This is interesting. Sinagapore’s new PM Lee is telling his people they need to increase the country’s population, so they’d better have at it.
Placed in charge of securing his city-state’s economic future in the face of growing competition from China and India, Singapore’s new prime minister, Lee Hsien Loong, is calling for his citizens to be more productive – literally.
“Have a couple of children, three if you can,” Reuters quoted Lee as saying in unprepared remarks during his National Day Rally Speech last weekend.
In a country where a good job is hard to find, telling the citizens to be fruitful and multiply may strike some as a peculiar suggestion. But Singaporeans tend to do as their leaders tell them, so I suspect this will be a very busy week over there.
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By Mr Miyagi
There was even a suggestion that last month’s islandwide power failure was engineered to this end.
August 24, 2004 @ 12:49 am | Comment
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By Tom - Daai Tou Laam
oooh…
I’ll be there this weekend with the wife.
August 24, 2004 @ 3:18 am | Comment
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By jacky
On this issue, Singapore has only herself to blame – always attempting to ‘engineer’ everything down to a T, even procreation.
Some decades back, it was ‘slow down’, but now it’s ‘fasten safety belt and full speed ahead’.
Lee Kuan Yew was also a bit of a Nazi in trying to ‘breed’ a super-Singaporean sometime back, conniving to mate graduates with graduates – wonder how they pair the Honours graduate? 1st class with a minimum of 2nd upper? 3rd class with a general degree? Master with PhD?
For those of you who are interested in a bit of Fujian-ese, the Singapore society is known as the ‘kiasu’ society (‘kiasu’ = afraid of losing). They have been brain-washed to be so competitive that they are now so terrified of not being able to keep up with the Joneses. They will do anything/everything to ensure that they do – so LKY or his son the new PM should play on this psychological deficiency in their citizens – tell Mr Average Singaporean that his neighbour, or the neighbouring community are bonking away most magnificently, and we’ll be sure to see bonking galore throughout the island.
August 24, 2004 @ 5:12 am | Comment
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By Simon World
Asia by Blog
Time again to check out the best that Asian blogging has to offer… Hong Kong, Taiwan and China Hong Kong will get universal suffrage, says the CCP. It just has to pick the right candidates first. While on HK elections, ESWN follows the latest efforts…
August 26, 2004 @ 2:40 am | Comment
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By andrea
They won’t listen. Saving for the deposit on the condo/Mercedes S-class is more important.
August 27, 2004 @ 1:29 am | Comment
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By jacky
That’s another manifestation of ‘kiasu’
August 27, 2004 @ 4:21 am | Comment
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By Simon World
Asia by Blog – Month in Review
This is cross-posted at Winds of Change. Asia by Blog is a twice weekly feature, posted on Mondays and Thursdays (the latest edition is here). You can be notified by email when it is updated, just drop me an email at simon-[at]-simonworld-[dot]-mu-[dot…
September 28, 2004 @ 12:52 am | Comment
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By Simon World
Asia by Blog – Month in Review
This is cross-posted at Winds of Change. Asia by Blog is a twice weekly feature, posted on Mondays and Thursdays (the latest edition is here). You can be notified by email when it is updated, just drop me an email at simon-[at]-simonworld-[dot]-mu-[dot…
September 28, 2004 @ 12:55 am | Comment
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By Winds of Change.NET
Simon’s E. Asia Overview & PRC News: Sep 28/04
It’s time to have a look at East Asia and what’s been making the news in Asian blogs over the past month. We cover China (in depth), as well as Taiwan, Hong Kong, Korea, Japan, and Southeast Asia (Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore et. al).
September 28, 2004 @ 1:03 am | Comment
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By Winds of Change.NET
Simon’s E. Asia Overview & PRC News: Sep 28/04
It’s time to have a look at East Asia and what’s been making the news in Asian blogs over the past month. We cover China (in depth), as well as Taiwan, Hong Kong, Korea, Japan, and Southeast Asia (Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore et. al).
September 28, 2004 @ 1:09 am | Comment