首页
登录
职称英语
Family Matters This month Singapore pass
Family Matters This month Singapore pass
游客
2025-01-09
36
管理
问题
Family Matters
This month Singapore passed a bill that would give legal teeth to the moral obligation to support one’s parents. Called the Maintenance of Parents Bill, it received the backing of the Singapore Government.
That does not mean it hasn’t generated discussion. Several members of the Parliament opposed the measure as un-Asian. Others who acknowledged the problem of the elderly poor believed it a disproportionate response. Still others believe it will subvert relations within the family; cynics dubbed it the "Sue Your Son" law.
Those who say that the bill does not promote filial responsibility, of course, are right. It has nothing to do with filial responsibility. It kicks in where filial responsibility fails. The law cannot legislate filial responsibility any more than it can legislate love. All the law can do is to provide a safety net where this morality proves insufficient. Singapore needs this bill not to replace morality, but to provide incentives to shore it up.
Like many other developed nations, Singapore faces the problems of an increasing proportion of people over 60 years of age. Demography is inexorable. In 1980, 7.2% of the population was in this bracket. By the turn of the century, that figure will grow to 11%. By 2030, the proportion is projected to be 26%. The problem is not old age per se. It is that the ratio of economically active people to economically inactive people will decline.
But no amount of government exhortation or paternalism will completely eliminate the problem of old people who have insufficient means to make ends meet. Some people will fall through the holes in any safety net.
Traditionally, a person’s insurance against poverty in his old age was his family. This is not a revolutionary concept. Nor is it uniquely Asian. Care and support for one’s parents is a universal value shared by all civilized Societies.
The problem in Singapore is that the moral obligation to look after one’s parents is unenforceable. A father can be compelled by law to maintain his children. A husband can be forced to support his wife. But, until now, a son or daughter had no legal obligation to support his or her parents.
In 1989, an Advisory Council was set up to look into the problems of the aged. Its report stated with a tinge of complacency that 95% of those who did not have their own income were receiving cash contributions from relations. But what of the 5% who aren’t getting relatives’ support7 They have several options: (a) get a job and work until they die; (b) apply for public assistance (you have to be destitute to apply); or (c) starve quietly. None of these options is socially acceptable. And what if this 5% figure grows, as it is likely to do, as society ages?
The Maintenance of Parents Bill was put forth to encourage the traditional virtues that have so far kept; Asian nations from some of the breakdowns encountered in other affluent societies. This legislation will allow a person to apply to the court for maintenance from any or all of his children. The court would have the discretion to refuse to make an order if it is unjust.
Those who deride the proposal for opening up the courts to family lawsuits mixes the point. Only in extreme cases would any parent take his child to court. If it does indeed become law, the bill’s effect would be far more subtle.
First, it will reaffirm the notion that it is each individual’s -- not society’s -- responsibility to look after his parents. Singapore is still conservative enough that most people will not object to this idea. It rein-forces the traditional values and it doesn’t hurt a society now and then to remind itself of its core values.
Second, and more important, it will make those who are inclined to shirk their responsibilities think twice. Until now, if a person asked family elders, clergymen or the Ministry of Community Development to help get financial support from his children, the most they could do was to mediate. But mediators have no teeth, and a child could simply ignore their pleas.
But to be sued by one’s parents would be a massive loss of face. It would be a public disgrace. Few people would be so thick - skinned as to say, "Sue and be damned". The hand of the conciliator would be immeasurably strengthened. It is far more likely that some sort of amicable settlement would be reached if the recalcitrant son or daughter knows that the alternative is a public trial.
It would be nice to think that Singapore doesn’t need this kind of law. But that belief ignores the clear demographic trends and the effect of affluence itself on traditional bonds. Those of us who pushed for the bill will consider ourselves most successful if it acts as an’ incentive not to have it invoked in the first place. [br] By quoting the growing percentage points of the aged in the population, the author seems to imply that _____.
选项
A、the country will face mounting problems of the old in future.
B、the social welfare system would be under great pressure.
C、young people should be given more moral education.
D、the old should be provided with means of livelihood.
答案
A
解析
随着人口的老龄化,老人的赡养问题也更突出。
转载请注明原文地址:https://tihaiku.com/zcyy/3904747.html
相关试题推荐
PrimaryFunctionsoftheFamilyThefamilyisabasicunit
PrimaryFunctionsoftheFamilyThefamilyisabasicunit
PrimaryFunctionsoftheFamilyThefamilyisabasicunit
PrimaryFunctionsoftheFamilyThefamilyisabasicunit
PrimaryFunctionsoftheFamilyThefamilyisabasicunit
Myfamily’sslave-erahistoryhassurvivedinrichdetail,thankstomyaggre
TheFamilyThenandNow Thingswerenevereasywithinthefam
TheFamilyThenandNow Thingswerenevereasywithinthefam
TheFamilyThenandNow Thingswerenevereasywithinthefam
TheFamilyThenandNow Thingswerenevereasywithinthefam
随机试题
下列选项不是早产常见原因的是A.下生殖道及泌尿道感染 B.胎膜早破、绒毛膜羊膜
一患者缺失,戴局部义齿5年,主诉咀嚼效能差,无其他不适。原因是A.人工牙过度磨耗
药效学研究对受试药物的要求,不正确的是A.处方固定B.制备工艺、药品质量标准基本
施工承包人为了避免停工待料,不得不以较高价格紧急采购因供货方不能供应部分的货物而
A.洛贝林 B.尼可刹米 C.哌甲酯 D.咖啡因 E.甲氯芬酯常用于各种
2013年全国中高等学校中,成人本专科生中的专科生大约有()万人。 A.1
3年1月1日开始实施《商业银行资本管理办法(试行)》后,我国系统重要性银行和非系
思想开小差是注意() A.转移B.分散C.动摇D.起伏
[已过时]下列有关电流互感器二次绕组接地的描述,哪些是正确的?()A.每组电流
施工项目质量计划应由()主持编制。A.项目总工 B.公司质量负责人 C.项目
最新回复
(
0
)