David Lim, who is a permanent resident, wrote in the Straits Times Forum about "mixed feelings" watching his son, who is a citizen, graduate from National Service. He is worried that the increasing measures to "differentiate" citizens from PRs and the increasing resentment towards foreigners will make people like him feel that they do not belong to Singapore. It will also lead to a more ungracious society.
Over the past many years, I have spoken to many PRs, especially those from Malaysia, to ask them to convert to Singapore citizens. They told me that they had strong family and sentimental ties to their home country and found it difficult to make the change. I respected their choice and did not press them.
I am aware about the sacrifice on our male citizens who had to serve two years of full time national service and continuing calls for reservist training in subsequent years, and who now have to face competition for jobs with foreigners who do not have this liability.
We need to find an effective way to reduce the burden on our male citizens. Imposing "differentiation" on non-citizens is not the only way, and it has its negative consequences. I wish to quote the saying "Two wrongs do not make it right". We should look for another solution.
I prefer the Swiss approach towards compulsory military service. Like Singapore, they are also a small country and wish to protect their independence. They had found a better way to achieve their goal of national defense without the types of issue faced in Singapore.
The solution in Singapore is to shorten the period of national service (to follow the example of Switzerland) and to give a higher allowance to our NS men, so that they will find that NS is not a sacrifice but is an advantage. There are advantages of molding the character of our young men through NS.
A few years ago, a young man from China told me that only a small percentage of males are called up for national service. It is like "striking lottery" as the call-up will lead to prospects of a better life in the future, e.g. to get Government jobs.
Tan Kin Lian
Over the past many years, I have spoken to many PRs, especially those from Malaysia, to ask them to convert to Singapore citizens. They told me that they had strong family and sentimental ties to their home country and found it difficult to make the change. I respected their choice and did not press them.
I am aware about the sacrifice on our male citizens who had to serve two years of full time national service and continuing calls for reservist training in subsequent years, and who now have to face competition for jobs with foreigners who do not have this liability.
We need to find an effective way to reduce the burden on our male citizens. Imposing "differentiation" on non-citizens is not the only way, and it has its negative consequences. I wish to quote the saying "Two wrongs do not make it right". We should look for another solution.
I prefer the Swiss approach towards compulsory military service. Like Singapore, they are also a small country and wish to protect their independence. They had found a better way to achieve their goal of national defense without the types of issue faced in Singapore.
The solution in Singapore is to shorten the period of national service (to follow the example of Switzerland) and to give a higher allowance to our NS men, so that they will find that NS is not a sacrifice but is an advantage. There are advantages of molding the character of our young men through NS.
A few years ago, a young man from China told me that only a small percentage of males are called up for national service. It is like "striking lottery" as the call-up will lead to prospects of a better life in the future, e.g. to get Government jobs.
Tan Kin Lian
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