Singapore's declining birth rate a cause for concern: SM Goh
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i am sure they will look into it.
remember someone also said he will look into the issue of rising cost. -
Tell lau goh to shut up! No use telling people to give birth to more singaporean babies now.
The cost of living that pap govt had jack-up will never be brought down again. Unless, if there is world war 3 to wipe out the entire world and kill most of the rich, greedy and powerful ones.
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there is no turning back already.
only the rich can afford to have babies without disrupting their lives. -
[quote]Originally posted by Aveme:
concern?
I thought with that ending statement,it is more like it is none of my or PAP's concern,you guys go settle it yourself.........talk might as well dun talk if like that.[/quote]
That is so right.
And he did not address the problem by it's roots.
If all talk and no action to address the situation.
Then whats the point of shooting off time and again?
The problem is the greying population as well,
how about bringing some attention to that? -
That is so right.
With that said, it's still the people. You don't expect him to mobilize NS men, point their SAR21 at you and make love to have kids?
And he did not address the problem by it's roots.
If all talk and no action to address the situation.
Then whats the point of shooting off time and again?
The problem is the greying population as well,
how about bringing some attention to that?
Having lesser kids to replace the population is causing the greying population. All of talk about it, but who are going to do it? Ask the PAP themselves to replace the whole population? -
they have the solution in place already isnt it? look at the number of mainland chinese!!
as for identity i doubt it makes any difference to those up in the ivory tower if its citizens are pure singaporeans or not. -
SM talked about his family. It is indeed a very beautiful picture. Honestly, most of us, if not all, will want to have children with the life partner and in time to come, have grandchildren.Originally posted by the Bear:bunz has a point...
these days, a lot of retrenchment and all these things going on... added to that, horror stories of pregnant women being fired because they're pregnant...
again, our gabrament has looked at things from the employer's point of view.. the helicopter point of view.. all those...
swans look graceful, but under the water is a pair of skinny legs kicking away furiously...
i would like to look at lau goh's "daughters who are not working".. i think, for today, unless someone in the family who is raking in megabucks, EVERYONE has to work.. maybe lau goh is now suffering from Ivory Tower Syndrome too... must be why his clothes are so white..
Even those DINKS couple yearn for that. But do they have a choice? In their mind, they constantly have this fear "What if one of us loses the job?"
SM has to understand and address that it is not by choice that Singaporeans don't have children. It is fear. With basic things like public transports constantly becoming more expensive, I really wonder, when my time comes to have a family, whether I will have to end up having to set my budget carefully before taking a bus to work.
I have this constant worry "What if my saving is not enough for me to survive when I lose my job?" even though I have an above average household income. What about those who are earning less than me?
I guess it's about time that the government find a solution to our job/financial security before we get hit again (by SARS, Economic Downturn etc).
JF Kennedy used to say "Don't ask what the country can do for you. Ask yourselves what you can do for the country." In the speech, SM has told us what to do for the country (contribution to the people resources), let us now hear what the country can do for us. The country has to help us help the country. -
But some of them are only interested in massage parlours in HDB estatesOriginally posted by dragg:they have the solution in place already isnt it? look at the number of mainland chinese!!
as for identity i doubt it makes any difference to those up in the ivory tower if its citizens are pure singaporeans or not.
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You got your finger on the pulse. Having children in S'pore is more than just a choice. It's also linked to issues like job security and the environment we want our children to grow up in. Pri 1 children are already learning what we are learning in Pri 3/4. Can't imagine the future.Originally posted by Honeybunz:Even those DINKS couple yearn for that. But do they have a choice? In their mind, they constantly have this fear "What if one of us loses the job?"
SM has to understand and address that it is not by choice that Singaporeans don't have children. It is fear. With basic things like public transports constantly becoming more expensive, I really wonder, when my time comes to have a family, whether I will have to end up having to set my budget carefully before taking a bus to work.
I have this constant worry "What if my saving is not enough for me to survive when I lose my job?" even though I have an above average household income. What about those who are earning less than me?
