Commentary: Super-aged Singapore must talk about assisted living – and assisted dying
CNA
Singapore does not need to rush to conclusions about assisted dying, but it needs to have the courage to begin the conversation, says Sree Narayana Mission’s Board of Trustees chairman Dileep Nair.
SINGAPORE: In Japan, many seniors speak fondly of Pin Pin Korori. It means to live independently and energetically until the very end, and then to pass away quickly and peacefully. It is a simple but profound aspiration: living well and dying well as one continuous trajectory.
That feels unfamiliar in Singapore, not because we treat them as two separate conversations but because we focus mainly on half of one. Singapore invests heavily in active ageing, preventive health and better long-term care. But we stop short of confronting the full reality of ageing: how people want to live in their final decades, and how they want to leave.
That seems out of step with Singapore expected to become a “super-aged” society this year, when more than one in five will be 65 years or older.
If dignity matters at every stage of life, then we must talk about assisted living, and also – carefully and thoughtfully – about assisted dying.
Singapore has not embraced assisted living in a truly substantial way. There are pilot projects, in the form of specially designed Housing and Development Board flats known as Community Care Apartments.
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