In Singapore, National Service is a part of life where almost no
man can avoid. It is our duty to serve and protect the country. The
thousands of men are chosen from their Basic Military Training
(BMT) to move on to other units they are suitable for, or at least
deemed suitable by the officers.
It is no news that the ratio of scholars i.e. those with
excellent academic results becoming an officer is many times higher
than that of a normal student. The question is does good results
equates to leadership and competence in military institutions? The
discrimination does not stop here. When was the last time we heard
someone who aces all his military training with an excellent
attitude towards army got posted to SISPEC ( School Of Infantry
Specialist Training Center) and one who failed his physical
training and poor attitude but with scholarly worthy results got
into the prestigious OCS ( Officers Cadet School). The answer to
the above question for me was 2 weeks ago. It has become something
most of us live by, a fact that is glaringly unchallenged.
The fear of getting into trouble with the authority and the thought
that nothing can be done puts everyone down and choose not to bring
it up officially, openly and be discussed fairly. Great respect
should be given to the warrant officers, the specialists and the
soldiers. I agree that OCS have produced tons of outstanding
officers with exemplary leadership abilities, but my focus is the
over reliant of using this National Service experience as an
criteria for selection, in terms of jobs and entry requirement for
studies.
I came across a postgraduate MBA program offered by a local
university. One of the main criteria was stated as,
Work Experience - Applicants must have a minimum of two years
full-time work experience in management or related functions. While
compulsory military service will not in general substitute for work
experience, National Service in Singapore as an officer may be
taken into consideration in the computation of length of work
experience.
I believe some employers do favor applicants whom are officers
during their stint in National Service and I strongly feel so
especially in statutory or related bodies. Many officers are proud
to flaunt their rank and are at the helm of most government bodies.
There is nothing shameful about being a Private, 3rd Sergeant or
even a Warrant Officer.
Our system has to change someday, somewhere, and let this happen in
our generation.
Im currently trying an online petition to see the response this
issue generates and may eventually write in to the major papers
soon.
thank you for you time,
tatsoon
www.petitiononline.com/tatsoon/petition.html