mothers who rejoin
the labor force after having children.
Goh is optimistic that Singapore residents will be replacing
themselves by 1995 with the help of the new policies. But critics
note that the emphasis on economics completely ignores major social
changes and the realities of caring for babies.
"We have a new breed of women," Malla Tan, a University of
Singapore sociologist, said. "They're involved in their careers and
have become used to a certain amount of leisure and more material
possessions.
"Many prefer to be single. For those who marry, first they're told
to stop at two children, but one is even better. Then they hear
they should have three or more. It's crazy. It unnecessarily
creates stress."
The new government campaign also reflects a
condescending attitude toward women, Tan said. "They tell women
what to do, and they expect them to do it," Tan
said.
"I don't see anyone jumping on the bandwagon," she said. "Two
children are enough for someone trying to balance the demands of a
career and family."
Lim also contended that the policy tells the
elderly "they are a problem. It's very
patronizing."
Judy Tan, an office manager with one son, said the official
rhetoric "ignores the basic question of who brings up a child."
"I don't know how men feel," she said. "But it's still the woman
who gets up in the middle of the night and tends to the babies.
Instead of having more children, I would rather give the best to
the one I have."
http://articles.latimes.com/1987-06-21/news/mn-8983_1_baby-boom
