Shrinking Singaporean Core

Half of the babies born here last year did not have both parents who are Singaporeans. At this rate what it means to be Singaporean tomorrow would be very different from today. The trend cannot be reversed without a heavy price and a more severely shrinking population.

Get used to us disappearing and accept that we would be transformed, at least not transmogrified into something else. But would it produce a people that is able or even want to keep this place going is another matter. Perhaps it is already too late in the day to preserve the core. Not a problem to the elderly now as they will be dead. The young better adapt to becoming global citizens. Quite scary if many people are here only for economic reasons than faith and commitment. Anyway commit to whatever and faith for what outcome? I don't know but what we stand for must be globally attractive. At least that would also make us attractive to foreigner arrivals.

I wonder if our future population would not be like asset markets that boom and bust, but  it is only possible to rise from a bust if people see value and not a has been. How do we create that? We can't keep growing bigger. Cities must allow for growth and retrenchment to regrow themselves again. I think that is just the circle of life.

My children must prepare for a much more different world than my generation have taking over from our parents. Worry the generation who must ride the down phase. The first time this happen must be totally unnerving. I hope enough people could somehow see a different tomorrow then and rebuild. Great fortunes would be made buying so many things cheap. Alternatively everything is lost and a new Singapore in a different place rises but more likely another global city inherit what we have foolishly bequeathed. This is the one track scary scenario we are sold on to get us to behave. By the laws of growth, I am afraid we cannot ignore the cycle of life in death and rebirth. Smarter to provide for rebirth. Even long ago Isaac Asimov knows he must write his Foundation series this way or simply there would be no readers. He was just being realistic.  What is our Psychohistory? It cannot be fiction for us.

Maybe the secret is to always have a remnant seed and I hope a very big seed as I think size does matter here.