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[00:00.93] While the older generation enjoys island life, their children have moved to the city after going there to attend school.

[00:12.36] This has left an aging population.

[00:20.33] The island's youngest residents are in their 50s.

[00:22.19] Conservation experts worry about the island's future.

[00:27.23] No one is permitted to move to the island from the city.

[00:32.81] In 2001, the government said the island was safe from changes until changes are required for development.

[00:43.70] At the height of its popularity, almost 4,000 people lived on the island.

[00:51.14] They worked in granite quarries and on farms.

[00:56.45] But the largest quarry closed in 1970.

[01:01.50] Then, many people moved to the city where a policy to develop industry grew the economy and covered a once-struggling nation in new developments, roads and factories.

[01:17.43] Each June for the past nine years, Singaporean officials have celebrated "Ubin Day."

[01:26.73] The goal is to help people value and love the island's heritage and ecosystem, the National Parks Board says on its website.

[01:39.21] Games and enrichment booths mark the celebration.

[01:45.06] So do plans for the island's future.

[01:48.78] In 1991, the government stopped a plan to extend the subway to the island.

[01:56.48] Now there are talks about saving the island for future generations.

[02:02.59] But there will come a day when no one will live there anymore.

[02:08.43] "The old people have died off, one by one…,” said Chu.

[02:14.81] He told Reuters that young people do not want to stay.

[02:20.65] Koh said she hoped officials would let more people stay in guesthouses.

[02:27.29] "Not the high-end ones but the kampung-type," she added, using the Malay term for a village.

[02:37.12] Lim Csye See is a 69-year-old who runs a bicycle rental shop.

[02:45.09] Lim said he did not want the island to become like Sentosa, Singapore’s theme park island which is crowded with costly hotels and homes.

[02:58.64] "If this place becomes like Sentosa, then that's the end," said Lim.