Military Conscription

Name: Saleha Noor

ID: S10159843D

Tutorial Group: T105

Topic: Military Service.

Military Conscription has been a status quo in Singapore since 1969 when the need for Singapore to proliferate her defense capability was an urgent need. (Ong) Mandatory military conscription was deemed to be the best way for Singapore to fortify her defense force, without putting a strain on her financial and manpower resources. (Ong) Military Conscription involves the enlistment of every able-bodied man into the various units to serve the nation. However, with the passing of time, National Service has evolved to be more of a nation-building tool than one to ensure Singapore’s defense. Many may argue stating that Singapore is a small nation therefore to ensure

This is evident from the death of private Ganesh Pillay Mahindran who committed suicide because of his schizophrenia. (Loh) The day before his death, his superior who was not aware of Ganesh’s medical condition, berated him for his poor performance at work, and gave him fourteen days of extra duty. It is a known fact that elevated levels of stress triggers schizophrenia however because of negligence from the army, this critical fact was not conveyed to the medical officer posted to the camp Ganesh was posted in. This played a crucial factor in the suicide of Ganesh. There are many instances where superiors in the army abuse their authority and torment recruits. This is visible on the Facebook page; SAF Confessions where many posts on superiors abusing their authority is posted anonymously. This puts a toll on the mental health of the Nsmen, which could bring about psychological problems that would stay with them throughout their life. There are instances where men undergoing training are often compared to women during training. Considering how women are always depicted as the weaker sex in modern society, by comparing the men who are already undergoing a tough time in training to women, not to mention the incessant hurling of words and insults to ‘motivate’ recruits to train harder will make them doubt their self-worth, even leading to an inferiority complex. This could result in them suffering

Take for example, Matthew Goh. An aspiring long jumper, who had dreams of representing Singapore Asian Junior Championships and World Junior Championships, was denied deferment and had to give up his life-long dream of representing Singapore on an international scale to serve the nation. (Singapore Sports Fan) His deferment was denied on grounds of ‘circumstances being not exceptional enough’ ( MINDEF) for many athletes; they peak at ages between 18 and 20 and the lack of extensive training could compromise their sporting futures. For example, Gymnasts are considered ‘old’ after they reach the age of twenty. Hence mandatory military conscription would deny our Singaporean sons from pursuing their sporting careers. Furthermore, there could be major tournaments or games during the athlete’s two years of military conscription; lack of training could compromise performance. Another youth, Samuel Tan had his 5 appeals to defer National Service rejected in his pursuit for academic excellence disabling him from being able to sit for his final first year examinations.