I read with sadness the passing of Private Lee Rui Feng Dominique. I am
also an NSF having seven months left to complete my national service. My
view is that such deaths can definitely be prevented. I feel that the
medical board in the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) does not take the
health and welfare of soldiers seriously. Sometimes, when soldiers
report sick, they can even be reprimanded by the medical officer (MO).
It is also common for the MO to simply prescribe painkillers without
ordering further investigations such as X-RAYS or MRI scans. This is not
the way that the SAF should operate.
It should take the health of its soldiers much more seriously. If PTE
Lee had a asthma condition, why was he still declared combat fit? Let
those who are medically well serve as combat soldiers. For those who
have medical conditions, they should be downgraded to an appropriate
Physical Employment Status (PES). I feel that medical board in SAF is
too strict with their PES grading and often tries to give servicemen the
highest grading possible, instead of the safest or most appropriate
one. For myself, I have both serious heart conditions as well as asthma
which require me to use inhalers multiple times a day. However, I am not
being assigned an appropriate PES status by the medical board. I can
only imagine how the parents of PTE Lee are feeling.
It is not easy to bring up a child from birth, through primary and
secondary school, pre-university education and then national service,
only to see them lose their life in NS. Every Singaporean Son’s life is
precious. Although I may not know the full details of the case, I feel
that commanders’ attitude towards soldiers also need to change. Some
commanders tend to instil fear into their charges from reporting sick,
threatening to punish them with weekend duties and confinement. As a
result, even when the soldiers feel terrible and ought to seek medical
attention, they tolerate and bear with the pain and discomfort. If
attitudes do not change, I believe that we will continue to see more
deaths of servicemen in our armed forces. MINDEF should also look into
the way its training is being conducted, as sometimes the commanders do
not follow the training program and ask the soldiers to do more than
they are supposed to. Commanders need to understand that soldiers are
only human and are not robots. They have physical limits, which if
pushed too far, may result in permanent injury or even death. There is a
large opportunity cost to our NSFs to serve two years of national
service. They lose out in terms of tertiary education, job experience,
freedom and family time.
I salute all current serving national servicemen as those who have
served since the beginning of national service. PTE Lee is a hero,
having died for Singapore. But more should be done to review the safety
procedures in place, the safety of the equipment used, the quality of
food served to our soldiers, as well as the medical classification
system, so that such events will not happen again.
Yes, perhaps people might say that the soldiers today are weaker
compared to those in the 70s, 80s and 90s. Some even call us the strawberry generation. However, these are different
times. People in the past led less sedentary lifestyles. However, the
system should adjust to fit the people and not the other way around.
Training can be tweaked to take into account that the soldiers of today
are physically and mentally different from soliders of the past.
In addition, I feel that the duration of national service should be
revised as NCMP Mrs Lina Chiam has suggested. Yes, I understand that
there are operational requirements and that it is important to ensure
that the soldiers are sufficiently well trained. I feel that it is
possible to reduce the duration of national service to 22 months for
officers and 18 months for specialists and enlistees. Especially for
NSFs who are serving in service support vocations such as medic,
storeman, clerk. Most of the time, we are not doing much or anything
productive in unit and are just wasting time, waiting for Operationally
Ready Date (ORD).
It is not necesarry to waste resources to pay us and feed us to do
nothing when we could better spend this time studying or working to earn
a living outside. I am sure many NSFs who have ORDed will have
experienced what it is like to be behind others in terms of jobs,
promotions, salary, experience, etc. And with the influx of foreigners
coming to Singapore to compete for jobs, we should be placed at a lesser
disadvantage so that we are better able to compete in the workplace.
Also, the reservist cycle of NS men should be reduced to 8 cycles. The
number of days a year that NS men can be called back should be reduced
from 40 days to 28 days. Training should be efficient, short and
concise. What sense does it make to call reservists back to camp and pay
them to sit in bunks to do nothing? I am sure many NS men dread the SAF
100 as it disrupts their work. Many bosses would probably prefer to
give priority and favour to the foreign talents who do not have any
reservist liability. Singaporean men who work in the private sector do
not enjoy higher salary for having served NS. The least the goverment
could do is to minimise the inconvenience and disadvantage caused to
them. Last but not least, I feel that more benefits should be given to
all who have served or are currently serving national service. The
National Service Recognition Award (NSRA) introduced in 2010 consisted
of $9000 paid out over three milestones. 1. $3000 into Post Secondary
Eduction Account (PSEA) at 20th month of NSF, 2. $3000 into CPF After 3
high key ICT or 5 ICT, 3. $3000 into CPF upon completion of ORNS cycle.
There is also the $3000 tax relief given to NS men.
However, I feel that these measures are not enough. More can be done to
show the government's appreciation towards us who have served the
country.
1. ORD Bonus: NSFs will get paid $2000 upon completion of their full time NS
2. ICT Bonus: NS men will get paid $2000 upon completion of that year's ICT.
3. ROD Bonus: NS men will get $4000.
Those who have RODed should also be given the awards. I am sure that the
government is able to afford it. There are a lot of issues bugging
Singaporeans now. Issues such as competition from foreign talent,
housing, inflation, income inequality, immigration, just to name a few.
The PAP promised us change in the last election. But it seems that after
being voted into power, they have forgotten their promises and
obligations. Now, they just sit on their bums and are not doing their
best to improve the various aspects of life of Singaporeans. I feel that
if this continues on, more and more Singaporeans will develop a
resentment towards the goverment. And when the next elections come, I am
sure that the results will be different from the previous ones. But for
the next few years, the 40% minority have to suffer due to the decision
of the other 60%. Can the government please, wake up your idea?