The National Family Council has unveiled Singapore’s first Family Pledge on Tuesday.
“We, the people of Singapore,
pledge to build strong and happy Families.
We affirm the commitment of marriage
between husband and wife.
And take responsibility to nurture our children,
and respect our elders.
We celebrate and honour
the roles of each Family member.
And uphold the Family as the foundation”
Channel News Asia reports
It was launched during an appreciation lunch, hosted by Acting Minister for Social and Family Development Chan Chun Sing for organisers, partners and sponsors of this year’s National Family Celebrations.
The pledge is written by the National Family Council with input from stakeholders, including the youth sub-committee of the organising committee of this year’s National Family Celebrations.
It aims to encourage good family practices, such as affirming commitment between husband and wife, and taking responsibility to nurture children and respect elders.
Mr Lim Soon Hock, chairman of National Family Council, said: “Research has shown that when people make a commitment through a pledge, it is more likely that they (will) carry it out.”
But who are the stakeholders mentioned in the report? Families like mine and yours?
Making a visit to the NFC’s website, Joshua Chiang, former editor of TOC comments,
“Notice something in the scrolling banners of the homepage of this website? Yup. Every single person in the picture appears to be either a Chinese or an Eurasian. So it appears that not only does the NFC not recognize single parent, divorced, or LGBT families as families, but members of other ethnicities need not apply?”
Kirsten Han, spuddings.net writes in her latest blog post,
“While aiming to encourage family life in Singapore, this pledge excludes same-sex couples, divorced parents, single parents, or anyone not in a ‘traditional’ nuclear family structure. According to this pledge, these people don’t deserve to be seen as families. On top of the everyday struggles of a single parent in Singapore – because, for some reason, the state can’t seem to treat them like any other parent – we have added this giant stinking whopper of an insult. Here you go, just a little reminder that you’re not accepted here.”
Can recital of a pledge really hope to achieve the goals of encouraging good family practices?
Is it simply an attempt to coerce the general public to conform to the mentality of a traditional family nucleus which the government has been stuck with in terms of policies making. ie, HDB allocation which had been based on?
What are your thoughts over this first ever Family Pledge?