From The Straits Times Interactive:
Dec 22, 2004
MM: Baby dearth could not have been prevented
At best, it would have been delayed had S'pore held its women
back
By Azhar Ghani
THE baby dearth problem hit Singapore more rapidly than elsewhere
because the country had moved quickly to remove barriers to women
being educated, joining the workforce and having careers open to
them, Mr Lee Kuan Yew said on Monday.
But even if women had been held back, it would not have prevented
the problem from arising altogether, the Minister Mentor told the
Foreign Correspondents' Association (FCA) when asked just how
serious the population shortage problem was.
'I used to blame myself for being too hasty that in 1959 we passed
the Women's Charter and imposed monogamy and opened up education
and jobs, and that caused all this,' he said.
'But I've come to the conclusion it would only have delayed it 10,
20 or 30 years.'
He said the problem was not peculiar to Singapore and has been
happening in many parts of the world.
Lifestyles and aspirations of women in other societies, increased
travel and interaction with people from other parts of the world
also had a part in influencing the decision of women here to put
careers ahead of starting a family.
It was a problem that Japan also faces, despite having 'kept their
women in place', he noted.
'But the Japanese women have travelled. They are now not wanting to
get married and become slaves to their husbands and their in-laws
and their children. So their birth rates are as perilous as
ours.'
Unlike Japan, which has to work with a population of 130 million
and a people who are homogeneous, Singapore is fortunate in that it
has a small base of four million people.
'So we can top up. There's China, there's India,' he said, adding
that Singapore could offer their citizens 'a better life... for the
next 10, 20, maybe slightly more years before their big cities can
offer the kind of lifestyle which we offer immediately'.
'We are multiracial. So absorbing new migrants of different races
and religions and cultures doesn't worry us. In fact, it makes us
more attractive as a cosmopolitan centre and makes us more relevant
to the world.'
Mr Lee conceded that it might be hard to encourage women to have
children given that they also wanted their careers.
Singapore's birth rate hit an all-time low of 1.26 last year, well
below the population replacement rate of 2.1.
This prompted the Government to announce new measures, including a
five-day work week, lower maid levies and extended maternity leave,
to support parenthood and encourage Singaporeans to have more
children.
Mr Lee, during a question-and-answer session after a dinner with
members of the FCA, also responded to a question on why Singapore
has not sent ground troops to Iraq despite having said that the
situation there is an important global issue.
He reminded his audience that Singapore's army is largely made up
of enlisted operationally-ready national servicemen.
And unlike in the former East Timor, now Timor Leste, where the
Singapore Armed Forces had sent troops consisting of volunteers to
undertake peacekeeping tasks, the role in Iraq is one of
peace-making.
'My guess is the Defence Minister and probably the Prime Minister
would conclude that parents would not be over-anxious to have their
children do national service in Iraq. But that does not mean that
Iraq is not important,' he said.
When the questioner made the point that South Korea, which also has
an army made up of enlisted men, had sent troops into Iraq, Mr Lee
said that Seoul was in a different position.
The country has 37,000 American troops stationed there, it has a
demilitarised zone (DMZ), and has North Koreans just across the
DMZ.
'Seoul could be devastated within hours of any conflict. So that's
a sufficiently compelling reason to pay an insurance premium,' he
said of South Korea's deployment