SINGAPORE — It's past 4 a.m. and the music is throbbing at the Attica nightclub as Wei Siang Yu works the still-surging singles crowd like a celebrity.
Drinks in hand, patrons lean in close, shouting into his ear over the booming bass. Most just want to say hello, but a few seek something else: sex tips.
The doctor is in the house.
From taxi drivers to tax accountants, residents in this conservative city-state seek out Wei for bedroom advice. With the self-styled sex guru who bills himself as Doctor Love, they know they'll get good counsel -- without any moral judgment.
"This city is still very repressed when it comes to open talk about sex," he said. "With me, they get a listening ear. I don't judge them. I just answer their questions.
"Sex problems are normal. I tell them, 'Go ahead, try it again.' "
A kind of Larry Flynt-meets-Dr. Ruth, the 37-year-old physician presides over an Eros empire that has so far included a late-night sex-advice TV show, holiday "love packages," sex-strategy books and a drop-in advice center known as the Playroom. Last month, he launched Singapore's first adult magazine.
*
Sexual revolution
Wei embodies the lower-case sexual revolution now sweeping Singapore. In this tightly controlled island nation of more than 4 million people where Playboy magazine is still forbidden, the government is loosening long-standing restrictions on adult-themed entertainment to allow frank public talk about once taboo subjects.
The reason: Singaporeans aren't having enough babies.
With Asia's lowest fertility rate outside Hong Kong, in 2004 Singapore saw only 35,500 births, a number far below the 50,000 needed to replenish the population. It was the 28th straight year that the birthrate fell below the population's "replacement rate," experts say.
A recent survey of 22 nations by a condom maker put Singaporeans at the very bottom in terms of sex drive.
In a speech this summer, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong sounded the alarm, warning that Singapore would have to produce more babies or welcome more migrants to sustain economic growth and living standards.
Officials have unveiled a $185-million package to encourage baby-making, including cash perks, child-care subsidies, tax rebates for working mothers and longer maternity leaves. They also introduced programs such as "Romancing Singapore," which encouraged people to meet, fall in love, get married and procreate.
