National Service

“Two roads diverged, and I took the one less taken.”
-Robert frost

Choices come and go in our lives and often times we have to make life changing decisions. However, this is not the case when it comes to national service in Singapore. It is commonly viewed as a curse Singaporeans are born with, the fate you have the minute you arrive in this world: 18 years down the road you would have to shave your head, pick up a rifle and join the army never, to return for another two years. Obviously, this view has been over exaggerated through the years.

Nonetheless, the damage has already been done. With such views circulating among the people, “dodgers” are bound to exist. People have come up with large arrays of methods just to avoid getting conscripted: dropping citizenships, attaining scholarships and even to extremes such as cutting of a finger.

In response of such radicalism, the government has in fact decided to step up the laws pertaining to national service dodging, but the problem lies in whether this increment in law strictness will actually solve this problem. Leslie Koh’s article addresses this issue.

In this article, Leslie Koh brings forth a message that by doing so, the result may likely be the opposite of its aim. “Strictifying” the rules would just induce Singaporeans to dodge even quicker.

Furthermore, I do believe that the two years spend in NS does cause the brain to work slower, having to work purely on brawns over brains will no doubt cause disaster to one’s education. Some NS men have even reflected that most of what they learnt through the 12 years of education has been forgotten after going through the rigorous national service.

However, there is the patriotic side to this issue. Many dodgers have been labelled to be national pests, being unfaithful towards their own country, betraying their country. This acts as a push factor against dodgers. Furthermore, most dodgers are barred from re-entering Singapore after leaving the country, if they do so, they would be arrested and forced to do NS regardless of their age.

Hence, I suggest that instead of increasing the penalties of dodging, why not include some pull factors as well. One example would be to give out degrees for completing NS, letting them train both brains and brawns at the same time. Hence, the damage down to their education would not be as fatal as the current situation.

Also, the government can increase the benefits that going through NS, convincing them that NS is a good thing instead of commanding them to be in NS. I believe that this way, less and less dodgers will appear and eventually conscription won’t seem like such a bad thing anymore.