It seems NS is the cause of all these troubles and debates... If
not for NS, a Singapore citizenship is desirable. The Singapore
government provides quite a lot of "welfare" to the citizens.
Singapore passport holders can also enter a lot of countries
without visa. (But curiously, we need a visa to enter
Australia...)
The place where the child attend school will also strongly
influence the choice of nationality. If the child attends school in
Australia all along, he will be learning all the Australian values
and making friends with Aussie children... In the end, he won't
have any attachment to Singapore and he will be very reluctant to
serve NS. (In this case he'll be happier if he's an Aussie
citizen.)
For me, I was born in HK, migrated to Singapore, and got Singapore
citizenship, so I have to serve NS... Looking back, NS is still ok
for me, since I have attended school in Singapore from Primary 3
and I was bombarded with all those "National Education"... I made
friends in Singapore, and I served NS with my friends, so I was not
so lonely. Although HK is my birthplace, I only have relatives
there but no friends. I feel more attached to Singapore because I
had my education in Singapore and all my friends are
Singaporeans.
On the other hand, I have a friend who went to Australia to study.
When he returned to Singapore for NS, he cannot adapt to the
military lifestyle and he can't mingle with the fellow
Singaporeans. After BMT, he suffered from depression and had to
visit psychologist to get deferment. (And his parents had to pay a
large sum of deposit for the deferment.) Now he's studying in an
Aussie uni, and I dunno whether he still wanna come back to
SG...
