Tag: NS

Random Discourse – Heather Chua

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Well, it is not very often someone writes something utterly stupid that I get a good laugh. This piece from Heather Chua definitely ranks up there with Xiaxue’s pro-PAP piece during the 2011 General Elections. After all, that talk about the Prime Minister, Mr Tan Chuan-Jin and Geoerge Yeo being the only ones who are considered to have made sacrifices definitely came from the same vine as Xiaxue’s utterly uninformed piece. While Xiaxue should just stick with her usual stuff and stay away from the political discourse, Heather Chua should keep her big mouth shut on the matter of NS (National Service).

Personally, I ain’t complaining about the quality of PAP supporters like these. After all, they have outsourced their thinking completely to the men-in-white and they simply suck it up regardless of what the PAP throws at them. Then again, perhaps not. I pity their husbands, and also the rest of the 39.9% of us.



Article taken from Facebook.
‘Mass facepalm’ watermark added to to emphasize my point.


For someone who has no NS obligations at all, it is quite hilarious when Heather Chua even dare utter about having our NSF (Full time National Servicemen) trained by Israelis. Does she not know even Israeli women served NS to defend the Jewish State from her enemies? Let me guess, perhaps the only thing she knew about the Israeli trainers was after she watched “Ah Boyz to Men” or after going to the Army Open House last year? It doesn’t matter that I am wrong about that, because there’s really quite a number of us who can talk about Israeli trainers too. In fact, we probably can do so in more vivid details, as if we have been there personally to experience the ‘tekan‘.

The combat troops maybe the blade of the sword, but the support troops would be the hilt in which a warrior holds his weapon. For Heather Chua to denigrate the non-combat NSFs, shows her complete lack of understanding about the military. She can quit hiding her elitism behind the praises she sings of our political leaders with military background and also the combat troops because it doesn’t mitigate what she has said. Basically, it’s as good as saying “No offense but fxxk you anyway.”

Why single out the storemen and clerks for her derision? Is the life of an army clerk easy? For her information, I doubt any of the officers type their own documents. They probably consider those tasks to be beneath them and a clerk will be assigned to do it. Oh yes, the clerk is told what to type, but it will be the clerk’s responsibility to ensure that there are no errors or the officer will give the clerk hell.

I suspect, if Heather Chua has a husband and in the event of his death in service of the nation, it would be a clerk who would be preparing the document to send her the bad news. It will also be a clerk who will be identifying what sort of compensation her husband will be getting. Did she imagine that an officer would be doing all that? Perhaps. That’s because someone who comes knocking on the door might be an officer, an warrant officer or an NCO. Not the ‘chow clerk’ that she looked down on, right?

Next, logistics plays a big part in military operations. There used to be a time when the SAF maintains its own stores instead of subcontracting it to defense contractors. The storemen’s role back then, would be to maintain the equipment in those stores when they are not in use. For e.g. guess who keeps the tow bars from rust and well oiled in the vehicle store so that when it is needed, it will not be dysfunctional? Did she imagine the officers to be maintaining the store which the SAF (Singapore Armed Forces) will be utilising when Operationally Ready NSmen (aka “reservists”) are mobilised in the event of war? If Heather Chua thinks that the officers are the ones that does all these work, and the storemen and clerks have their life easy, then perhaps it is high time we implement NS for women and have them staff these ‘sin lang’ (aka relax, no-pressure) positions.

Since those tasks are so easy and people just sit there as ‘tua peh kong’ doing nothing, it should be a difficulty for women like her to fill those positions right? She probably wouldn’t complain either, because she can look on the bright side as she can keep fit – perhaps even cosplay as Lara Croft *oh, the horror!* – and she gets to learn shooting and play with the SAF’s modern SAR-21 rifles too.

In fact, we might even be able to worry less about the low TFR (Total Fertility Rate) and aim for a lower population in 2030. Thank you, Heather for pointing this out so the government and SAF can evaluate the feasibility of channelling those men from vocations she despises into other more worthy, combat positions and solve the SAF’s manpower problems. In fact, even AWARE should be pleased too. NS for women will further the equality between the sexes in this country!

Random Discourse – National Defense Duty

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Serving in the military to gain citizenship is not a modern concept. The concept goes all the way back to the Marian Reforms of the Roman Republic in the 2nd Century BC. In fact, this still holds true for the French Foreign Legion where a Legionnaire who has served for 3 years with “honor and fidelity” may apply for French citizenship.

