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SINGAPORE: Deputy Prime Minister Wong Kan Seng has said specific start dates are needed for any policy and the government cannot backdate the enhanced Marriage and Parenthood (M&P) Package indefinitely.
Mr Wong said the new cut-off date is reasonable. The qualifying date was backdated to August 17 this year instead of 1 January 2009 to cover more parents-to-be.
Still, some have questioned why the cut-off date is August 17 and not August 1, as was the case in 2004.
Mr Wong, who is in charge of population matters, pointed out that back in 2004, the government had sent a clear signal months earlier that changes were afoot.
In December 2003, Lim Hng Kiang, then chairman of the Marriage and Parenthood Committee, had indicated that changes to the 2001 Marriage and Parenthood Package were on the cards and that couples should start planning for babies.
In February 2004, then Deputy Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said the new package would be completed before National Day. Because of that, all administrative measures and adjustments were made between February and August that year.
Even then, legislation for the additional four weeks of maternity leave was only completed two months later, on 1 October 2004, after the law was amended.
For this year, Mr Wong said, the first indication of a review came last month.
Details were released after the Prime Minister's National Day Rally this month for the measures to kick in next year, as the government needed time to effect the various legislative and administrative changes.
"Unlike in 2004, we could not set up the systems earlier as the measures were still being finalised up until the end of July 2008," said Mr Wong. He added that the government has tried to be as inclusive as possible.
And due to the strong appeal from parents-to-be, whose babies were due before 1 January next year, the government backdated the qualifying date for the enhanced package to August 17, the date of the announcement by the Prime Minister.
Mr Wong said: "At any point in time when we make a decision to say this is the date, there will always be people who fall outside that date. That is unfortunate and I can understand their disappointment, but we need to have a cut-off date somewhere, otherwise it will never end."
He urged Singaporean couples to see the package in totality as all things considered, parents will still receive significant support under the revised package.
Mr Wong said: "So, don't just look at what they don't get. I think they should look at what they will get, but more importantly, look at the baby, look at their own children and enjoy their children!"
For parents whose babies were born before 17 August 2008, they would still be
eligible for the enhancements to the tax reliefs, childcare and infant care subsidies, and childcare and infant care leave.
What they will miss out is an additional S$1,000 of baby bonus for the first two children, a co-payment of S$6,000 for the first child, and an additional four weeks of maternity leave.
Mr Wong added that the set of financial incentives is not the magic bullet to solve Singapore's low total fertility rate problem.
Success also depends on support from employers and Singaporeans themselves wanting to marry and have babies.
- CNA/ir
What more can be done to get Singaporeans pro-creating? Give us your views at www.channelnewsasia.com/maybebaby.
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