are appreciated.
April 9, 2010
| Unfilial children: You can run but you cannot hide | |
| The New Paper (April 9, 2010) | |
| Shree Ann Mathavan |
HOW sad is it that we need a law to get some children here to look after their elderly parents?
The Government had to intervene with the Maintenance of Parents Act (MPA) in 1995. Simply put, it's a law that compels children to provide financially for their parents.
But what of parents who can't even locate their children? Or those who simply default on payment and then go missing?
For now, the Tribunal for the Maintenance of Parents (TMP) has limited powers.
Mr Seah Kian Peng, who heads a 10-member parliamentary team pushing for amendments to the Act, wants to change that.
If he has his way, the tribunal will have more powers. These include the ability to track down the children using government agencies such as the HDB or the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority.
Hopefully, the tribunal will then be able to sit down with the parents and children to work things out.
In the worst-case scenario, the parents will still have to file an application to get their children to help them out.
But Mr Seah is also proposing a sweetener for the children: Put money into your parents' savings account and earn tax incentives.
Mr Seah and his team were tasked last month to review the MPA, which was passed 15 years ago.
Amendments to the act are expected to be passed within the next 12 months.
The proposed amendments would give the Commissioner of the Maintenance of Parents more powers.
But how often are parents unable to locate their children?
Tracing Children
In about one in 10 cases last year, an application for maintenance could not be filed because parents couldn't provide adequate details about their children.
The Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports (MCYS) said the figure was14 per cent in 2008.
In the meantime, the number of applications has been going up.
So Mr Seah suggested in Parliament last month that the commissioner's role be beefed up.
He told The New Paper: "The expansion of powers could possibly lead to more cases being solved without having to file."
And that means sitting down with all parties to talk.
Filing an application should only be a last resort, he added.
Giving the commissioner more powers could also have a deterrent effect, he said.
"Knowing that the commissioner has greater powers could hopefully trigger a different reaction from the children and make them think twice about neglecting their parents," he said.
He also wants a closer working relationship between the TMP and agencies like community development councils and the HDB, as some old folks approach these agencies instead.
But ultimately, Mr Seah stressed, it is the responsibility of their children, and not the state, to look after the parents.
"We don't want a situation where kids say, if we don't look after our parents, the state will look after them," he said.
Mr Seah also suggested dangling a carrot - in the form of a filial piety savings account with tax incentives - to children who support their parents. He explained: "While the Act, on the one hand, is a tool to protect the vulnerable, this could be a way of celebrating the good that people do as well."
"It's not just about the stick, we also need to find measures that preserve filial piety. It should be a two-pronged approach."
MP Halimah Yacob, who is part of Mr Seah's team and a former tribunal member, said there is a need for stricter enforcement.
"When I was a member of the tribunal, one of the challenges we faced was the implementation of the order," she said.
"Some of the children simply defaulted on payment, thus frustrating and inconveniencing their elderly parents or caregivers who applied on their behalf."
She added: "While we cannot legislate filial piety (completely), adult children have to understand that just as parents under our law have a responsibility to take care of their children who are minors, they too have a responsibility towards their elderly parents.
"The ideal is for us not to legislate this but we don't live in an ideal world."
Members of the public can also give feedback at www.mpa.sg
shreeann@sph.com.sg
This article was first published in The New Paper.