State-backed dating no joke in tackling declining birthrate

It's an old joke in Singapore. What does SDU stand for? 'Single, Desperate and Unwanted [or Ugly]', of course. But this enduring cheap-shot belies the considerable success of the Social Development Unit (SDU) - the first and only state-run dating agency in the world - in leading couples to the altar. Since its inception in 1984, more than 33,000 Singaporeans have found marriage partners through the SDU.

Why did the government feel compelled to step into the mating game? Demographic concerns have always provided the answers. The average Singapore woman has only 1.07 children - the birthrate has been sliding for years - but 2.1 is the rate required to avoid population shrinkage, demographers believe.

It was also the divergence in birth rates across socio-economic classes that was a stated reason for taking action. 'If we continue to reproduce ourselves in this lopsided way we will be unable to maintain our present standards,' father of the nation and now Minister Mentor, Lee Kuan Yew, said in his 1984 national day speech, as he rolled out the SDU initiative.

In its early years, the Social Development Unit earned the disdain of western liberal observers, who noted that the organisation only served university and college graduates. Some even accused the Singaporean government of playing eugenics with its small and easily controlled population.

However, in the 21st century the SDU is drawing flak from closer to home - increasingly, a new generation of single people are saying they are perfectly capable of finding partners on their own.

While the mercury there soars to equatorial Singaporean levels of sweltering heat, inside a Southeast Asian eatery in Kowloon, bank employee and Singapore native Mr Lim's demeanour becomes as cold as a serving of durian ice-cream, when I bring up the topic of the SDU.