Duty, Honour and Country: National Day Reflections

As an ex-reservist conscript in the Singapore Armed Forces, I've served in combat roles in both active and reservist battalions.

The longer I serve and the older I get, the more reflections come to me as I mull over what I had to sacrifice for national service.

My memories of my time in the SAF get softer with age because I have completed by 2.5 years of full-time and 10 years of annual in-camp training ranging from 2 days to 21 days of reservist duty. But I can never forget how even as the years past and the hairs turn greyer, the meaning of what I did degrades with time.

Duty without Rewards
The whole concept of National Service duty is that it is a service to the nation. It is not something you WANT to do but you HAVE to do it. Some people willingly and happily embrace NS. Most just want to serve and f*** off. Others sign on and become regulars. The unfortunate few die during NS.

Duty means to serve without reward, without benefit, without fair remuneration. In my stint as a full-time conscript, I was paid then $200-300 for a Corporal in active full-time NS. The money was sufficient as I was staying with my parents then and subsequently I put myself through NTU through a local government scholarship. But if something had happened to me, all my parents would have gotten was $50,000 NTUC Income insurance which I bought for $21 a month out of my own NSF allowance. The SAF didn't have the group insurance scheme then and the $20 increase in NSF allowance to pay for it like they do now.

In the US, if you volunteer to serve in the US military, you can get some benefits under their GI Bill and also health care at Veterans hospitals. For us Singaporean male citizens, no such luck. Go queue at polyclinics with everyone else as serving your country has not much additional benefits except for addition $50-100 during some GST credits/top-ups and $1,500 or $3,000 tax relief (not rebate).

You get SAFRA membership which you have to pay as it's not free. Ain't really that great if you are dead as free swimming doesn't appeal to corpses.

Honour without recognition
Was there honour in serving the country in the Singapore Armed Forces. Unlike other countries, the general population (i.e. women, foreigners, first generation PRs and newly minted citizens) who don't serve NS don't really respect the uniform. I've not heard of many discounts for NSFs or NSmen in F&B establishments. In the US, servicemen are recognised more than what we see in Singapore.

There are anecdotal stories of NSmen in uniform being asked to get out of food & beverage establishments in country clubs by members who are not Singaporean. That is galling to say the least.

Many of my female peers in university didn't really "get it" that you can die in NS. I've seen my share of 1 case during active days and 1 during reservist so I "get it" fully well that death is a risk in NS even though safety standards have improved over time.

How was I "honoured" by being called names and treated like a piece turd of the lowly Corporal that I was during my full-time national service? They call you "gentlemen" but treat your worse than a foreign domestic worker during full-time NS.

Clean bunks, clearing drains of leaves, even scooping up detritus from a manhole in camp. Been there, done that. Was it honourable to do this for duty? You have to decide for yourselves.

Country without Rootedness
Singapore in 2007 comprises of 3,164.4 '000 citizens and 478.2 '000 permanent residents. 65% Singapore citizens and 35% permanent residents. Mind you, this 65% citizens also included newly minted Singaporeans who are not born in Singapore. So we are slowly becoming the minority in our own country that I defended with my life.

What was I defending? My own people? Other people? Singapore Inc? Temasek's losses? CPF Life scheme?

What really are the values and ethos of this country?

Even MM Lee says we are not a nation yet. I truly agree with him. Perhaps my 2.5 years + 10 years of annual ICT makes me even more sceptical about our nationality as people.

All I hear is "GDP at all costs"... GDP GDP GDP. Money money and more money.

Taking care of one another, being gracious and being accountable and transparent to the people, citizens and countrymen all take a back-seat to GDP growth and money.

As we move nearer to Singapore's 44th National Day and celebrate getting school children to burn their weekends along with NSmen/NSF, People's Association and groups' "volunteers".

I wonder truly, what it was all about.

Majullah Singapura.

P.S. Check out Mr. Brown's latest podcast on your mother's army. Very funny!