All young men in Singapore, including me, will have to do National Service. I think that National Service is compulsory in Singapore because Singapore is a small country and must have a strong defence force to defend herself as she can be fully destroyed at any time. National Service was actually already made compulsory in the 1960s because Singapore had a small population at that time other than being small. Furthermore, more manpower was needed in industries too. This means that there will be lesser people defending the country which make Singapore have more need to make National Service compulsory. Now that Singapore's population is bigger, Singapore aims to build up a defence even better than countries and to do that Singapore needs to have a huge defence force so National Service is still made compulsory till now. In the poem "The Soldier" the speaker expresses his love for his country, England. But I do not find such spirit of patriotism in Singapore. Most of the males in Singapore, especially the boys under 18, even before they go to National Service, they are already afraid and do not wish to go for National Service. They often groan about going to National Service and some even go to the extent of wanting to skip National Service, which is of course impossible unless they have special reasons. This shows that they are not willing to fight for Singapore, their country. They only go to war just because the government tells them to do so. But for me, I definitely have the spirit of patriotism for Singapore. Singapore is my homeland, this is where I belong. I was born and brought up in Singapore so I have the right to defend it. Most importantly, I am loyal to my country. I am what I am today because of what the country had taught me.
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ReplyDeleteI agree with you that NS is beneficial, it is able to bond people from different races and religion together, thus fulfilling the government's aim to build national loyalty.
ReplyDeleteHi,
ReplyDeleteI agree with what you says about some singaporeans' attitude towards NS and i admire you for your patriotic feelings towards Singapore. However, you might also want to explore other factors that NS is used for. Since Singapore is rather safe now, we don't really need NS to protect us but NS now, also have other uses such as NS being a place where we can build relationships and brotherhood between races and religions. Many other things are also developed during NS. Therefore, NS is still important despite the safety of Singapore now and Singaporeans should stop whining over the toughness of NS.