Saturday March 28, 2009
THE rising number of reluctant brides, particularly among the highly educated, has again been highlighted by Singapore’s founding leader Lee Kuan Yew.
In a recent dialogue with undergraduates, Minister Mentor Lee pointed to his own daughter as an example when he talked about the long-term impact of falling marriage and procreation rates.
His concern about Singapore’s population slide had been around for some 25 years, seeing it a threat to its long-term survival.
A newspaper headline just asked: “Will we be the last of the Mohicans (an American Red Indian tribe that became extinct)?”
In other words, the low fertility will lead to the extinction of the present 3.25 million true-blue Singaporeans.
The white-haired Lee says an increasing number of the better-educated women are choosing to remain single as a lifestyle choice, and happy with it.
Lee is 86 today. This year he enters a historic 50th year of state leadership to become the world’s longest serving leader.
He showed the students an uncharacteristic glimpse of his softer, fatherly figure, a divergence from his past combatant self. This time, he talked of his unmarried daughter to make a point.
She is Dr Lee Wei Ling, the bright 54-year-old director of the National institute of Neurological Sciences, who once lashed out at the “elitist attitude of some in our upper socio-economic class.”
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