So tying citizenship to military service is not a concept invented by Singapore. It never failed to irk me when I am reminded that certain people such as penis pianist Melvyn Tan managed to dodge National Service [NS] and was let off with a simple fine, or that second generation Permanent Residents [PRs] who received subsidised education in this country can opt not to serve. Worst of it all is that such people will still have unimpeded access to our country as so-called “Foreign Talents” and their past transgression can be forgotten. As far as I am concerned, any person who feel no commitment to defend the country he grows up in, should leave and never come back. It doesn’t even matter if they find the cure for cancer or invent the perpetual energy generator.

Hri Kumar’s suggestion of a National Defense Duty has to be the most harebrained idea I have ever heard. The idea that PRs and foreigners should make financial contribution for what this country has to offer them is tempting, but not the idea to make it legal for the sons of PRs and foreigners born in Singapore to be excused from NS. If PRs and foreigners preferred their children who are born in Singapore not to serve in NS, then they should have the decency not to send their children into our government schools for subsidised education. They should send their children back to their home countries, or send them to international schools in Singapore. They can choose to pay the price of separation from their kids, or let them serve the country they took advantage of. Simply put, PRs and foreigners cannot expect to have the cake and eat it.

Granted, it maybe a walk in the park for some and NS does not turn every Singaporean male into a elite fighting men or crack troops like the 300 Spartans at Thermopylae. But to attach a monetary value to it cheapens the sacrifice in time every Singaporean male has to made, and the great economical cost Singapore has paid in the past 45 years. There is simply no monetary value that can be attached to serving NS. It is an insult to all the men who has served faithfully and steadfastly, even though grudgingly, all these years. On top of which, how are we to justify ourselves to those who were imprisoned for refusing to serve in the past? How are we to face those who lost their sons, brothers and husbands to the service of the nation?

What meaning is there for those who cannot legally escape NS to serve, if second generation PRs are allowed to do so? As far as I am concerned, if certain people can choose to enjoy the privileges in this country and not serve his duty, then there is no purpose whatsoever for anyone else to serve. Why place the burden on some of us to defend our country to the death, while some can choose not to by paying out? We might as well all just roll over and die. After all, who cares when some people can already choose not to defend it anyway?

It made me wonder whether Hri Kumar even understand the purpose of NS at all. How sad it is for our country that such a man is even elected as a Member of Parliament!

Random Discourse – NSF Deaths and Online Comments

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When 21-year old Private Dominique Sarron Lee Rui Feng of 3 Singapore Infantry Regiment [SIR] passed away during training, a girl Zheng Huiting posted the comment “Singaporeans too weak? LOL” to a Facebook link about the news of this tragedy.

This is not a post written to flame Zheng Huiting, because many others have done that rather effectively. The girl has apologised and even beat a hasty retreat from social media by erasing her Facebook and Twitter profiles. My friends and I wouldn’t care to flame her, because we wouldn’t give a damn to the comments about National Service [NS] by those who are not required to do it and has never done it. Personally, I felt some of these girls probably can’t survive even one Physical Traiing [PT] session in the army. If they have so much to say, just try one of our PT sessions. Survive that first, then come back and talk.

However, I am still outraged. We don’t “LOL” (Laugh out Loud) over the death of someone. Regardless whether we know some of these people personally, these are one of our brothers who lost their lives doing their duty for our country.

I remembered watching with some apprehension when another NSF was carried into the medical center on a stretcher screaming in pain. One of his leg is broken and he was bleeding profusely. A part of the shin bone was jutting out. We don’t “LOL” about something like that. We simply rush out of the way so the medics and his platoon mates can carry him quickly into the first aid room. I also remembered back in 1994, I did a recovery for a overturned tank in which the commander was killed. I was subsequently sent as part of the unit (also as part of the larger Armoured Formation) to the poor sod’s funeral. No one wants to die doing their NS. But it breaks the heart when you see the mother screaming and running after the carriage carrying the coffin of her son to the crematorium. None of us even dared to smile, much less “LOL” at that.

Even after our full time NS is completed, some of us still feel something for the units or camps we have served in. When a Taiwanese F-5F crashed in Hukou camp in Taiwan, I went to look up the news to find more details. I was sad when I read that 2 of our soldiers were killed in that crash. No, we don’t “LOL” at such things even when we don’t know those people.

