Update (26/1): After some people shared in the comments about their experiences, I realized I sound so much like my father in this post. To him, an obstacle was never as important as our attitude towards the obstacle. In the post below, I approached the topic of National Service from that POV - that NS will always be needed, and if it’s going to be there, then it will be our attitude and how we deal with National Service ourselves that determine our success and minimizes its impact. To me, our destiny is in our own hands, and only our attitude affects how well we compete with the foreign talents. I still maintain that is the case. But based on the experiences shared, I have come to appreciate even more how NS handicaps us to compete, even with the right attitude. We really do need a way to ensure that the men who serve do not put a pause on their lives as the rest of the world zooms by. We may have the will to run harder and faster to catch up with the foreign talents and rest of the world, but sometimes it may be a bridge too far.
Thanks to dermapthera and signaller_private for sharing.
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I wrote most of this during my reservist which was about a month ago. I have added some stuff which are in bold:
I am reminded that while we may not enjoy doing national service and would prefer to be spending our time elsewhere, not everyone who dislikes National Service and reservist does it based on the argument that NS disadvantages us against foreigners.
We view it as both an irritant that eats our personal time as well as a duty. Our feelings about it are mixed. But what I do see is people doing what they must and doing it with a kind of resolve that can only be described as professionalism.
It is arguable if the blogosphere generally makes National Service a scapegoat for problems pertaining to foreigners in Singapore when discussing competitiveness, privileges of citizenship and fairness but personally I think the blogosphere tends to have that slant.
The question then is should the general public be made aware of such arguments. Sometimes people need to be made aware of issues they should be unhappy about and the reasons why. Sometimes though, people can be made to be unhappy about issues based on flawed reasons when there is no cause to be so.
The arguments I have seen against NS on the blogosphere seems to fall dangerously into the kind that would politicize what is a personal issue about the duty imposed on us as citizens to one that fuels nationalistic, racial and protectionistic sentiments.
I am not saying we should stop discussing the need, implementation and impact of National Service. What I am saying is National Service might not be as important to the discussion about foreigners taking out jobs as some of us might think.
While National Service might cause us to enter university at a later age, what happens during university is more a result of what we do in university than what preceded before it. It was what we did or did not do during that time that determined our grades and affected how we measured up to foreigners in the local universities and hence later in the job market.
Of course, some have pointed out that companies discriminate against Singaporean males while hiring because of reservist but that discrimination needs to be understood as the impact of National Service in influencing the market and not the result of time spent in National Service.
One of the questions then is how do we do National Service and use that two years to increase our value to the labour market. Are we working harder to maximize whatever other time we have before and after National Service to increase our own value. Yes, National Service has a cost. And it is a high one. Forgetting the argument if it is a necessary one for the moment, what are we doing to ensure we can pay it? Sure, we can wait for the government to give a handout (which they are in terms of taxes) but are we doing anything on our own to take charge of our own destiny?
I think people might actually waste more time doing leisurely activities like playing DOTA, clubbing, watching TV … Is leisure time a right for all of us? Sure, I think the option to have leisure time is a right. But we make the choices. If time is so precious based on the arguments that National Service waste our time, are those who make it being judicious with their time outside of it?
There is the argument made that the two years spent dulls the brain and breaks the education flow. I agree there might be some merit in this argument. But here is the thing - when I was waiting for my ORD so that I could go and study, I was like a boxer jumping about enthusiastically at the corner waiting for the bell to ring. However, once the bell was rung, and the fight I had impatiently been waiting for started, I realised I didn’t prepare myself for the fight.
Truthfully, the two years in National Service does have time in which we can prepare ourselves for the civilian life after ORD but how many of us have the wisdom not to squander it?
dermapthera | 25-Jan-08 at 2:41 pm | Permalink
Hey.
If you have thought that it’s kinda normal for the blogosphere to complain like that, then I guess it is.
I’m a reservist myself, and I hate the 2 years I spend in NS.
No I enjoyed NS, the friends I made, the sadness and joy, but I hate how NS shaped my mind and skills into something else. If only NS were to use my skills and knowledge I learnt in school, then I wouldn’t feel so wasted.
I am a Diploma graduate, and no I don’t have money to do further studies. Yet not a decent company wants to hire me because I have “lost touch” in my skills and abilities.
I may be a bright student in school, often looked up by my peers, but now I’m nowhere near “good” anymore.
This might not apply to many other professions, but it affects the IT trained people like me the most. The profession that progress by the seconds. Everything changes. What I was taught 2 years ago become useless and obsolete, and I have to start from scratch.
In short, I lost my edge.
So essentially, I wasted 3 years in school for nothing, while 2 years in NS doing other things that’s not related to my skills.
Even if I have the Diploma in my hand, I am still not able to compete with other people, with the same amount of skills and knowledge gained from the time I graduated from school.
I’m still picking up my pieces, slowly. But it’s affecting the financial burden already built up in my house.
I’m pretty sure, NS have made an impact on me and my career life.
Ridz | 25-Jan-08 at 2:58 pm | Permalink
As much as this might sound like an excuse, I think there’s a large group of people who are unable to do much during the NS appointments because they’re stuck in camp(stay-in units) without the access to the rest of the world.
It’s a case where even if you wanted to prepare, you can’t.
Another point is also how that ‘dulling of the mind’ takes time to overcome after ORD. Either way you play NS(to play it well or to slack) it has a significant impact to the way you think.
