Of Wild Goats and New Citizens- Not a fairy tale

The Goatherd and the Wild Goats (An Aesop’s Fable)

A Goatherd, driving his flock from their pasture at eventide, found some Wild Goats mingled among them, and shut them up together with his own for the night. The next day it snowed very hard, so that he could not take the herd to their usual feeding places, but was obliged to keep them in the fold.

He gave his own goats just sufficient food to keep them alive, but fed the strangers more abundantly in the hope of enticing them to stay with him and of making them his own. When the thaw set in, he led them all out to feed, and the Wild Goats scampered away as fast as they could to the mountains.

The Goatherd scolded them for their ingratitude in leaving him, when during the storm he had taken more care of them than of his own herd.

One of them, turning about, said to him: "That is the very reason why we are so cautious; for if you yesterday treated us better than the Goats you have had so long, it is plain also that if others came after us, you would in the same manner prefer them to ourselves."

Moral of the story: Old friends cannot with impunity be sacrificed for new ones.

Introduction

In my profession, Singapore's decreasing birth-rate has been a reality for some time.

My paediatrician (baby specialist) colleagues have been complaining of decreasing workload for more than half a decade. This is worsened by perceived competition from government hospitals for an already shrinking “pie”.



Seah Chiang Nee, a veteran columnist and Singapore-watcher, who was once an editor of the now defunct Singapore Monitor, made these observations in a recent article:

“Declining births for the past 30 years are threatening Singapore's long-term survival as a nation. Last year 36,000 babies were delivered, far short of the 60,000 needed to replace the population.
Economists fear that at this rate Singapore could - like Japan - one day become extinct.
To make matters worse, Singaporeans are ageing rapidly, which would require more young people to support retirees, and that, of course, is not happening.
At the same time, many of its own citizens are migrating to the West for a better life. “

This anxiety is worsened by well-publicised hiccups (albeit paper losses) involving Singapore’s investments in Shin Corp and Standard Chartered Bank.

Procreation policies have been failures

It is widely recognized that the policies to reverse the damage originating from our “Stop at Two” campaigns have been dismal failures. Thrasymachus of singaporegovt.blogspot.com is one of many commentators who concur with me. In fact he felt that Minister Lim Hng Kiang’s goals were not realistic and his task “suicidal”.

Now that the government has concluded that for some strange reasons, Singaporeans do not like to make babies, what is next?

To resort to this drastic measure of opening the gates widely for more migrants is in itself a tacit admission that the previous policies had failed.

Henceforth the government would concentrate on “picking and choosing” Singapore’s future gene pool from around the region, with the bulk coming from China and the Indian subcontinent. In some ways, they probably have given up on trying to prevent further brain drain and to a lesser extent on increasing birth-rates.

About the Goats…

Although there are some who will remain vehemently opposed to this more generous immigration policy, most of us could probably be persuaded to accept it (albeit reluctantly) if we feel that it is done for the long term benefit of our society.

Most of us are peeved (or some say pissed) that the government seems to go to extra-ordinary lengths to please these potential immigrants. Even to the extent of treating them better than her own citizens. How else can one explain away the facts that money is being spent on scholarships for non-Singaporeans and that new male citizens do not need to serve National Service? It is no wonder that this Aesop’s fable will strike a chord with many.

National Service is good for all.. isn’t it?

In the case of a brilliant high school student and potential citizen, let him/her serve his/her new country –either in National Service or in equivalent capacity if female, convert to a pink IC, then they can proudly go to Stanford or Cambridge with all our blessings. By then,how can we not welcome them with open arms as they will be Singaporeans, no matter their origins ?

For the mature new citizen, the logistics is more complex but not impossible. The younger ones, say less than 30 years, can be inducted into normal National Service ( or modified NS) and the older ones ( up to say 40 years) can be made to contribute either pro-rata or on a part-time basis. There is much that these new citizens can teach us and vice versa. There will then be no doubt about where their loyalties will lie when the clarion call sounds.

National Service, to most of us, is a rite of passage and an opportunity for all races and all social classes to be treated as one (notwithstanding the hilarious White Horse anomaly).

I am not advocating equal misery but proposing an equal opportunity for all to gel together to serve a common cause. To this day, I feel that my days in Officer Cadet School (after A levels) and then as a Medical Officer in various units, had been purposeful and definitely not a “waste of time”.

Let the government not be inconsistent. If National Service is good, then it is good for all- old or new citizens alike. If such a requirement deters some from trading in their old passports, so be it!

What makes the government think that if these same new citizens will not serve NS now, that their children will?

The logistical challenges for such a new policy are not insurmountable, as there are so many brilliant scholars and highly paid civil servants just waiting to prove their worth.

Conclusion

Don’t let this old goat say, "I told you so.The wild goats were just taking you for the ride… Maaaaaa..aaa!!”

Cheers,

Dr.Huang Shoou Chyuan