https://www.iseas.edu.sg/images/pdf/ISEAS_Perspective_2013_9.pdf

The Singapore's government's much awaited Population White Paper was finally released on 29 January 2013. Within it, two primary challenges are recognized which like pincers are closing in at an alarming rate. On the one hand, the country's population is aging rapidly, while on the other, its total fertility rate (TFR) of 1.2 is one of the lowest in the world. This shrinking and simultaneously ageing tendency of the population not only heralds slower economic growth for the near future but also draws attention to some key concerns, such as the impending inability to meet the nation's military and security needs.

Using declassified British documents and Chinese-language newspapers, this paper seeks to supplement existing understanding of Chief Minister David Marshall's Labour Front-Alliance Government in Singapore from April 1955 to June 1956. From the outset, the government's reforms were hampered by its own weaknesses. It was viable only because British policy was to keep it 'in position'.