A journalist
Joins a new club
And finds its not such a great idea. By Seah Chiang Nee.
Jun 20, 2005

WHEN I reached 65 recently, I gained entry into a club in Singapore that is becoming less exclusive by the year.

It's a bit like entering life's twilight zone in which we are three years past retirement age and a decade ahead of product expiration. The average lifespan here is 75, slightly less for men.

The perks of membership are not bad by world standards, but in a global, high-tech world that favours youth, growing old is not a great idea.

Singapore is no exception, except here our numbers are increasing faster than most countries in Asia.

Twilight zone? Yes, because on one side, the elderly is revered as a sage who will pass traditions to grandchildren, which I think is good. At the same time, he is regarded as "an economic burden" to society.

On balance though, I believe there's enough of tradition remaining in this international city that respects its "senior citizens" as they are referred to in official documents.

Next year, a whole week will be earmarked to pay tribute to them. Youths of all races address them as "uncles" or "aunties". Where else in the world is this happening?

I also get to pay less for public transport, cinema tickets, some concerts and fees at the zoo and other tourist spots. I even get discounts at my supermarket one day a week.

Some restaurants give out rebates to schoolchildren and retirees, though I suspect the move more as a marketing ploy, but who's complaining?

The treatment of the aged becomes crucial because this population is rising rapidly.

In 1990, there were 164,000 Singaporeans aged 65 or older; in 2003, the figure had risen to 264,000. By 2030, they will hit 800,000 or 19% of the citizenry.

Proportionate to population, today's 7% will rise to 19% in 25 years. Singapore is steadily churning out fewer babies and more aged, a formula for demographic disaster.

Ageing has more flip sides. Those afflicted can't easily climb Mount Kinabalu or ride a skateboard or run 6km wearing army boots.

It actually entails living in a new world armed with old knowledge.
Many 65-sers have no more than a primary school education, some still unable to use the typewriter even after it has been rendered extinct by the computer.

I operate a website and have long discovered that hardly any of my age-group friends are visiting it or any other site. The Internet community remains largely teens and young professionals.

Many are feeling out of place with the world's new technology, including the Internet.

During one visit to the General Hospital, I saw an elderly man struggling to push excess cups back up into the holder after he had mistakenly pulled them out. For a long time he failed until a teenager helped him by dropping them back - from the top.

At a nearby counter, an uneducated gentleman in his 70s had to use his thumbprint because he couldn't sign his name. He used only dialect, which presented the young Mandarin-speaking receptionist some difficulty.

That they had to grapple with even the simplest tasks, let alone high-tech stuff, reflects how modern life is affecting some of my older peers.

Members of the 65-club also face failing health and higher medical costs, become easier victims for criminal violence or erratic car drivers. They also form the majority of lonely and suicide deaths.

The world is rotating away from them towards their children and grandchildren. Some 57% of public dealings with the government are done online.

Youth is vibrancy and has a dream, while the retiree has only wishes and past memories.

So how do they cope? The majority depends on their working children, but the economic downturn has affected many middle-class families and made a dent on their lives.

Others survive on savings, mainly from Central Provident Fund. The hardier ones work in fast food or petrol outlets or clean tables. Welfarism is a dirty word here.

Last week, The Straits Times reported an increasing number of elderly being dumped in nursing homes by their children unwilling or unable to pay the bills.

"The residents' children play hide-and-seek with social workers, ignore letters and calls, even move house to avoid paying," its reporter wrote. "Some threaten to throw their parents onto the street if the homes discharge them."

A few senior citizens, because of slow reflexes and poor eyesight, are themselves causing havoc on the roads.

Since age 60, I have had to pass an eyesight test conducted by a doctor before I could renew my driving licence.

This week, the government said that was not enough. It appears that drivers over 60 were responsible for 82% of traffic deaths in the first quarter of the year.

So I will soon have to face a tougher test involving the use of a simulator to check my driving reflexes and physical abilities.

Singapore's retirement age was raised from 55 to 60 years in 1993, then to 62 years in 1999. Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew wants it higher at 67.Cynics scoff that it would be meaningless since so many workers in their 40's are already losing jobs to younger people.

Obviously concerned, the government is going all out to retrain older workers or match jobs for the unemployed, whose success or failure will impact politics.

The baby boomers are the ruling People's Action Party's most ardent supporters, having benefited most from the city's early successes. Many feel beholden to it for being lifted out of poverty.

This group forms a solid bloc of pro-PAP voters, although recent hardships may have eroded a part of it.

The 1984 general election in which 12.4% of voters swung to the opposition led Lee to ponder changing the one-person-one-vote system.

He said that older and married citizens with children ought to be given more than one vote in accordance with age because they were generally more mature and gamble less with the vote compared to singles.

It never materialised. Evidently he was talked out of it.

No one can really predict how - when given two or three votes instead of one - Singapore's granddad would use that power.

(This was written for and published in The Sunday Star on Jun 19, 2005)