'It doesn't bother me': NYP student responds to strawberry generation label at Gan Kim Yong discussion

Youngsters have often received flak from older generations for being perceived as wilting under pressure easily, but Deputy Prime Minister Gan Kim Yong was impressed with one student’s response at being part of the "strawberry generation". 

It refers to those born from 1990s onwards, and is labelled as such due to the perception that they are easy bruised, entitled and pampered. 

During the Institute of Policy Studies’ (IPS) annual Singapore Perspective conference at the Sands Expo and Convention Centre on Monday (Jan 26), IPS director Janadas Devan, who acted as the moderator in a dialogue with DPM Gan, gave the label to students in the audience.

"Don’t you want to object to a 'strawberry generation' label put on you?" DPM Gan then asked one of the students. 

To his surprise, Darren, who introduced himself as a Nanyang Polytechnic student, simply replied: "No, it doesn’t bother me."

"The self-confidence," said the impressed DPM Gan to Janadas. "This is our hope for the future". 

Darren had asked DPM Gan on how the Government can engage foreigners without sidelining Singaporeans. 

To that, the minister replied that building a "we first" society is about taking care of the needs of both foreigners — which includes migrant workers — and Singaporeans. 

“Not a divisive approach, but a collective one,” he added. 

During the same dialogue, DPM Gan warned that Singapore’s core of citizens will begin to shrink if there are no measures to improve the total fertility rate (TFR), which refers to the average number of babies each woman would have during her reproductive years. 

The TFR in 2024 was 0.97 — same as in 2023.

But the dragon years — seen as auspicious years in the Chinese zodiac for children to be born — usually result in an increase in Singapore’s birth rate, DPM Gan noted.

The 2024 TFR remaining unchanged from 2023 therefore means that the "base has come down further" rather than it has stabilised, he said.

While the data for 2025 is still being worked on, DPM Gan, who is also Minister for Trade and Industry, said that he is "not likely to give good news". 

When asked how the Government manages social cohesion between citizens and foreigners with Singapore’s low birth rate necessitating more immigration, he said that it has to focus on measures to support social integration, especially for new citizens. 

"It’s ongoing, always in progress. Because with every generation of new immigrants, the challenges are different, and we need to continue to change our programmes, but we must continue to seek to integrate them better into the society," added DPM Gan.

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chingshijie@asiaone.com