More foreign-born young men are serving national service
National service in Singapore has marched a long way from its Hokkien peng (Hokkien platoon) days.
Take Russian-born Second-Lieutenant (2nd Lt) Vasily Chuply, with his blue eyes and brown hair.
The 20-year-old enlisted in October last year while still a permanent resident. In August this year, he received his pink identity card, making him a Singaporean.
That is five years after he and his mother travelled from Nakhodka, a port city of 150,000 people in Russia's far east, to join his father, who was an IT programmer in a shipping company here.
On his basic military and officer cadet experiences, 2nd Lt Chuply quipped that it helped him pick up Hokkien expletives - still the vernacular of many a bunk mate.
'And so long as the instructor or platoon commander was shouting, I knew something was wrong and I just had to be quicker on my feet,' he said.
Wrong forum to post this. Post in Singapore Arm Forces
More PAP propaganda to accept foreigners.