In Singapore, National Service is a part of life where almost no man can avoid. It is our duty to serve and protect the country. The thousands of men are chosen from their Basic Military Training (BMT) to move on to other units they are suitable for, or at least deemed suitable by the officers.
It is no news that the ratio of “scholars” i.e. those with excellent academic results becoming an officer is many times higher than that of a normal student. The question is does good results equates to leadership and competence in military institutions? The discrimination does not stop here. When was the last time we heard someone who aces all his military training with an excellent attitude towards army got posted to SISPEC ( School Of Infantry Specialist Training Center) and one who failed his physical training and poor attitude but with scholarly worthy results got into the prestigious OCS ( Officers Cadet School). The answer to the above question for me was 2 weeks ago. It has become something most of us live by, a fact that is glaringly unchallenged.
The fear of getting into trouble with the authority and the thought that nothing can be done puts everyone down and choose not to bring it up officially, openly and be discussed fairly. Great respect should be given to the warrant officers, the specialists and the soldiers. I agree that OCS have produced tons of outstanding officers with exemplary leadership abilities, but my focus is the over reliant of using this National Service experience as an criteria for selection, in terms of jobs and entry requirement for studies.
I came across a postgraduate MBA program offered by a local university. One of the main criteria was stated as,
“Work Experience - Applicants must have a minimum of two years’ full-time work experience in management or related functions. While compulsory military service will not in general substitute for work experience, National Service in Singapore as an officer may be taken into consideration in the computation of length of work experience.”
I believe some employers do favor applicants whom are officers during their stint in National Service and I strongly feel so especially in statutory or related bodies. Many officers are proud to flaunt their rank and are at the helm of most government bodies. There is nothing shameful about being a Private, 3rd Sergeant or even a Warrant Officer.
Our system has to change someday, somewhere, and let this happen in our generation.
Im currently trying an online petition to see the response this issue generates and may eventually write in to the major papers soon.
thank you for you time,
tatsoon
www.petitiononline.com/tatsoon/petition.html