Wednesday, September 07, 2011

Another hard truth

Only Mr LKY could say it in such an matter of fact way.

A high-flying young woman, a phd student, expressed concern for social cohesion in the immigration we see here, and our former minister mentor advised her to have children, thus making the point that we Singaporeans aren't having enough children. So if we aren't multiplying, and we don't want foreigners, who is going to keep the economy humming along?

Then I wryly observed that I don't quite feel the aging population phenomenon. Could it be true that our reproduction rate has dropped to a new low of 1.01! But I seem to be surrounded by kids - kids in church, kids in my cell group, kids in the extended family, screaming kids in my estate, and kids stomping on seats in the Mrt.

It struck me that one way to encourage women to have kids is to get existing kids to behave better so that we feel less daunted. But as people always tell me, kids will be kids. I think I shall go and have a couple so that they can do their fair share of dashing through our estate.

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