Gerontophobia hits Singapore!

There is actually a medical term that describes people with an abnormal fear of old people - 'gerontophobia'. But that is really too kind a description for the people in Woodlands and Toh Yi who objected so strenuously to the plans for eldercare services in their community. To my mind these people were just plain and simple - self-centred, selfish anal orifices.

But apart form this obvious truth, I wonder if the problem might have been averted if the plans for eldercare in Singapore might have been better explained and elaborated upon. Unfortunately for the uninformed it might appear that the planned-for eldercare services were just going to me one or two showcase units plonked into unsuspecting communities to service the whole of Singapore.

Unfortunately, the City For All Ages Project did not go into details about how these plans were going to transform Singapore. Why didn't they just come out and say that these eldercare services were going to be inserted into all communities just as you have community centres everywhere? These eldercare services should be numerous and fully integrated into every community. If these were made clear, then Woodlands and Toh Yi were not going to be stand alone shoulderers of the Singapore burden for looking after our aged.

But there is still time for the MCYS to explain. Meanwhile it really doesn't excuse the boorish and unacceptable behaviour of Woodlands and Toh Yi residents. Shame, shame.

Struggling with mid life disillusionment...

As fellow blogger Singapore MD struggles with disillusionment, I came across this interesting article in The Economist entitled "The U-bend of life". The article is well worth a read.

Apparently, contrary to general perceptions, old people are happier, and get happier as they age.

"When people start out on adult life, they are, on average, pretty cheerful. Things go downhill from youth to middle age until they reach a nadir commonly known as the mid-life crisis. So far, so familiar. The surprising part happens after that. Although as people move towards old age they lose things they treasure—vitality, mental sharpness and looks—they also gain what people spend their lives pursuing: happiness."

So the bad news is if you are heading towards middle-age, things may get a whole lot worse before looking up again. The good news however, is that it will get better!

Finishing well....dying well.

While taking my usual digs at the Straits Times, I have to compliment them on the excellent series of article they did in today's papers on 'dying well'. I think they were a timely contribution, sensitively done. So congrats ST, well done!

Helping our elderly approach the end of their journey is such an important service that the community needs. Apart from just making sure they have adequate Medisave and $$ to pay for illnesses and hospitalization, the need a well constructed and compassionate set of services that will help them ensure the last years are lived out in peace and contentment. I am not just refering to social support services when they get into trouble. Rather the access to positive, pro-health services that encourage the elderly to pre-empt problems because by the time difficulties emerge, the will or ability to resolve these are at their weakest.

Why not have services to facilitate making of wills? Legal advise on resolution of difficult domestic legal issues? Social counselling services that encourage and facilitate conflict resolutions within families? Spiritual counselling for those who need? Friendship services for those who are alone or are incapacitated in some way or other?

So much food for thought.

The GIC saga and the elderly......

It was revealed recently that the GIC losses last year totaled approximately S$50 billion. We don't how much since then. I don't know if this number just include realized losses,or do they include 'paper losses'? Many people believe the actual number may be substantially higher than revealed. I am not enough of a finance person to know who's right. In any case, my calculator cannot even input 50, 000, 000, 000 .... so I am guessing it's really a lot of money. A lot, a lot of money.

Now we hear, GIC is converting its prefered notes into common stock. Hmmm....

Wise decision? The less worse of two really bad options? Who knows? I certainly don't. I can't even get my own 'investments' to work. But I think it sounds logical to some extent to think about it as a long term investment. If we look at it with longer (much much longer) perspective, the investments so far has a good chance of yielding good returns for GIC. Hopefully. Citibank if it survives does appear to represent a good investment option. If it survives.

But not so our elderly. They are not really good investment options. They tend to die.

I think that's why the gahment isn't all to excited about putting any of those many zeroes into maintaining the elderly. Do enough to appear concerned, I think is the motto.

I really wish it were otherwise. It really breaks my heart each time I come across the elderly men and women cleaning out the toilets, our cleaning up after us at the food courts. Why do they have to be working at their age? And such demeaning work as well...They should be in the parks ...enjoying their retirement, playing with their grandchildren. They deserve it. Why do we make the elderly feel they have to continue to pay their way through the end years of their life? I think they are entitled to their rest....regardless of how much savings they have or how much they have in Medisave...

If we are a poor country, I can understand the need to be frugal where social support for the elderly is concerned. But the recent Temasek-GIC fiasco has revealed through, albeit through a glass darkly, the size of our accumulated wealth. Enough wealth to publicly declare a loss totalling some S$100 billion... and shrug it off, because other people have lost more.

Why can'twe spend a bit of this to make our elderly feel loved and honoured. And not just a burden to us...one that we can't wait to be rid off.

Why can't we care for our elderly in Singapore??

Today's Straits Times carried a report by Cheryl Ong on the lack of space and facilities for old people at the centres that care for them.

Clearly the aging of our population is going to put all kinds of strains on our society both in terms of the costs involved, as well as the modification of our living space to accomodate more aging problems. The government has not been sleeping where this is concerned and I believe has been trying to find meaningful solutions to this burgeoning problem.

But I would like to suggest that the government is not doing enough. Principally, I believe, because it is locked in a mindset that frowns on anything that resembles their going down the 'social welfare' road. I think this is a restrictive and self defeating mindset. Some would say, anal retentive.

It's time we look at our elderly as people we should treasure and cherish and honour. I don't think anyone but the government would object to spending more tax-dollars on the elderly. I wish the government would stop harping on the increased costs to look after the elderly, and see it as a necessary part of the filial concerns of our society. I wish they would stop making the elderly feel that it is their fault that they live a long life... what a sin...and what a burden they place on society if they should live beyond 80...or beyond the reach of the Medisave.

Why can't the government just tell the elderly...that we, as a society, celebrate their longevity. That when they grow old, they deserve a rest, not just from work but from the worries of having to fend for themselves. Free from the need to be financially responsbible for their rent, their food or the medical bills. Is it that terrible if they should 'wrongfully' use more tax dollars for their medical bills?

I think this is what we, as a society, owe the elderly.

Can we afford the tax dollars? Of course we can. We just lost an unquantifiable lot of billion dollars because of Temasek and GIC. Could we not spend sone of those billions on making the elderly feel loved?

C'mon governement, stop being so anal retentive about this. Can you afford to be a bit more loving and a bit less calculative? O course you can.