I guess it's about time that the government find a solution to our job/financial security before we get hit again. -
i have a feeling when the politicians talk about the declining birth-rate they are actually referring to the educated and the high-income earners.
to them, the high cost has nothing to do with the low birth-rate because they are not expecting the poor to have children.
hence, nothing is being done to tackle the high cost issue!!! -
We shall see lah...heheheOriginally posted by dragg:i have a feeling when the politicians talk about the declining birth-rate they are actually referring to the educated and the high-income earners.
to them, the high cost has nothing to do with the low birth-rate because they are not expecting the poor to have children.
hence, nothing is being done to tackle the high cost issue!!!
Should I drop an email to SM to tell him my view?
But I dun write well leh -
there are more than a billion waiting to be attracted.Originally posted by Honeybunz:But some of them are only interested in massage parlours in HDB estates -
if you are young, educated and earns a high income they just might take a interest in what you have to say. otherwise dont bother.Originally posted by Honeybunz:We shall see lah...hehehe
Should I drop an email to SM to tell him my view?
But I dun write well leh -
i think you get it wrong here,it is not the people who cannot phsycially have babies,of course these people can and we do not need the PAP to do this.Originally posted by ndmmxiaomayi:With that said, it's still the people. You don't expect him to mobilize NS men, point their SAR21 at you and make love to have kids?
Having lesser kids to replace the population is causing the greying population. All of talk about it, but who are going to do it? Ask the PAP themselves to replace the whole population?
It is the external factor that is in play here aka cost,and such rising cost is not adequately addressed by the govt.
At the moment the singapore economy is going under stagflation (inflation+lower and lower income) and anyone how study economic will know it is a serious problem for any govt.
According to latest data by UBS on the comparing of purchasing power around the globe,singaporean's purchasing power (real salary taking into account the cost of living) is pretty low and that means it is very expensive to buy stuff here.Even Japan where we know stuff are much more expensive,the japanese have a much much higher purchasing power (like around 1.7x of ours)
Look at this thread
http://www.sgforums.com/?action=thread_display&thread_id=204280
Cut and paste the portion here
Purchasing power of typical basket of goods:
Singaporeans buy less things compared with people staying in:
New York, London, LA, Paris, Dublin, Tokyo, Berlin, Amsterdam, Zurich, Sydney.
Singapore is more expensive than all these first world cities as a comparision,and the figures inside the detailed info shows singapore to be way more expensive than these other places.
With such high cost of living being pushed up by our govt,how can you expect people not to be influenced by these external factors?If even people in japan do not want a child cos they deem it too expensive,what about singapore where it is actually like 1.7+x more expensive..... -
Originally posted by www:
Drawing an annual salary of MILLION DOLLARS of taxpayers' money, it is easy for him to speak of his children's fortunate positions.
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Mr Goh also made a plea to young couples who belonged to the "double income no kids" (DINKs) group.
Drawing from his personal experience, Mr Goh said, "[b]My wife and I are fortunate that our son and daughter are not DINKs. They do not have a double income. My daughter is not working; my daughter-in-law is also not working, so no double income. They have three children each, which means my wife and I have six grandchildren - and they are all granddaughters. And because they are all granddaughters, there may be a chance that my son and his wife, my daughter and her husband may want a boy - or that's what I hope!"
But he reminded Singaporeans that this was a problem that could only be reversed by the people themselves, and not the government. - CNA /ct
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Will our children not have the same fortunate experience if we are paid also similar annual MILLION DOLLAR WAGE PACKETS ?
With such a superfluous annual salary, surely as parents we can help our children in their future, allowing them to have a headstart over other less fortunate Singaporeans ?
Is it any wonder that his Son is a senior partner in the Parkway Health Group, and his daughter - "a quitter" - married to a "kwai-loh" ?
