Yale-NUS announced in April that once its new campus at Dover Road is ready, it will have residential suites which allow a mix of male and female students to stay together.

These suites are made up of four to six rooms and will share a common room and toilet.

One forum writer to The Straits Times, Chen Dewei, was not impressed with this development.

He wrote a letter -- "Co-ed cohabitation endangers chastity" -- to voice out about the pitfalls of the Yale-NUS move.

In the letter, Chen did not address how students staying in mix-gender residential suites would have a higher chance of having premarital sex.

But the main thrust of his argument was that Yale-NUS''policy propagates a lifestyle that begets relational loneliness'. He came to this conclusion by explaining the dangers of premarital sex.

He claims that "the voices of your previous sex partners hovering over you when you embark on a serious relationship can be very disconcerting" and that "rage and insecurity can hinder the formation of a healthy relationship and it is very lonely to be in such marriages".

He proclaimed that if someone is able to "control himself before marriage, he will be able to control himself after marriage".

Here's the letter from the Straits Times in full:

YALE-NUS College recently announced that it will be allowing male and female students to share suites ("Male, female students in Yale-NUS can soon share suites"; April 22).

In the report, a parent, Mrs Grace Yeo, was quoted saying: "These are not teenagers but young adults. I trust my son to make responsible choices."

I wonder if this is representative of Singapore parents today.

Based on the 2004 Global Sex Survey by Durex, the average age that Singaporean youth first have sex is 18.9 years. The survey also found that Singapore youth have an average of 5.8 sexual partners.

The average age that our youth first have sex is dangerously close to the age when students would enter Yale-NUS.

So we have to ask ourselves a fundamental question: Is it an issue to have premarital sex?

Or perhaps we think that even if our children have premarital sex, they can sort it out after marriage.

A recent report ("Recent marriages not standing the test of time"; April 7) showed that recent marriages are failing more often than in the past, and I would say that today's generation lacks faithfulness.

How does abstaining from premarital sex help? Because when your partner can control himself before marriage, he will be able to control himself after marriage.

One may ask: Why keep your virginity when you can have fun? Because sex has the uncanny ability to create a lasting connection with another person, and the voices of your previous sex partners hovering over you when you embark on a serious relationship can be very disconcerting.

Rage and insecurity can hinder the formation of a healthy relationship and it is very lonely to be in such marriages.

Intentionally or unintentionally, Yale-NUS' policy propagates a lifestyle that begets relational loneliness.

Chen Dewei

Related articles:

Congratulations, Straits Times. You just published the worst Forum letter in 2014.

Ambassador of Russia to S’pore just wrote the funniest forum letter to The Straits Times

Troll bait forum letter was just one in a series of complaint letters to the press

If you like what you read, follow us on Facebook and Twitter to get the latest updates.