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Singapore systems well prepared for ageing. Society? Less so
We need to stop stereotyping older people as helpless and irrelevant, and look at how to adapt to their realistic needs.
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Today, one in five Singaporeans is over 65 – hardly a minority that can be swept under the carpet. How Singapore sees them and includes them will shape the character of our nation, says the writer.
ST PHOTO: GIN TAY
Jeffery Tan
The letter from the CPF Board informed me I would soon be eligible to draw on my retirement savings. It was routine, even efficient. Yet I found myself holding it longer than necessary.
Sixty-five was an age that had always belonged to someone else – my parents’ generation, not mine. It was a number associated with retirement speeches and farewell lunches, with the gradual stepping away from the centre of things. Yet here it was, addressed to me.
