Population Policies and Programmes in Singapore

3. The Government Programme

By: ROS Size: 6" x 9" J/No: 05-10631 Fonts: Eras, GarthGraphic 3 The Government Programme FORMATION OF THE SFPPB It was noted in the preceding chapter that since 1957 the Family Planning Association had on numerous occasions requested the Ministry of Health to take over all the family planning activities it conducted in government institutions, but the government had consistently turned down the request. It was in response to the request submitted by the Association in January 1965 that the government finally announced on 13 March 1965 the appointment of a three-man Review Committee to look into this matter.1 The terms of reference were to determine which of the family planning activities were to be transferred from the Association to the Health Ministry, to fix the quantum of annual grant for 1965 and subsequent years for the Association, and to resolve the disposition of the staff employed by the Association. The Review Committee held a total of seven meetings between 8 April 1965 and 9 June 1965 and submitted its unanimous report to the Minister for Health on 29 June 1965. Briefly, the report recommended that all except three of the clinics should be transferred to the government and a grant of $100,000 for 1965 and $10,000 for 1966 and subsequent years be given to the Association. Some three months later, on 27 September 1965, a White Paper on Family Planning was tabled in Parliament, generally endorsing the recommendations of the Review Committee.2 In addition to including the report of the Review Committee as an appendix, the 25-page White Paper spelled out in considerable detail the various aspects of a national population policy which the PAP Government proposed to implement. It announced, among other things, a five-year plan to recruit 180,000 new acceptors during the period 1966 to 1970 and the establishment of a 24 03 PP&P Pt 1/Ch 3 16/5/05, 3:06 PM 24 3. The Government Programme 25 statutory authority to take charge of the proposed government family planning programme. The aim of the plan was “to liberate our women from the burden of bearing and raising an unnecessarily large number of children and as a consequence to increase human happiness for all”.3 Thus in December 1965 the Singapore Family Planning and Population Board Act, 1965 was passed by Parliament without any debate and came into force on 7 January 1966.4 The Singapore Family Planning and Population Board was formally established with its inauguration by the Minister for Health, Mr Yong Nyuk Lin, on 12 January 1966. In the inaugural ceremony the Minister stated, Singapore, as we all know, is a very overcrowded little island of nearly 2 million people living in an area of just over 2 hundred square miles or a density of population around 8,000 people per square mile. Family planning is therefore a matter of national importance and indeed, one of urgency for us. Our best chances for survival in an independent Singapore is stress on quality and not quantity.5 The establishment and activities of the Board expressed full government endorsement of family planning with all the prestige and authority that necessarily follow. The change in government policy from one of indirect participation to one of direct provider of family planning services as enunciated in the White Paper was proclaimed a few weeks after the momentous political event of the separation of Singapore from the Federation of Malaysia on 9 August 1965 and with the full knowledge that the newly independent state had to survive alone without the traditional economic hinterland. The separation certainly highlighted the limited small land area of Singapore and the economic difficulties and lack of viability of the island state devoid of natural resources. This focused serious attention on the dire need to check the rapid population growth in planning for social and economic development. At that time the crude birth rate was in the neighbourhood of 30 per thousand population and the annual rate of population increase was no less than 2.5 per cent. OBJECTIVES The responsibilities of the SFPPB as stated in the Singapore Family Planning and Population Board Act are as follows: (i) to act as the sole agency for promotion and dissemination of information pertaining to Family Planning in Singapore; 03 PP&P Pt 1/Ch 3 16/5/05, 3:06 PM 25 26 POPULATION POLICIES AND PROGRAMMES IN SINGAPORE...