Another day, another comment by a Singapore cabinet member that outrages Singaporeans on social media.

Like us normal, less-educated folk, Singaporean economist and public intellectual Donald Low balked when he read about what Senior Minister of State in the Prime Minister's Office Josephine Teo said about married couples having children before getting a flat.

But unlike us normal, less-educated folk, Low didn't find offence at the "sex in small spaces" throwaway; his issue was with the following two paragraphs from the Straits Times report of what she said:

She noted that the Singaporean love story has a different arc from that of countries in the West. "In our case, man meets woman, man falls in love with woman, man proposes to woman, they then plan the wedding and do the house," she said.

"In France, in the UK, in the Nordic countries, man meets woman, tonight they can make a baby already. They love each other. Both of them partly have their own family, so it is a matter of living in yours or living in mine, and they also don't have to worry about marriage — that comes later," she added. (emphasis ours)

Never mind about the apparent implication Teo seems to be making that people in the Nordics are happy to have children without even getting married, but the point she is making here is that Singaporean couples seem overly concerned about getting married and getting a home before thinking about children, as compared to those in France, the UK and the Nordics.

Low wrote about this in a Facebook status on Thursday night, effectively highlighting the inherent problem with doing this: comparing Singaporean attitudes toward having children with those in France, the UK and Nordic countries.

We break down what he said:

1. The key question to ask here, is WHY French and Nordic married couples have the stereotype of being willing to have babies without worrying about things like having their own home.

Low has a succinct answer to this question:

"...the French and the Nordics all can rely on comprehensive welfare states that guarantee them cheap healthcare, long maternity (of up to two years) and paternity leave, very affordable childcare, affordable rental housing, and much else."

2. Now, we all would know by now that they enjoy all these great things because they pay sky-high taxes. And that's the choice they've made.

Correspondingly, it's the choice Singapore has made for us to pay far lower taxes, but also get far less affordable healthcare, less maternity and paternity, and not-that-affordable childcare/housing, etc etc etc.

3. Should we therefore be entitled to complain that Singaporeans aren't as ready to have babies without having to worry about whether they can afford childcare, housing and healthcare?

In short, no.

4. Comparing us to the Nordics is a flawed thing to do, also because they've got better gender equality, income equality and social justice.

How's this in any way related to having more children? Everything, Low argues, because

- When there is greater gender equality, it means husbands have an equal stake in raising a child with their wives — not just by providing for the child financially or indirectly. This reduces the burden of looking after children that weighs chiefly on the mother.

- When the income gap is smaller, there is less pressure and competition between social classes — those who earn less may feel less as if children they have will face tougher circumstances in life.

- Where there is social justice, people in a society trust that society is a good place to raise their children, and will have children with greater confidence of the environment they will be raised in, and the values people around them will influence them with.

5. Singapore appears to have made the choice to sacrifice these things to some extent, by virtue of our culture, national policies and society. Should we therefore be entitled to complain that Singaporeans aren't as ready to have babies when these concerns do exist?

Again, no.

Here're his comments in full:

So there you have it. The real problem we *should* be having with what Senior Minister of State Josephine Teo said about having sex in small spaces.

In case you've been busy having sex in a small space and don't know what we're talking about:

Comic reactions to Josephine ‘You need a very small space to have sex’ Teo’s comment

S’pore Twitter came up with list of great small spaces for couples to have sex in

Josephine Teo responds to online criticisms, says discussion needed on how to prepare for millennial families

Josephine Teo said you don’t need a flat before making babies, S’poreans disagree vehemently

Top photos: Screenshot from video, LKYSPP

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