That said, some appointments may be more practical to the real world than others. So lucky them. haha
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Oh, on a more personal note, while we were at the Co-Space event, i couldn’t help but think that all the poly students who did go on to pursue their business ideas would only have it stalled when then go to NS…it would be such a huge impediment to their plans. And I think that’s not fair…
iantimothy | 25-Jan-08 at 3:22 pm | Permalink
Hello dermapthera, thanks for sharing about your experience. I’ve reread my post after what you shared and I apologize for my narrowness. I realized how my post only took into account one sort of path a Singaporean might face - the jc/poly -> NS -> university path.
I did not consider that NS might affect your employability because of time spent in it and thus reducing the relevance of your skills and abilities. The lack of consideration is because I had assumed it was possible for everyone to use the time after NS in university to catch up. I also did not consider that for some industries, without any policies in place, it might not be possible for an individual to just squeeze time in NS to maintain or increase their market value.
I apologize if I seemed to make light of what you have been through which is something that I think I did.
Implementing policies to ensure the man who serve do not exit with outdated skills and policies should definitely be considered.
Hello Ridz, i agree with your point about stay-in personnel. I have friends who are non-combat who managed to negotiate arrangements where they can take classes at night. I think it is harder for combat guys because of the nature of the training. However, from my experience, after the first year of intense training, there is actually time at night to allow people to go and study in the second year. Unfortunately, nights-off is a function of an officer willing to give the privilege and how well you can bargain with your superiors. There were nights when training was over by six and most of us just wasted away in the bunk till lights off. I’m sure that there can be policies that would ensure better use of such time.
One thing I’ve always argued about with my friends is that we aren’t doing enough for the guys inside. One example is how we are made to waste time sitting through a presentation from NKF or some insurance salesman. Now, imagine if during this period, a budget was set aside for night classes within the camp about basic personal finance and its management. It doesn’t need to be compulsory. And it most definitely should not be a sales pitch. The sessions would be more akin to what you get at a Adam Khoo lesson.
There are other ideas I have about how we can make time inside camp more meaningful.
About the Poly students, I feel arrangments can be made. I mean, come on, we make arrangement for slacker sportsmen who are mediocre to represent SAFSA. Sportsmen who are fit to play sports but are declared unfit for combat. I mean, WTFOMGBBQ. The irony!
I’m pretty sure we can make arrangements for Poly students who have a business and a plan to accommodate them. The problem is the lack of will to change the status quo.
signaller_private | 26-Jan-08 at 12:04 am | Permalink
Sir,
I would have to agree with dermapthera. I can understand his situation. I have completed everything: NS, reservist, IPPT, RT, live firing and overseas training. I was a diploma holder too. Sure, it is true that you have learned something during my 2.5 yrs of NS, since it is just after you completed your school.
Like dermapthera, I am your regular Joe.
I was posted to a combat operational (artillery) unit, together with your Hokkien soldiers and was not a officer or a specialist. You know that there are two classes of soldier in a truly operational unit - the Officers/NCOs and the men. I am one of those men. although I was in signal.
When you are put together with these Hokkien soldiers, the higher ups only wanted total discipline and control over them. Being part of them, they get shit you get the same shit. They did not care if you are diploma holders or not. But, my sergeant did recognise that our support section had slightly different educational qualifications from the rest, so he gave us some slight slack.
In this kind of situation, you use your brains to follow orders, stay healthy and exercise safety in things you did. You definitely had no time to anything. Two years in combat operational unit was packed with training, field exercises, company tests, battalion tests, live firing and overseas trips. You burned weekends on standby. Your life belonged to the army 24/7. The men got punishments, you got them too, though it was not your fault.
Night offs and weekends felt like momentary prison breaks.
Things started to loosen after the Hokkien soldiers (the men) and higher ranks RODed after their two years. Without financial assistance (from family) and low army pay, you pretty could not do much about trying to do any part-time study. Back then, they did not believe in stay outs for operational personnel. They also did not anyhow change your vocations so that you can stay out.
I was mechanical engineering trained. As I was about to ROD, Singapore went into recession and jobs were scare. After ROD, I worked a few years in related posts. But, my heart and interest were in a different field. After my second job after the army, I switched to another field and started from zero. I had to self train myself to do what I liked.
You would say why not use the NS years to get training. But, I had little money for anything back then. I could see that my room mates were also not financially sound. Our pays were damn pathetic.
Sure, I would like to get some education during my 2.5 years NS. But, as you can see the constraints I had.
Luckily, my brain did not went dead totally. Though I did not get my preparatory academic education, I did learn about human nature through many observations in the army. You got this “live” actions from everyone, all the ranks. I had seen the good and the bad. People behaved manyI guessed that this is a skill that I have learnt in the army which somehow guided me in my endavours in the real world after the army.
We all have read and heard about what IPPTs, ICTs and RTs do to our regular lives and our careers. I will not go further into it. One thing is that as a reservist, I have to fight the army for all the time to keep my job going. There was this nagging feeling at the back of our minds during those reservist years.
When I returned to my reservist training, there were some joy of seeing each other. But, after talking to most of them, there was some hints of resentment in their tones about being in the army. I could not sense any real happiness in them, with regards to the army. Everybody just serve and f**k off.
I have no idea what happened to the intelligence for the rest of the guys during their NS years. I say it has some impact on mine.
iantimothy | 26-Jan-08 at 12:10 am | Permalink
To the signaller above, thank you for sharing your experiences.
nerdie | 26-Jan-08 at 1:46 pm | Permalink
NS is like leukaemia for guys.
Strikes you at the prime of your life, brings it to a halt.
And after you recover, the residual damage is permanently etched.
You will be forever changed.