Appendix F - Babies

Summary

I have one last subject. It's very late, but I think I will talk about it all the same and this is babies. It's a very serious problem for us and for all the developed countries. Japan, Korea, Hong Kong, Europe. Even the Catholic countries in Europe, Italy has a very low fertility rate, Spain too. The only exception is America where immigration is very high and somehow, the culture is completely different. It's a national problem for us, but it's also an intensely personal business. I asked when did previous Prime Ministers raise such delicate matters? My people tell me, Mr Lee raised it in his 18th National Day Rally. What about Goh Chok Tong? He waited for his tenth National Day Rally. This is my first one. So, new baby, please be understanding.

Our approach is, let's put it like this — this is a matter of values, not of incentives. It's values and priorities, not the financial grants and subsidies, which count. We want people to have babies because you want them and you love them. It's part of a happy family life. It's fulfilling to bring up a child. You can have the most successful career, you can be the richest man on Earth or the most powerful man or woman on Earth, but if you don't have a family and don't have children, I think you're missing something. It starts off with missing changing nappies when you have a child, but then you miss watching a child learning to walk, learning to talk, going to school, getting sick, depending on you, walking with you, playing with you. You are teaching him, doing homework with him or her. Then you'll find that he's got his own temperament, character, personality, he's different from you. He's got his own ideas and after a while, one day, you are helping him or her do homework and he says, “No, no, you do it like this” and I look puzzled and I don't quite know what he is talking about, but he does and you know he's taken a step forward and he's on his own.