Doing it ‘right’ by your parents in Singapore: A political economy examination of the Maintenance of Parents Act of 1995

Abstract

Singapore is expected to experience a demographic revolution in its ageing population in the coming decades. In an effort to deal with this projected burgeoning need, the Singapore Parliament enacted the Maintenance of Parents Act in 1995. The Act legislates the financial responsibility of adult children towards their indigent aged parents. Using archival data, including parliamentary debates, official reports, and print media records, this study examines the Act’s underlying ideologies and cultural assumptions. The authors move beyond the rhetoric of filial piety and draw on the political economy of ageing perspective to uncover the contradictions that are inherent in the Act’s stated and unstated functions. This paper contextualizes the enactment of the Act within the larger governmental goals of nation-building, regime maintenance and wealth accumulation, and notes the Act’s coherence with other governmental ideologies, namely self-reliance and pragmatism.