<TABLE id=msgUN cellSpacing=3 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD id=msgUNsubj vAlign=top>Coffee Shop Talk - This is my country,flag, but my count...</TD><TD id=msgunetc noWrap align=right>
Subscribe </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><TABLE class=msgtable cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="96%"><TBODY><TR><TD class=msg vAlign=top><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR class=msghead><TD class=msgbfr1 width="1%"> </TD><TD><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 border=0><TBODY><TR class=msghead><TD class=msgF noWrap align=right width="1%">From: </TD><TD class=msgFname noWrap width="68%">VILLAGEIDI0T <NOBR></NOBR> </TD><TD class=msgDate noWrap align=right width="30%">2:57 am </TD></TR><TR class=msghead><TD class=msgT noWrap align=right width="1%" height=20>To: </TD><TD class=msgTname noWrap width="68%">ALL <NOBR></NOBR></TD><TD class=msgNum noWrap align=right> (1 of 1) </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR><TR><TD class=msgleft width="1%" rowSpan=4> </TD><TD class=wintiny noWrap align=right>390.1 </TD></TR><TR><TD height=8></TD></TR><TR><TD class=msgtxt>As we celebrate 43 years of nation hood, generations of Singaporean men have gone through the rite of passage known as national service. They have sweated, they have toiled. They have lived and some have died for the country.
What does this all mean to a 37 year old reservist conscript who has served 2.5 years of full-time national service as well as 10 years of reservist? What does it mean to you who is currently serving your full-time 2 year national service in the Singapore Armed Forces, the Singapore Police Force or the Singapore Civil Defence Force?
How do you feel when you wear your uniform in public?
Is it pride? Is it shame? Is it indifference? What is it?
Those who have followed this blog Military Life know my position on conscription. Been through it. Hated it. For sure, there were some life lessons I learnt during national service, but the seeds of cynicism were sown during my full-time NS and especially during my 10 years reservist cycle. It was the slow realisation of how conscription robs you of your freedoms even as it is meant to protect the freedoms of the country as a whole. Increasingly, you give up your freedom to defend the right of the PRC citizen (turned PR) to work and study in Singapore. You give you up freedom to defend the property rights of resale HDB Indian National turned newly minted Permanent Residents (and in some cases, citizens). You defend the rights of a whole generation of new migrants who contribute to Singapore Inc's rise and whose taxes fund the current administration and its leaders.
Military historians note that in combat, citizen soldiers do not just fight for the nebulous concept of duty, honour and country. They fight to defend and protect their brother-in-arms next to them. They fight to stay alive. My brother-in-arm's economic freedoms are curtailed because he receives no extra privileges for competing in Singapore Inc. Unfortunately, he faces the handicap of his reservist liabilities making him less desirable as an employee to a business in the same economy. His foreign talent boss/employer/supervisor is not going to be very sympathetic to him having to wear number 4 and run around the jungle for 2 to 21 days each year. He faces the risk of death or injury through his training exercises or through accidents that happen now and then in the Singapore Armed Forces. For this privilege of serving the country, he gets an additional $100 + top-ups and some tax reliefs. Such marvellous scraps that Singapore Inc can throw at him for risking life and limb to protect ASEAN scholars privileges.
What is my brother-in-arms protecting anyway?
A country which is losing its landmarks?
A country which is all economy and very little soul?
A country that raises Ministerial salaries to astronomical figures but takes its time to increase public assistance allowance by $30?
This national day, as you are at the parade ooh-ing and ah-ing at the mass displays, performances, march-past and fly-pasts, think about what being a Singapore citizen means to you. It's a little bit more than chicken rice and the esplanade. It means dying for your country and not knowing who your fellow countryman is anymore. It means losing your personal freedoms for the economic freedom of others. It means having the serve and f*** off and not feeling one tinge of sadness in receiving your MR letter.
It means, ROD lor...
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What does this all mean to a 37 year old reservist conscript who has served 2.5 years of full-time national service as well as 10 years of reservist? What does it mean to you who is currently serving your full-time 2 year national service in the Singapore Armed Forces, the Singapore Police Force or the Singapore Civil Defence Force?
How do you feel when you wear your uniform in public?
Is it pride? Is it shame? Is it indifference? What is it?
Those who have followed this blog Military Life know my position on conscription. Been through it. Hated it. For sure, there were some life lessons I learnt during national service, but the seeds of cynicism were sown during my full-time NS and especially during my 10 years reservist cycle. It was the slow realisation of how conscription robs you of your freedoms even as it is meant to protect the freedoms of the country as a whole. Increasingly, you give up your freedom to defend the right of the PRC citizen (turned PR) to work and study in Singapore. You give you up freedom to defend the property rights of resale HDB Indian National turned newly minted Permanent Residents (and in some cases, citizens). You defend the rights of a whole generation of new migrants who contribute to Singapore Inc's rise and whose taxes fund the current administration and its leaders.
Military historians note that in combat, citizen soldiers do not just fight for the nebulous concept of duty, honour and country. They fight to defend and protect their brother-in-arms next to them. They fight to stay alive. My brother-in-arm's economic freedoms are curtailed because he receives no extra privileges for competing in Singapore Inc. Unfortunately, he faces the handicap of his reservist liabilities making him less desirable as an employee to a business in the same economy. His foreign talent boss/employer/supervisor is not going to be very sympathetic to him having to wear number 4 and run around the jungle for 2 to 21 days each year. He faces the risk of death or injury through his training exercises or through accidents that happen now and then in the Singapore Armed Forces. For this privilege of serving the country, he gets an additional $100 + top-ups and some tax reliefs. Such marvellous scraps that Singapore Inc can throw at him for risking life and limb to protect ASEAN scholars privileges.
What is my brother-in-arms protecting anyway?
A country which is losing its landmarks?
A country which is all economy and very little soul?
A country that raises Ministerial salaries to astronomical figures but takes its time to increase public assistance allowance by $30?
This national day, as you are at the parade ooh-ing and ah-ing at the mass displays, performances, march-past and fly-pasts, think about what being a Singapore citizen means to you. It's a little bit more than chicken rice and the esplanade. It means dying for your country and not knowing who your fellow countryman is anymore. It means losing your personal freedoms for the economic freedom of others. It means having the serve and f*** off and not feeling one tinge of sadness in receiving your MR letter.
It means, ROD lor...
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