In any country or nation with a conscript system, it is expected
that the system hold responsibility for shaping the fabric of
national psychology and integration to set precedence to a viable
governance of the nation.But in some cases, it just fails after
some point of time. In Singapore, a small city state in south east
asia with conscript style policies for almost everything, the boys
spend 2.5 years of their life serving the nation before they set a
steady course in their lives. But is not all over it seems as what
follows is a 10 year cycle of reservist obligations. The girls have
no mandatory requirements. In comparison to the girls, the boys
loose out in employment and further education opportunities
by 2 years. Then they lose the pechant to study further due to the
long distractive national service duty and numerous
psychological taunts in by their military superiors,
ironically moulding most of them them into simplistic and
narcisstic persons, rather than strong creative individuals.
The girls, without this form of distraction climb the career ladder
and as a result do not want to marry and settle down with the boys
who are left behind. And factor in the foreign women influx, men
shun away from local women, disregard them and generalise them. The
girls also grow up in a life of luxury and are generally
apathetic to political or social affairs in the state .
Clearly evident, in their lack of understanding about
the conscript system and purpose, state governance and its
associated problems , one being the boys who have to compete
with foreigners for jobs and reservist liabilities hindering their
progress.
To add insult to injury, the cost of living does not tally
with earnings and the low wages that citizens earn does not help in
procreation in the city state. The other factor is the predominant
materialistic culture prevalent in this city state that is causing
traditional asian values to be eroded over time. And being females,
their natural instinct tend to put materialism as top
priority. The foreigners who arrive, many are unwilling to
settle down in the system and contribute to national security as
they found that there is no real value in settling down in the city
state which has no natural resources, economically unstable ,
politically underdeveloped and lacking in the diverse array of life
found in other developed nations. Those who do, are most
often, not the top talents the govt wants to retain
often not highly educated or employed in jobs that require entry
or low level skills. These locals and foreigners, mainly
professionals in the middle class working sector have also
realised that the defective state conscript style is ruining lives
by holding citizens hostage decide returning to their countries or
use the city state as a stepping stone after a stint is the
best option. In addition the local talents after receiving
education and work experience, have been already migrating in
droves to nearby countries like Hong, Kong, Australia and the
US. When the going gets tough , the tough gets going but elsewhere.
Of those who are left behind , are ones that do not
have the resources and skills to leave. As a result, the state is
left with a mediocre workforce and an apathethic population left to
fend for themselves and constantly being hammered down by the
relentless state machinery apparatus which in itself is an enormous
conscript system of sorts.
The problem here lies in the social fabric of the nation that
was engineered for decades to fulfill a narrow mindset
dominated purely by twisted and unnatural capitalism , meritocracy
and elitism while showing a total neglect for social
issues.The manouever has set the ground for an initial social
problem that has since intensified and has been seen to cause more
problems over time. Though the city state has flourished in
physical resources through merticulous planning of infrastructure,
transport, medical and security, it is way behind in the social
context. While other developed nations have addressed these
concerns with effective social planning and ethics, Singapore yet
remains unwilling to take concrete efforts. Observers have
noted that Singapore's social and secuity hybrid policies are
geared towards bringing about a secure and suitable
environment for continous trade and economy, rather than as a whole
solution which does not take welfare and rights into account . The
system which collapses when the world economy turns its back
, the social scenario is now paying the price. Rather than
implementing protectionist policies to avert this situation, the
authorities expect the social landscape to wait and ride out the
tide till things improve.
The other problem here lies with the city state's
obsessive paranoia, stubborness,lack of foresight and
outdated Nazi styled policing on issues relating to national
security, citizen rights and social situation tied in as whole
picture. The city state is known to invest in cutting edge defence
technology, and yet why is there a need to maintain an army
conscript system, when other similar countries like Taiwan have
successfully abandoned it? The system together with the
other issues is causing problems in the social fabric and how
long before they start to realise this issue, until the birth rate
reaches zero? Does the expenditure on the conscript system
producing any real output value?. No it does not, at best a
superficial face value. Do we have to ask ourselves on why we
are spending enormous amount of money on human assets
of the conscript system that produces unhappy soldiers, who view NS
duties as a hindrance and burden, get disadvantaged in employment,
risk their lives, and most importantly bring about dysfunctionality
in national birth and marriage rates? The conscript system is an
enemy of its own existence, outputting results which is contrary to
what it set out to achieve in the first place and along with
it bringing added problems. And of course no problem is
complete without addressing the the root causes . It seems
the city state is suffering from a major fundamental problem that
needs to be addressed - Problems which are made up of myriad of
problems. The Singapore, popularly known as the lion city we
know today, is best described as the lion with an erectile
dysfunction unable to set things upright, a trait which is of
outmost importance in maintaining the success the it has than
actually building it.
Who are we to blame? Ourselves or the govt? The answer is
obvious. Both.