Read more of the scions from the Singapore Elite Leadership, who are fortunate NOT to be "DINKS". -
Drawing from his personal experience, Mr Goh said, "[b]My wife and I are fortunate that our son and daughter are not DINKs. They do not have a double income. My daughter is not working; my daughter-in-law is also not working, so no double income. They have three children each, which means my wife and I have six grandchildren - and they are all granddaughters. And because they are all granddaughters, there may be a chance that my son and his wife, my daughter and her husband may want a boy - or that's what I hope!"
gong lan jiao wei!!! -
My friend is a teacher who earns $3000 plus/mth. His wife, a social worker earns $2000 plus/mth. Combined income near $6,000. He's still not having a kid.
Me and gf combined should be around there too and we don't intend to have one either.
This is the ground's sentiments...........perhaps the govt is really referring to the rich. My uncle's income $20,000 / mth. Only one kid. Another uncle and his wife combined income about $20,000/mth too. Only 1 kid. What more the poor..... -
Our world-class government cannot solve this problem?!?
But wait, who created this problem in the first place I wonder?!?
How ironic?!?
It seemed like PAP is the one that is extinguishing true breed Sgporeans
with high-living standard, compulsory NS etc.
Wait, who is the one who said we can persure Swiss Standard?!?
Betw, can Chinese students and other be exempted from school fees
like the Malays?!?
Who is going to pay for my son/daugther degree course in 20 years time?
And how much it would be then?!? 10k? 100K a year? -
It'll be interesting to see the foreign population slowly but surely overtake the local population. For one thing, the size of our armed forces will shrink because there are less locals to be conscripted, while the foreign migrants will mostly leave after only staying a few years, as they will prefer to have their children in countries with no conscription. This will have serious consequences for our security situation. Which in turn will further affect our attractiveness to foreign investors. I can understand why the PAP is worried but I'm still not going to turn my life and my unborn children's into a living hell just to provide warm bodies for the armed forces.
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This is preciesly what I feel will happen.Originally posted by av98m:It'll be interesting to see the foreign population slowly but surely overtake the local population. For one thing, the size of our armed forces will shrink because there are less locals to be conscripted, while the foreign migrants will mostly leave after only staying a few years, as they will prefer to have their children in countries with no conscription. This will have serious consequences for our security situation. Which in turn will further affect our attractiveness to foreign investors. I can understand why the PAP is worried but I'm still not going to turn my life and my unborn children's into a living hell just to provide warm bodies for the armed forces.
Our government, supposedly very intelligent learned people, why are they so blind?
They know how to quote that Singapore's resources are its very people. Then why don't cherish the people of Singapore?? Instead of driving people to brink and saying that we should take care of ourselves.
Ok, we take care of ourslevs lah.. we decide not to pay so much tax to government. Government should go take care of themselves too!!!
HOw about that?
Gov don't owe us a living, we also don't need to owe them a living! -
I think we are too quick to point a finger at our government at the low birth-rate. The Germans, Japanese, Italians, French, white urban Americans all have the same problem. Can't say that ALL the governments are at fault eh?
I think one part of our problem is that urban culture simply does not encourage couples having children. It is just too bad. Singapore is one big city, and city-dwellers have their hands full trying to earn a living. Of course, the government should try to bring down our costs of living so that women can spend a few years bringing up junior without fearing for the family's livelihoods.
Another issue here is the fragmentation of our once three-tier families. My babies just came, and without the help of my in-laws, there would have been NO way my wife and I could cope. Our parents or the grandparents have been around to help in the past, now it seems that our younger generation finds it more difficult to "enlist" their help.
The government is right on one thing though. This can be disastrous if not arrested. Our sons are needed to serve NS. What would happen when there are not enough hands carrying rifles and the FTs decide to return to their homelands or to the US?
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not enough to serve NS.. but i'm still thinking.. at what cost?
right now, according to the Department of Statistics, we have 3.38million citizens and PRs, 785k foreigners..
what next? 4 million and 1 million?
then what next? -
Well, its really hard to say. Perhaps we will become part of Malaysia once again. Hopefully by choice and not by force.Originally posted by sourketchup:The government is right on one thing though. This can be disastrous if not arrested. Our sons are needed to serve NS. What would happen when there are not enough hands carrying rifles and the FTs decide to return to their homelands or to the US? -
there is something i wish to say about SM Goh's family and his family values........
but i cannot say!!