By Gong KiuKiu

Chan Chun Sing. Enough said.

The People’s Action Party will have to sacrifice Hougang if it wishes to halt social problems like the low fertility rate, said Acting Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports Chan Chun Sing.

“These are the tough choices we have to make,” he said at the sidelines of the poorly attended PAP rally last night.

He denied ever advocating for a rise in the total fertility rate (TFR) by promoting children out of wedlock in a forum organised by the Institute of Policy Studies on Monday.

“A participant asked why Nordic countries have such high TFR. Someone from IPS then pointed out that if we deconstruct the numbers, we would realise that their TFR for married couples is rather similar to ours, but they accepted children out of wedlock. I then asked the audience if we as a society would ever accept that?”

Instead, Chan admitted that his ministry has been working on a study to take advantage of the PAP’s declining popularity to improve the TFR of the country. Hougang, he said, is on a slow decline toward slumhood and if the Worker’s Party (WP) manages to maintain its hold on the constituency, there will come a time when even the street lamps in Hougang will be shut off due to poor maintenance.

This, Chan reckons, will create a hub for amorous young couples looking for more privacy in public. According to sources familiar with the matter, the social development network, Singapore’s state-run dating agency, has already called dibs on the potentially darkest spots in the constituency.

“We have KPI to hit,” the minister said while refusing to disclose when the study will be released.

The WP failed to answer our calls at the time of publication but a source who is always present during crucial meetings  said they were busy telling the media about why the party’s Hougang candidate, Png Eng Huat, did not become a non constituency member of parliament after last year’s elections.