I refer to the article Making sense of Singapore politics . I felt moved to make an addition to the points on Singapore's 'Stop at Two' policy and the republic's Graduate Mothers Programme of 1983.

Yew failed to mention that before 1983, mothers who did not comply with the directive to stop at two children were fined by having to pay an increase in hospitalisation fees. At that time, there was no distinction between non-graduate mothers and graduate mothers.

I then lived in a Malay kampong near Bedok, Singapore. Generally, Malays do have more than two children. Many Malay mothers who bore their third and subsequent child engaged the services of the Malay midwife and gave birth at home to avoid the penalty for not complying with the 'Stop at Two' programme.

Most midwives are licenced by the state. There are no unlicenced midwives today. Once the Singapore government got wind of the loophole, all midwives were told not to facilitate the birth of a third or subsequent child at home.

Failure to comply means risking their midwifery licence. Most Malay Singaporeans view the 'Stop at Two' law as an attempt to lower the birth rates of Malays.

When graduate mothers failed to bear children as required by the state, Singapore encouraged migration from Taiwan, China and Hong Kong of families with children.

Thus, one can see a Chinese family with four to five children in Singapore today. But I have been told by Chinese friends that these are overseas Chinese.

I believe the former premier, current Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew, at one time believed in the 'nature over nurture' theory. According to him, graduate mothers will produce better children.