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SINGAPORE is revamping its procreation policies and could be going the Swedish way, giving free childcare and paternity leave in a bid to get couples to have more babies.
The first hint of possible policy changes to prop up fertility rates was given by Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew at a dialogue yesterday.
'If we don't reproduce ourselves to 2.1, we are in trouble,' said Mr Lee, referring to the natural replacement rate of 2.1, which Singapore's fertility rate of 1.29 falls short of.
'So we are going to revamp. We've studied what the Swedes have done, what the French have done.
'The Swedes have completely changed their system. Support paternity leave, women get their children into creches, into nursery schools, all paid by the state. Very heavy expenses but Sweden can afford it.
'We are looking at our budget, can we afford it? But we've got to go because these are proven ways.'
His remarks on Singapore were in response to a question on Japan.
A Japanese participant at the Nomura Asia Equity Forum had asked Mr Lee what he would do, if he were Japan's prime minister, to stimulate the country's lacklustre economy.
Qualifying that his being PM of Japan was 'a fantasy' he found hard to imagine, Mr Lee zeroed in on Japan's population problems due to a rapidly greying generation and low birth rate.
Despite this, Japan remains reluctant to top its population up with immigrants, he noted.
Like Japan, Mr Lee said that Singapore also had a birth dearth, a trend it was trying to reverse by supporting working mothers with creches in offices and help with preschool.
'We are a small country, we can take immigrants...and there are many bright Chinese and bright Indians who are joining us,' he said.
'But if we have more immigrants than genuine Singaporeans, you become a different people.'
Hence, the need for Singaporeans to replace themselves.
'We must have that core, at least 65 per cent of people born and bred who understand this place, who are part of this society and who know how we got here and why we must do these things,' said Mr Lee.
Still, he urged Japan to open its doors to immigrants in this globalised world.
Using Singapore as an example, he said: 'We see our future as a cosmopolitan society, more cosmopolitan than we were in the past.
'Before, we were just an Asian society, with Chinese, Malays, Indians. Now we've got a real rainbow spread. You can travel on the MRT...or go on a bus or go to a hawker centre, you can see a completely different Singapore.'
He cited how a few Eastern Europeans have settled here. The Defence Minister 'was very surprised one day to see a golden-haired boy doing national service'. The boy is Ukrainian; his parents live here and he is becoming a Singapore citizen.
'If Japan wants to be part of this globalised world, Japan will have to accept these changes,' he said. 'There's no way you can remain...in a group where you can speak to each other not in words but in grunts.'
But change is already happening, with over one million Japanese living and working abroad, he noted.
'When they go back to Japan, already they are not quite the same as the Japanese. So it is part of a globalised process which you must accept,' he said.
sueann@sph.com.sg
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