Singapore gives human nature a push

Can't think beyond dinner or the back row of the cinema for your first date? Is going Dutch a serious faux pas? How does one get the romantic chemistry flowing?

Twenty-something Singaporeans fretting about affairs of the heart need worry no more. For the government's Orwellian-sounding Social Development Unit, a department which aims to get young people away from their desks and into matrimony, has has produced a brochure on how to plan and execute the perfect romantic outing.

When Boy Meets Girl, The Chemistry Guide pooh-poohs such drab ideas, beloved in the city state, as the dinner-movie routine or splitting the bill at a shopping mall food court.

The eight-page manual suggests visiting the library or a bookshop, walking the dog in the lush Botanic Gardens (but check out any canine allergies in advance), a picnic on the beach, or a hike around a local nature reserve. And if those all fail, look through a newspaper and pick out an event that catches both of your attention.

The unit's director, Tan-Huang Shuo Mei, told the Singapore Sunday Times that many Singaporeans were so shy or had become so obsessed with their careers that they had real trouble getting a relationship off the ground, and so such basic advice really was necessary.

"By sharing dating tips and socialisation do's and don'ts, we aim to empower singles by helping them with basic courtship skills, showing them that it's really a natural process," she was quoted as saying.

Singapore is desperately trying to increase its low birth rate and so women are offered tax breaks to get married and have children.

Many observers see the scheme as blatant social engineering, but it is nothing out of the ordinary in a country which tries to control how you go to the toilet, cross the road and clean your home.