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Tag: Josephine Teo

  • A Letter To “Milk Is Milk” Minister Josephine Teo

    A Letter To “Milk Is Milk” Minister Josephine Teo

    “milk is milk”
    Minister Josephine Teo.

    Dear Mrs. Teo,
    You have truly inspired us with your profound wisdom when you said that “Milk is milk, just buy the cheapest brand.” In fact, you inspired us so much that we came up with our own cost saving ideas…

    1: Salary is salary, and since a monthly salary of $1,000/- a month is enough to buy a HDB flat, why pay ministers millions for? Just pay them $1,000/- a month would be enough, especially since without exception, they’re all such idiots all they do is mess things up rather than solve problems.

    2: Housing is housing, and since a one room HDB flat will shelter you from the elements as well as landed property, just demolish all the landed properties in Tanglin, Upper Bukit Timah and others and built 200 storey HDB flats. Better yet, a one-room HDB flat is a very small space, so like you said before, won’t such small spaces be more conducive to physical intimacy and sex? Oh, and of course, compensate all those living in these areas by giving them flats at the very top floor, and of course, to ensure that the lifts never break down, just do away with the lifts entirely. Hey walking up and down 200 storeys every day is good exercise, right?

    3: Education is education, so why should we squander taxpayers’ monies giving scholarships to ministers’ children when the ministers can afford to pay for their education? And moreover, didn’t Education Minister Ong Ye Kung say that Singapore needs skilled workers? So why not send the ministers’ children to study in ITEs and polytechnics instead of wasting public funds sending them to university on scholarship? This is especially so since without exception, none of them seem to shine in their high-paying jobs. We know, because there’ll be no end of bragging on SPH news if one of them does something exceptional.

    4: Food is food, so why should ministers like Lim Swee Say keep eating in restaurants like Din Tai Fung? There’s absolutely no reason why they can’t eat at hawker centers now, is there?

    5: Jobs are jobs, and whether you’re a cabbie, a cleaner, or a highly-paid senior civil servant you’re still earning an honest living, so why should ministers’ children get highly-paid government jobs or any such? Why not make them become hawkers, cleaners, security guards, cabbies and so forth? Since the government is encouraging us all to work in such dead-end jobs, we expect the ministers to lead by example and make their own children do such jobs.

    See how much your profound wisdom has inspired us?

     

    Source: Jafri Basron

  • ‘Let’s Talk’: Josephine Teo Responds To Clamour Over ‘Sex’ Comment

    ‘Let’s Talk’: Josephine Teo Responds To Clamour Over ‘Sex’ Comment

    A comment about needing “a very small space to have sex” has stirred up social media.

    The remark, made by Senior Minister of State Josephine Teo in an interview with The Straits Times that was published on Wednesday (Oct 12), was meant to encourage young couples to have babies even if they have not settled into their own flat yet. But in a Facebook post on Wednesday night (Oct 12), Mrs Teo said that the newspaper’s coverage “might not have captured everything in the way I intended”.

    She added: “But in all seriousness, we need an honest conversation on how, as a society, we can get ready for Millennial families.”

    “Every way I turn, I see more of our Millennials boldly stepping up to overturn long-held assumptions about what #Singaporeans can and cannot achieve… when I look at our Millennials, I am brimming with hope that a new generation of pioneers is emerging, specifically, in terms of how they will meet both family and career aspirations in new, imaginative ways,” she wrote.

    Mrs Teo also let on that more plans to better support Millennials in marriage and parenthood may be in the works, with “more to come in the next few weeks”.

    Mrs Teo’s Facebook post came after some blogs had came up with lists of the smallest places in Singapore that could fit the bill.

    “Singaporeans are like birds, don’t expect to have eggs when there is no nest to lay them,” Facebook user Shawn Yang said.

    Another Facebook user Derrick Poh commented: “Not everyone has the luxury of depending on their parents to host them and a baby while the government takes 3 to 4 years to build a flat.”

    According to World Bank data, Singapore has the fifth lowest fertility rate in the world, at 1.3 births per woman.

     

    Source: TODAY Online

     

  • What Should Come First, A Baby Or A Flat?

    What Should Come First, A Baby Or A Flat?

    “You need a very small space to have sex.”

    Those were the words of Singapore’s Senior Minister of State Josephine Teo during a state media interview on marriage and parenthood issues.

    Like many wealthy countries, Singapore is facing the challenge of an ageing population and low birth rates, so its government is actively encouraging young citizens to get on with starting a family.

    The candid politician, who is in charge of population matters, was asked if part of the reason why young Singaporeans were not having children was because they were having to wait too long to get their own homes.

    If they’re still living with their parents, it’s hard to do what’s necessary to have a baby, the argument goes.

    But Ms Teo suggested property shouldn’t be a priority, as “you need a very small space to have sex”.

    “In France, in the UK, in Nordic countries, man meets woman [and] they can make a baby already. They love each other,” she said.

    “It’s a matter of living in yours or living in mine. They also don’t have to worry about marriage – that comes later,” she said.

    But in the case of Singapore, she said, “man meets woman, falls in love, proposes and then they plan the wedding and a house”.

    ‘When you care about growth statistics more then citizens’

    The National Population and Talent Division didn’t immediately reply for a request for more comment, but Ms Teo’s words ignited fierce debate on social media.

    A Facebook post carrying the interview was shared more than 5,000 times from the Straits Times newspaper’s official page.

