Post-65s, post-75s or post-85s?

SINGAPORE: During the last general elections, a new catch phrase was coined. No, it is not Gomez but post-65s. These are the people born after Singapore independence. The reasoning is that these group of people form the bulk of the populace and hence their problems should take precedence over the pre-65 population. Good reasoning but is it an over-generalisation?

The electing citizen born after 1965 would be in their 20's, 30's and early 40's now. Their age gap may seem close by only about 20-30 years, but given the rapid development of Singapore, this means that despite the short time differences, their live experiences are necessarily very different. These experiences started with the influence of their parents experiences to that of their own when they are old enough to mould their own. Hence, their experiences are influenced by the major events that had affected Singapore after independence - the fallout of the 1964 racial riot in Singapore and the 1969 racial riot of Malaysia, the period of robust growth in the 70s, the world recession of 1985 and the Asian financial crises of 1997. With such varied experience, I feel that the populace should be separated into three groups for the purpose of addressing potential aspirations and problems.

Those who just hit their 40's will be the first group. These included the current young MPs, the married couples with older children and teenagers, and the bulk of the working population. This group is different from the other post65s because of their parents' experience. Their parents just fresh from the racial riots of 1964 and having to re-live the same experience with the racial riots of 1969 in Malaysia, will impart a different value to their children. This group of people will grow very much aware of the dangers of racial conflicts and the need to promote racial understandings and cooperation. Because of their parents experiences, they are more sensitive to each others race and their culture. This is examplify by the ability of the non-Malays to understand Malay, the sensitivity about not exposing pork to a Muslim friend or trying to take halal food when going out with their Muslim friends. This is clearly lacking especially in the current group of primary school children.

On the economic front, this group is also more appreciative of the good life around them and tend to manage their finances better. Fresh out of independence and the racial riot, the economy of the day was not as robust as today's. Hence, the lower income group still made up the majority of the population. Because money was hard to come by, this group of people are more frugal and realistics in their expectations. They were brought up to appreciate the value of money and as a result tended to be less wasteful and have more moderate expectations. They should not be too different from the pre-65s.

The next group is the post-75s. This are the people who grew up with a silver spoon. Their parents were the ones who experienced the greatest pay rises, the influx US-consumer culture and rapid development in Singapore. Coupled with the good economy was the phenomenon of double-income family. Women were no longer frowned upon if they join the workforce. This together with the demand for labour by the booming economy and the government's policy to encourage women to join the workforce, money was no longer a main issue. Pay rises and bonuses were order of the day. Hence their children were more pampered. They have more toys, more pocket money and travel more. When money is aplenty, frugality is no longer necessary. Hence these groups are not so careful with their finances, does not know how to moderate their expectations and generally more carefree.

The double-income family presented with a new problem. Child-minding becomes a problem. This slack was however taken up by the grandparents because at the time, extended family was still very much alive. Hence, the influence of the grandparents were very much alive and these influences may have moderated on some the post-75s expectations.

The last group will be the group of post-85s. These are the group of people who grew up with maids. With 'progress', perceptions and lifestyles have changed. Nuclear family became more common. Women who chose not to work were seen in different light. Grandparents were replaced with the easy availability of maids. Hence the post-85s were largely left to the maids for their upbringing. There was little guidance given to their children by the parents. And the maids were not allow to discipline the children. Guidance were largely left to the schools. However the schools were unable to do a better job because of the constraints put on the teachers by the Ministry and the parents themselves.

These children grew up largely influenced by their peers as they spent more time with them. This was due to the extended school hours because of extensive school syllabus and the government's policy of helping parents who work. There was also no incentive to go home to an empty house. Hence their experience were largely shaped by their interactions with their friends. The majority of them unfortunately did not know how to carry themselves in society, being sensitive to the people around them. With consumerism at its height, and money in the pockets, they have the worse bargain among the post-65s. I foresee them to pose the biggest challenge for any future government. Already there tell-tale signs of things to come - teenage pregnancy, inconsiderate behaviour, unrealistics and extravagant lifestyles. The extend of the group's influence will only be fully appreciated when they have their own families.

Therefore instead of grouping the major electing populace into just the post-65s, they should be grouped into post-65s, post-75s and post-85s because their life experience necessitate that their expectations will be very different; and different means should be employed to engage them. Post-65s, post-75s and post-85s are a mouthful. I would just called them the 'Careful group', the 'Carefree group' and the 'Careless group' respectively.