1. 16 Potential Problems
Part 1: A FACT that can be derived from the scenario.
authoritative / credible sources (e.g. universities, government organisations,
international non-profit organisations, reputable newspapp
Part 2: WHY this fact could pose a problem within the scenario (this is the
problem that you infer here). Better teams go on to mention the LARGER
CONSEQUENCE too.
Part 3: RESEARCH to support why you believe this could be a problem. Your
research may be based on formal academic papers / journals, opinions from
1) The future scene states that those people who are 80
years and beyond are formally elderly in this country.This
could be a problem as this rule does not cater to a lot of
people only to those 80 and above. How about a man who
is 40 years old and is also in his final years? Doesnt he fall
under the same criteria as those “elderly”, According to
research, via this website singstat.com.sg they show that
there is a much bigger diffenence in percentage
comparing those 80 years and beyond and 60 years.

2. 2)According to the future scene all elderly accused
persons brought before a court of law in Singapore cannot
be sentenced to any form of imprisonment due to their
advanced age. The only legitimate sentence for them
would be by way of fines. Even so, it is also mandated that
they should receive half the punishment provided in the
Penal Code or referenced from precedent cases for typical
adult offenders.
I can infer that the elderly will take advantage of this
implementation and commit more crimes. This might lead
to having an increase crime rate as a nation.
According to research,regardless of the type of theft that is
charged, an offender's history of theft or related crimes
has a significant effect on sentencing, with repeat
offenders receiving less leniency, while first time offenders
may receive relatively lighter penalties thus, with lighter
sentences there is a greater possibility of that person
repeating his mistake.
Source:http://criminal.findlaw.com/criminal-charges/theft-penalties-and-sentencing.html
3) The future scene states that retirement
housing precincts with 24-hr medical care will be
developed specially for the elderly.This could be

3. a problem as no vehicles are allowed inside a
precinct, thus if this plan continues,in an
emergency situation transport may not be
provided readily.This might even lead to a higher
death rate.According to the article ‘Thousands
die from ambulance delays’, an ambulance
should respond to a situation within eight
minutes.
Source:http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-55521/Thousands-
die-ambulance-delays.html
4)The future scene states that all elderly persons
receive free healthcare at public hospitals and polyclinics.
This could be a problem as this could deprive others from
seeing the doctors since they have an advantage. This
could lead to clinics being ineffective as patients have to
wait a longer time for their turn. According to Dr Maureen
Baker, chair of the RCGP, said: "If waiting times get
longer, it will be more difficult for GPs to ensure that
problems are caught early, and the pressure on A&E will
intensify. This is bad news for patients and bad news for
the whole of the NHS."
5)The future states that numerous high tech devices
will be incorporated into hospitals for the elderly
.This could be a problem as companies who are

4. manufacturing the products used may rely solely on
the elderly as a market of revenue/ income thus the
standard of living between the elderly and the
common citizens may defer drastically in the near
future. According to the Forbes website about half
the people in the world have smartphones. Hence
this could lead this companies losing money.
Source:
http://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2012/07/17/mobile-phone-
access-reaches-three-quarters-planets-population
6)Since the future scene states that people may
be paying far too much taxes for all those
special provisions for the elderly,this could be
a problem because less money may be spent
on helping the common people by the
Singapore treasury and Singapore’s finance
may become poor. We know this is true
because according to Deputy Prime Minister
And Minister For Finance, Mr
Tharman Shanmugaratnam, there will be a
pioneer generation package for the elderly and
thus there may be more funds needed in this
package.
Source:
http://www.singaporebudget.gov.sg/portals/budget_2014/download/FY2014_Round_Up_Spe
ech.pdf

5. 7)The future scene states that ordinary people
like Bernard are paying far too much taxes for
the elderly.This could be problematic as the
people might not earn enough to pay their
newly-added taxes on top of their annual
income tax.This might even result in an
increase in people who are in debt.According
to “The Heart Truths”, an article published on
The Real Singapore,low- and middle-income
Singaporeans are already not able to save
and retire in Singapore.
Source:http://therealsingapore.com/content/how-much-tax-are-
singaporeans-really-paying-part-1
8)The future scene states that Bernard, despite
having several common / long-term /
permanent illnesses, still has to work for a
living. This could be a problem as people may
quit their jobs due to their high levels of stress
and exhaustion.This might even possibly
affect the welfare of the citizens in the near
future.According to an article on
sciencedirect.com,prolonged work might result
in employee stress, job dissatisfaction, and

