Singapore — Member of Parliament Jamus Lim (WP Sengkang GRC) made an appeal on behalf of families who experience stillbirths and adoption.
He shared stories from his own family’s experiences with both, having had a stillborn brother, and with his own mother being adopted.
Dr Lim said he was speaking of “the dejected, the downtrodden, and the disaffected. Parents of stillborn children, parents who have adopted children, and working women in a precarious position due to pregnancy.”
“As a society, we should absolutely help them in every way we can,” he said in the context of his speech on amendments to the Child Development Co-Savings Bill, which he “more than welcomed”.
He said that in 1989 his mother became unexpectedly pregnant. This was when he was 13, and his younger sister was 6.
As they were a family of “modest means,” his mother continued to work. And, as an older mother, she endured a difficult pregnancy.
“In final months I recall how she had to sleep upright on many nights due to the discomfort.”
But the family looked forward to the new baby who would come exactly seven years after his younger sister, and 14 years after him. They saw it “as a sign that my brother’s conception was a gift from God.”
“Seven being the perfect number. But his birth was not to be,” said the Sengkang MP.
He went on to say that his father woke him early on the morning of May 6.
“He had tears in his eyes, one of only three times in my life that I had seen him cry.
‘We lost Jaron,’ he said.
My brother had been stillborn. The sign of the seven had not been perfect after all.”
Dr Lim said that it took a long while for his mother to recover, and underlined the importance of the amendments to the Bill, since there is no difference in what a mother suffers in a healthy birth and a stillbirth.
They might, in fact, need a longer maternity leave because of the trauma they experienced, he added, citing studies to support his point.
The MP also said that his mother, one of ten children, had been adopted. Since her father had died early, it would have been impossible for Dr Lim’s grandmother to raise all of her children on her own.
He said that adoption may become more and more prevalent in Singapore, given the rising age of women when they get married, as well as the falling fertility rate in the country.
This is another reason why he is supporting the amendment, although he raised some questions about some of its wording.
The video of Dr Lim’s speech may be viewed here.
Minister of State for Education, Social and Family Development Sun Xueling discussed the amendments to the CDCA with the Members of Parliament on Monday (Aug 2), which has two new schemes: the Government-Paid Paternity Benefit (GPPB) and the Government-Paid Adoption Benefit (GPAB).
/TISG
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