WHEN Olympic windsurfing champion and new mum Lee Lai Shan appeared in a bank advertisement talking about her family's financial planning needs, people noticed.
Known affectionately as San San, the 34-year-old won her medal in 1996 and is Hong Kong's only Olympic champion. She and her husband Sam Wong had a baby girl in August last year.
The television advertisement showed her buying groceries, queueing at an ATM and playing with her toddler, before declaring that raising her daughter will set her back HK$4 million (S$812,000).
The figure rekindled debate on the high cost of having a child. It also brought into focus once again twin problems Hong Kong shares with Singapore - a falling number of babies and a rising number of elderly people.
By 2033, Hong Kong expects to have 428 people aged 65 and over for every 1,000 in the workforce, up from 164 last year.
And all signs point to the baby dearth continuing.
Insurance agent Edmund Chiu, 31, has been married for a year and is in no hurry to start a family, even though he does not believe a child costs HK$4 million to raise.
'The average family could probably get by with HK$2 million or less,' he said.
'It seems to me that San San's figure includes international school education, where tuition costs alone run up to over HK$10,000 a month, not to mention tens of thousands more in levies and entry fees.'
Mr Chiu, who lives in Kowloon's Lai Chi Kok district and likes owning the latest mobile phones and computer games, said that for him and his wife, space is also a deterrent to parenthood.
The couple shares a 650 sq ft flat with his parents.
'I would probably have to pay at least HK$2 million for a similar flat around this area, and I don't have that money now,' he said.
Accountant Maria Li believes the HK$4 million figure is fair if parents want an English-medium education for their children.
The public education system provides for nine years of free education - six at primary level and three at secondary level. But such schools teach mostly in Cantonese, whereas Ms Li wants her one year-old daughter to learn English.
For that, the girl would have to attend one of over 40 privately-run international schools that offer primary and secondary education.
Ms Li, 33, and married to an accountant, believes that in a cosmopolitan city like Hong Kong, you need to be proficient in English and Mandarin.
'A family isn't complete without a child, but my husband and I are stopping at one because HK$8 million to raise two kids could just be too much,' she said.
Money aside, she felt working couples do not have enough time to spend on more than one child.
'As it is, I'm buying more toys and books for my boy just to compensate for my absence!' she admitted.
The Hong Kong government is trying to tackle the population dilemma through a high-powered Council for Sustainable Development chaired by Chief Secretary Rafael Hui, the territory's No. 2 official.
Since June, it has been holding public discussions and forums to draw feedback and ideas. The process ends this month, and the panel is expected to release its findings and recommendations early next year.
The feedback so far is that raising a child is expensive and time-consuming in a city where couples work long hours.
Also, Hong Kong is not viewed as an ideal place to raise families, given cramped living conditions and high levels of pollution.
Ideas tossed up include providing free childcare and creating a child-friendly environment with more green space and playgrounds.
At one session, Ms Maggie Ng, chief editor of Baby - a monthly Chinese-language parenting magazine - said couples worry that they cannot afford to have babies, and that children will hurt their careers.
This squares with the outcome of numerous surveys, which found most people asking for higher education tax breaks for children. Parents are currently entitled to a HK$30,000 tax allowance per child.
An expatriate participant at a forum observed that some Hong Kong mothers fear they will be branded bad parents if they send their children to childcare.
And, given the keen competition at the workplace, women are loath to stop working for a few years to look after their children, in case there is no job to return to later.
Ms Jacqueline Cheng, a member of the Women's Commission, which advances the interests of women, feels that women need more help to balance their responsibilities as workers and mothers.
Free childcare services will help, as would more flexible work arrangements that help free up time and energy for family.
The government has responded by introducing a five-day week for civil servants, and Chief Executive Donald Tsang has just announced grants of up to HK$13,000 per child attending non-profit kindergartens.
Many have lauded the moves as steps in the right direction, but agreed that more has to be done.
Mr Peter Pun, an adviser to the Council for Sustainable Development, cautioned that not every problem identified can be easily solved - he cited the example of cramped living conditions.
The chief executive of the Hong Kong Policy Research Institute think-tank added: 'Perhaps we can look into opening up new towns further away from the city centre, so that people can buy larger homes for less money.
'But then, would they be willing to spend more than an hour or so to go to work? They might just end up being too tired to enjoy family life or make babies.'
Others, sceptical of what the government can achieve, point out that the Council for Sustainable Development is also tasked with examining Hong Kong's long-term environmental and financial sustainability.
'It is such a big project requiring cooperation from every single government bureau, from education to labour to health,' said financial analyst Eric Chow, 35.
As far as babies go, he felt 'a psychological approach' might work to encourage positive feelings about parenthood.
Referring to the Olympic champion's TV ad, he said: 'San San could have been made to look happier, which would then convey the impression that having a child is an enjoyable and fun thing, despite the cost.
'Instead, she looked like she had aged a lot since becoming a mother, and I don't think that helps in a city like Hong Kong.
(Straits Times, 18 Oct)
