National Service

Currently, there are many queries about national service in Singapore, this is because the government is actually punishing those who left the country and have not served National Service due to study or business opportunities. These punishments include working for the Singapore government for a few years or in terms of fines. However, I do not think that these methods are effective in retaining people to serve the country.

First of all, giving fines and forcing the people to work for the country for a few miserable years would not be an effective way in frightening the others into serving NS. This instead, would pose as a threat to the people and hence, they would become disillusioned from the government and hence, have no sense of patriotism and loyalty to Singapore. This would lead to even more people trying to leave the country to avoid NS and encourage them to stay as foreign immigrants so as to prevent any punishments from the government to. Thus, this is a counter-productive move. On the other hand, the government should instead solve the problem from the roots, to instill pride and nationalism into the minds of the everyday Singaporean so that they would have an inner calling to support their motherland in any way possible. Then, only would they eagerly pick up the job of NS. This can be brought up through constant propaganda in education or the media.

Secondly, one of the reasons Singaporeans do not want to serve NS is because they have the misconception that NS is just a boisterous event whereby everyone train up their muscles while a small portion of potential people develop from there into their future career while the other weaklings leave the place after two years just to lose out to girls in universities and to fatten up again. Thus, an effective way to solve this problem is to convince the people that NS is actually a good opportunity to gain manhood as there are many good characteristics which can be obtained through the trainings such as leadership, discipline, camaraderie, teamwork and perseverance. All these quality are not just applicable in military life, but also the everyday life of the ordinary people especially in their career. These are common but useful attributes of a person which would help him to excel in anything he may wish to accomplish in life. Thus, the government would have to educate the people more about the gains of National Service and how these benefits could be useful in their lives beyond the workforce.

Also, there are many skills which can be learnt through the course of National Service. Things such as medical skills, survival skills, technological skills and problem solving skills can all be found through the events in National Service such as camping in jungles, use of fighter planes and when treating a wounded comrade. These are also very useful technical skills which can be picked up when serving the country as they can also be used in future areas of development. There are a wide range of careers which involve medication, IT knowledge and especially solving problems. Thus, the government should advertise National Service such that it is shown as a conducive area to develop those techniques so that people would have the stable fundamentals for future jobs.

To sum up, the government should not use force to “encourage” the people to serve the country as this would provoke anger among the people and hence, would result in a rebellious attitude. The government should instead use a softer approach to convince the people through propaganda of the pros of NS and how It could benefit them in many ways.