    It also drew a flurry of heated comments from netizens.

    “Do you produce flats faster than we produce babies? Such statements only show how much empathy you’re lacking with couples,” remarked Singaporean Derrick Poh.

    “Did she just promote premarital sex? This is what happens when you care more about growth statistics more then citizens’ well being,” said Shayful Kamal.

    “Our society centres on conservative moral values. In Singapore, building a career trumps having a life partner in terms of financial security – but it doesn’t mean people don’t want to fall in love, get married and have kids,” wrote Chng Jing Hui, who also said Ms Teo’s comments were “frivolous”.

    Other Singaporeans raised the point of financial stability and being “responsible”.

    “I think she’s missed the point; it’s not where to have sex. To have a house before a child is correct. Is she encouraging young couples to have babies and continue to depend on their parents? Having a flat also means the couple is financially sound before they can move on to the next stage of life,” said Jo-Ann Tan.

    Charis Mun said: “Children should be planned for when both parties are ready for the responsibilities of parenthood. And having the stability and security of your own matrimonial home is essential to raise children.”

     

    Source: BBC

  • You Don’t Need Much Space To Have Sex: Josephine Teo On ‘No Flat, No Child’ Belief

    You Don’t Need Much Space To Have Sex: Josephine Teo On ‘No Flat, No Child’ Belief

    You do not need much space to have sex.

    That was the feisty rejoinder from Senior Minister of State Josephine Teo, who oversees the National Population and Talent Division, to a question on whether young people are not getting their flats early enough to have children.

    The suggestion was that this could be a chicken-and-egg problem. To qualify for the Parenthood Priority Scheme, which gives first- time married couples first dibs on getting a flat, they must be expecting or have a citizen child below 16.

    But to have a child, some say they need to have a flat first.

    With a straight face, Mrs Teo declared: “You need a very small space to have sex.”

    Known for her candid blog posts on dating and marriage, Mrs Teo does not mince her words – think “menstruation” and “cysts” – when it comes to urging young people to look for love and settle down early.

    In an interview on marriage and parenthood issues last week, the mother of three teenage children tackled issues ranging from infertility to why the Government should not be “too kaypoh” (Hokkien for busybody).

    She noted that the Singaporean love story has a different arc from that of countries in the West. “In our case, man meets woman, man falls in love with woman, man proposes to woman, they then plan the wedding and do the house,” she said.

    “In France, in the UK, in the Nordic countries, man meets woman, tonight they can make a baby already. They love each other. Both of them partly have their own family, so it is a matter of living in yours or living in mine, and they also don’t have to worry about marriage – that comes later,” she added.

    So how about having a couple declare that they wish to have a child in two years and get the flat first?

    “What if they can’t conceive? Take back the flat from them? How do you know they really tried to conceive? Can we check whether they use contraceptives? Cannot, right?” she replied, amused.

    Instead of having the Government poke its nose into the bedroom, Mrs Teo relied instead on persuasion. She urged women to have babies early as they would not know if they are fertile or not.

    “You never really know that you’re not fertile until you try. Unfortunately, it is one of those things. There is no fertility indicator. As a woman you will know, if you have regular menstruation, okay, (there is a) likelihood. But maybe you have a major cyst and how would you know until you attempt to conceive, only to realise that you can’t?”

    The search for love is also not something to be left to chance, she said. “When I meet young people and ask if they go and look for upgrading opportunities, they said ‘yes’. I said, ‘What about love? Do you go and look for love?’ They said ‘no’. I said, ‘Why not?’ They said, ‘If it happens, it happens’.

    “I said, ‘You don’t think that upgrading and a good job, if it happens it happens, right? So why is it that you would apply that thinking to your career and your own education, but you don’t apply it to your personal life?’”

    However, the minister was quick to point out that there is a need to respect personal choice when it comes to marriage and children.

    She said: “In this day and age, it is not possible for us to say that you are somehow bad, you are not doing your part for society.

    “No, there are many reasons why people remain single. Sometimes, (for) very good reasons. Why should we pass judgment on them?”

     

    Source: The Straits Times

  • 5 Reasons Josephine Teo’s Service To Singapore Should Be Measured In Dollars And Cents

    5 Reasons Josephine Teo’s Service To Singapore Should Be Measured In Dollars And Cents

    In a post-budget 2015 forum on Feb. 26, 2015, Minister of State Josephine Teo was asked if national servicemen should be paid more.

    She said she noted the importance of giving NSmen recognition, but service for the country cannot be measured in dollars and cents.

    Here are 5 reasons why only Josephine Teo’s contributions to Singapore can be measured in dollars and cents:

    1. She is from the PAP.

    Only dollars and cents apply to them.

    2. It is a privilege for Singaporean Sons to serve National Service. Being a Minister of State, on the other hand, is a thankless job.

    Only money can be used as compensation.

    3. Because National Service is its own reward.

    And because serving Singapore as a Minister of State is not its own reward.

    4. Because Full-time National Servicemen get paid such a miniscule derisory amount it doesn’t even matter.

    Unlike what she gets, which can be counted easily because it is so much.

    5. She is the bulwark against any invasive force.

    She is not part of Total Defence. She is Total Defence itself.

    She can singlehandedly defend Singapore’s sovereignty by herself. That’s why only her contributions can be quantified in dollars and cents.

     

    Source: http://newnation.sg