6. turnover intent.
Source:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0925753512
001488
9)According to the future scene,all elderly
accused people cannot be sentenced to any
form of imprisonment and can only pay
fines.This could be problematic as criminals
might use / target the elderly as a victim /
accomplice in crime since they will never be
put to jail.This may in turn lead to a higher
crime rate in the country.According to the
American Crime Prevention Council,
Americans lose an estimated $40 billion each
year to the fraudulent sale of goods and
services over the telephone. The elderly are
(already)frequent targets of telemarketing
frauds and sweepstakes scams.
Source:http://www.ncpc.org/topics/crime-against-seniors
10)According to the future scene, people who commit
crimes when 80 and above will have a lighter
sentence. This could be a problem because people
may make use of the elderly to commit crimes but
the police would not imprison the elderly so the
mastermind will make the elderly repeat their

7. crimes again. A report from a popular website
stated that elderly laws have multiple loopholes.
Source: http://social.un.org/ageing-working-
group/documents/Gapsinprotectionofolderpeoplesri
ghtsAugust2012.pdf
11) According to the future scene, all the
benefits are targeted at people 80 years and
above only.This could be a problem as
number of people who are benefitting from this
scheme might be a minority compared to
those who are not.This might result in the
ineffective use of government funds.All this
can be proven with the ‘State of the Elderly in
Singapore’ e-booklet, in which on page 9
clearly states that the number of residents
aged 65 and older accounts for 8.8% of the
population,however the number of residents
aged 85 and older accounts for only 0.7% of
the population as of 2009.
Source:
http://app.msf.gov.sg/Portals/0/Summary/research/State%20of%20t
he%20Elderly_Release%201.pdf
12 The future scene states that elderly (80 and
above) will not be liable to any imprisonments, but
half of the punishment stated in the Penal Code

8. would still be implemented. This could be a problem
because if another party(below 80) performs a
crime, they might make the elderly a ‘scapegoat’
since they have lighter penalties.This would in turn
lead to an environment where law enforcement
would become a serious issue. According to studies
done by criminology experts, a large number of
‘scapegoats’ are the elderly 80 and above who do
not have basic knowledge of the law and recent
happenings.
13)The future scene states that the elderly have
subsidies when purchasing housing. This could be
a problem because the children of the elderly might
take advantage and purchase a house under their
parents’ name, but stay in it as if it were their own
home. This could then lead to a deficit in the budget
of the government as more people would be buying
the houses at a lower price, leading to a decrease
of earnings. According to the government, there
has been a constant increase of the price of
housing, with an average 4-room flat having a price
of S$850 000.
14) According to the future scene, the Elderly
Special Rights Act was recently introduced,

9. and it is a particularly large act. This could be
a problem because the affected elderly and/or
the younger generation might have many
qualms about it, and if they do not address it,
many misunderstandings and complaints will
arise regarding the act. This could in turn lead
to many problems financially and in terms of
law. According to Mr Tharman
Shanmugaratnam, more benefits would be
given to the elderly and some funds would be
reserved for the elderly by the government.
Source:
http://www.singaporebudget.gov.sg/portals/budget_2014/download/FY2
014_Round_Up_Speech.pdf
15) According to the future scene, the Elderly
Special Rights Act covers the elderly even if
they are foreigners. This could be a problem
because the act might be a pull factor for many
elderly citizens whom are foreigners seeking a
place to enjoy their retirement, and the
population size could get too high, leading to an
overcrowded Singapore. This could then
worsen the problem of Singapore’s population,
thus increasing the cost of living in Singapore,
which is already a popular topic for

10. debate.Based on a polling by Forbes magazine,
an acclaimed economical magazine, and the
Economics Intelligence Unit, Singapore was
ranked first in terms of cost and price of living
in both pollings.
Source:
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/sin
gapore/s-pore-ranked-world-
s/1019698.html

11. 16) According to the future scene,the subsidies
and various perks are only applicable to the
elderly(80 and above), therefore the younger
generation might protest over the large number
of subsidies and lenience of punishments for
the elderly, while the younger generation are
still treated equally with the middle-aged people
in terms of law. This could be a problem as if
the younger generation feel like they have been
treated unfairly, it would further worsen the
condition of happiness in Singapore.With an
already “unhappy” population based on studies
done by the world-known magazine Forbes,
placing Singapore last( Most unhappy country
among all), if the satisfaction of the younger
generation decreases, riots and protests might
happen. Riots cause mayhem and major
damage, based on the Hock Lee bus riots(4
dead, 32 injured) and the recent Little India
riots(43 injured), therefore leading to a chaotic
environment in Singapore.