Blog 3: Is NS necessary?

National service is where Singaporean or permanent resident (PR) males aged 18 years are conscripted and called up to join the army and serve national service for 2 years or so. After that these men will have to go for reservist training for about 13 years to ensure that they stay up to date with the army and do not lose any skills they have learnt.

Is national service really needed? Singapore is one of the top 20 richest countries in Asia so why do need a citizen army? Why can’t we just pay a mercenary army to protect and defend our country? Here is what I feel about national service.

National service is referred to by many as the process where boys become men. This is true in certain aspects. In national service, men aged 18 from all walks of life will serve national service together, men of different races, different backgrounds and different ways of life. In national service, these men will share the same experiences, go to the same field camps, march in the hot sun together, get punished together and do everything together. In this case, it is the shared experience that counts. These men will learn to live together, tolerate each other and learn to get along. These men bond are instilled a sense of nationalistic pride and this is a critical component in nation building and creating a common identity.

As we all know, Singapore is a small country. The trouble with abolishing national service is that there would not be enough people in the regular army to defend the nation. Some of you may argue, since Singapore is so rich, why not go employ a mercenary army to defend the nation? Well, it also has its own problems. For example, mercenary armies are paid to provide service to the country. However, since they are easily swayed by money, they can be offered an even higher amount and then Singapore would be in trouble. National service would also mean that less would be spent for the government as through the allowance system, there are more monetary funds available for spending on more advanced and up to date military technologies. This would make the army more efficient in defending our country.

National service celebrated its 40^th anniversary last year. This means that all the previous batches are able to be deployed as troops in case of any threat Singapore receives. This greatly increases our man power, making our army both efficient and effective.

In conclusion, I feel that national service is good and it should be carried on. In recent years, there have been many people who have complained about national service, many more people deferring national service. I also feel that national service is time consuming, and we start work or pursue our studies 2 years later than the rest. But this is your country you are talking about. Where did most of you grow up in? Who provided the citizen benefits for you? Where were you born and where did you grow up? This is our country. Why can’t we just sacrifice some of our time to defend our country? Where has our sense of patriotism gone? What happened to our values? These are questions you should think about before going against national service. After all, Singapore is a place we call home and it will always be worth defending.