1 year maternity leave

Few days ago MM Lee hinted that Singapore may follow Swedish model of having 13-month parental leave. Hmm.. maybe this is the reason why we have not had any baby. God plans a longer parental leave for us because He knows that we have noone to turn to if we have a baby here.

Well, I am both happy and worried if government really implement this. Talking from my personal point of view, I will of course welcome the change and I will be very grateful for that. One of the reasons why I am reluctant to have a baby now is because I still can't really figure out how I am going to balance work and motherhood. Both of us are very reluctant to have a maid (share our nest with a stranger and lose our freedom at home??). So longer parental leave will definitely ease our burden.

However, from business and economic point of view, I am very concerned with the change. If I position myself as a business owner and I have to give 1 year maternity leave, I will incur significantly higher cost. Government, too, will incur higher expenditure. Who will pay for this? Government. How does government get money? From tax payers and investment. In the end, the cost will be somehow shared between tax payers, government investment arms, and corporations. In Sweden, the tax can be up to 54%, depending on your income level.

If this policy is applied in Singapore, there will be serious changes in the society. Politically, socially, economically. One must weigh whether the sacrifice of paying more taxes is justifiable with the increase of birth rate. Who will have to give more? Who will receive more? Who will suffer the most? Who will benefit the most? To simply say that paying more taxes means the society will have to sacrifice more financially is not really true. If we think long term, the effect of not enough babies today will affect Singapore economy more severely later than the increase in tax now. So if suddenly government rules that tax will be increased to finance longer parental leave, I have no complain. I have confidence in Singapore government and I believe they would have analysed the positives and negatives, and they would make decision for the better. I myself think that the money I pay for the tax is not as important as the chance to spend my time with my baby for the first year.

So, until that day comes, I just have to accept my 3-month maternity leave gratefully and hope that my employer is willing to give me a no-pay leave for another 3 months at least.