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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