Now, let me talk about babies. More than any other issue, the topic of marriage and parenthood has dominated the last three days of discussion in this House. I am heartened by this because it shows that Members understand the seriousness of the problem. They have applied their minds to it and, in many cases, obviously their hearts as well.

Many spoke with passion on this subject, not only the parents, but also the grandparents. Some devoted large parts of their speeches to analysing the problem and to suggesting ideas to tackle it. So, over the next few months, the Working Committee on Population will carefully consider all the views that have been put forward. I understand that Mrs Yu-Foo has added them altogether, and counted 50, and has given the list to Mr Lim Hng Kiang.

As Dr Amy Khor pointed out, most young Singaporeans want to get married. And most married couples want to have children. The trouble is not all the young Singaporeans get married and not all those who get married end up having children. But, anyway, they do want to and this is an important starting point. Hence, the SDU and SDS provide match-making services, which are very popular, despite the fees that Dr Teo Ho Pin complained about. I asked SDS and SDU what the explanation was and they gave me two very good explanations. First, the fees are very low compared to the private sector because they charge $30-$150, whereas the private sector charges $700-$1,000. So it is a real bargain. In fact, Mr Inderjit Singh may accuse us of unfair competition one of these days. But the second reason is from SDU's and SDS' experience, people who are prepared to pay a fee are much more serious in wanting to look for a partner than those who use the services because they are free. So I think that this is quite a good thing going on and we should not disturb it.

The Government's role is to foster a conducive environment and strengthen the support network to help Singaporeans fulfil their aspirations and to enjoy parenthood and family living. As I emphasised in my Budget Statement, the Government will take a holistic and coherent approach to this issue.

At the same time, we have to be realistic in our expectations. Members have made many suggestions on how we can create a pro-natal environment. They cover everything under the sun: reduce stress in school; 5-day week in the civil service; different permutations of maternity or paternity leave; flexi-work arrangements; more subsidies for childcare; reduce foreign maid levy; reduce abortion rate; make adoption easier; ensure gender equality; equal medical benefits for men and women in the civil service; grant citizenship by descent to children born overseas to women citizens; make boys and girls spend time together through national service; and many more. And even this is not an exhaustive list.