LETTERS: Malaysia's population is close to 34 million. It is important for us to increase the birth rate.
This was what Women, Family and Community Development Minister Datuk Seri Nancy Shukri said, calling on "young Malaysians to get married and have babies".
She urged men to take the matter seriously "and cooperate well with their partners to have children".
We should backtrack a little. Marriage is not for everyone, having babies or children even more so.
Marriage is the ultimate commitment. Having children or not is a personal matter.
People usually marry when they fall in love or are motivated to marry, and not just marry to produce babies like a factory production line.
Some love to be single and they are happy with that choice. Some people make bad decisions in relationships.
The minister herself said in March that "509 baby dumping cases were reported between 2018 and February this year".
Then there are those who see things differently — population increase impacts climate change.
Having more people not only means we need to use more fuel, it also means that we need to grow more food, which in turn means using more land for agriculture.
Cutting down more trees would affect the Earth's ability to counter the effects of carbon emissions, which will cause temperatures to rise.
It is said that in the world of manufacturing, few innovations have been as transformative as the assembly line. This successful concept has been ascribed primarily to Henry Ford and the automotive industry.
It is not right to mimic the assembly line in the "production" of babies.
The narrative should not be about increasing the birth rate to have a higher number of citizens. The emphasis should be on quality over quantity.
DR A. SOORIAN
Seremban, Negri Sembilan
The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect those of the New Straits Times