SHAH ALAM - As love fills the air on Valentine's Day, Bayan Baru MP Sim Tzin Sin highlighted a concern within the Malaysian Chinese community: declining marriage and birth rates.
Taking to Facebook, Sim urged individuals to consider marriage, stressing its importance.
"Today is Valentine’s Day. I believe it’s the best time to talk about marriage," Sim wrote.
Citing alarming statistics by Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM), he highlighted the significant disparity in marriage rates between Muslim and non-Muslim populations, shedding light on a concerning trend.
"For the past few days, I have been raising alarming low birth rates among Malaysian Chinese population.
"In 2022, only about 40,000 Chinese babies were born compared to 423,124 total live births.
"That’s less than 10 per cent of total live births.
"I got curious, why are so few Chinese babies born? So I use my Chinese New Year spare time to dig a little deeper.
"When I look into DOSM’s latest statistics, I found out that Malaysian Chinese not only have fewer babies, there are fewer marriages too!" he added.
He highlighted that, on average, Muslims are 2.7 times more likely to get married compared to non-Muslims, indicating a significant disparity.
While staying single is a personal choice, we should encourage marriages among those who are inclined to marry, Sim urged.
"Therefore, in this Dragon year, I urge Chinese communities to look into the problems of less marriages.
"While staying single is own life choices, we should encourage marriages among those who incline to marry.
"I call out to those singles out there, go out and seek your love and life partners.
"Please get married in this auspicious dragon year. It’s a journey worth taking. Remember to have more babies too," he said, with a touch of humour.