Are our young boys spending 2 years of the prime of their lives defending those who no longer appreciate it? Maybe it’s high time we implement some form of NS for our womenfolk, to bring about some real gender equality. Even putting them as nurses in hospitals would help. Having them pull night or weekend duties will make them understand how painful that is.

If there is any other thing that invalidates the meaning of NS, it would be our young womenfolk’s failure to appreciate the sacrifice our men has to make, on top of employers’ preference in hiring foreigners over Singaporeans due to our NS obligations. I shudder to imagine when they become mothers. Anyway, 2 years of NS is not all to a Singaporean men’s NS obligations. There is also a “reservist” cycle in which the men are expected to spend up to 40 days a year during training, and to keep fit and pass their annual Individual Physical Proficiency Test [IPPT] every year until their are released by the Singapore Armed Forces [SAF]. How long this cycle will be depends on how soon you reach 40 years old or complete 6 High Key and 4 Low Key training, whichever is sooner. If the NSman is an officer, he needs to serve even after 40 years old.

Are we ourselves to blame for this lack of respect for NS? All too often we talk about NS as a waste of time, and we ridicule some of the “silly things” we do during NS before our women folk. Worst of it all are those who thought little of their NS training and openly belittle it. Perhaps I was mistaken. Maybe this chap loved NS so much that he is angry that the Ministry of Defense [MINDEF] did not post him to a unit where training is tougher than what he experienced – such as the Commandoes, the Guards or even the Combat Engineers where they do more than taking a “stroll in Lim Chu Kang or Mandai with guns”. MINDEF should have made him redo his NS.

Then there’s the damage one of our full-time National Servicemen [NSF] has done to the image of NS. We have all done our part to ridicule that poor boy whose maid carried his fullpack, but what is worse is the public hounding of our NSFs – such as a recent photo showing a NSF sitting on the floor of our MRT trains, or even longer ago NSFs who occupied the ‘Priority Seat’ (if I remembered correctly). I have two things to say about this. First of all, why the hell does anyone complain about the NSF sitting on the floor of the MRT when we know just how horrendous the service has been recently? Are we forgetting that the trains come at irregular frequencies, and the increased number of break downs? Furthermore, the train wasn’t even packed and is this poor sod still sitting down where he is when the train is getting more packed? If he stood up when it is required, why berate him for it? Who knows what he might have gone through that day? As for those who took the priority seat, I always find it ridiculous that people takes photos of the “offenders” and make a fuss. Why didn’t they step forward and confront the “offender” right there and then? As far as I am concerned, anyone who failed to do so at the scene has basically forfeited his right to pursue the matter. Don’t convene a ‘kangaroo court’ in STOMP or some forum or website to trial the poor sod.

Really, even though the food, treatment and allowances maybe better in NS these day, I am quite sure the PT sessions to ensure everyone attain the IPPT standards are not compromised. Stop beating up on our NSFs because they seem to be better off now. We all aspire to a better life and we expect the SAF to improve and evolve over time as well. I don’t demand everyone to mourn about accidents and deaths in the SAF, but please remember this is a life of someone who is obliged by law to defend everyone else of us. At the very least honor them for their sacrifices even if they might be just pushing pens in a cubicle in one of our camps.

Recommended Reads:
FoxTwo: Singaporeans Too Weak? LOL!
Senang Diri: Singaporeans close ranks against post on NSF’s death

Satire – National Service Recognition Award (NSRA)

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During the National Rally, the Prime Mini$ter Baby Lee unveiled the NSRA, the National Service Recognition Award, to recognise Singapore citizens who have served are still serving national service. Imagine my joy when I heard this on TV – I was almost moved to tears.

And several days later, my tears did fall and it fell like the rain that flooded Orchard Road when I realised that this will not include those who who have already completed their entire national service cycle before 29th of August. The Mini$ter of $tate for Defence, Koo Tsai Shit Kee, said, “Government policy has never been retroactive. The first significant milestone is on the 29th of August when the Prime Mini$ter made the statement. Many generations who have served NS, like many of us… recognise that we have already benefited from previous policies and this policy is for NSmen going forward.”

I really have no clue what previous policies were there for NSmen in the past, but if a person of ASSociate Professor Koo’s calibre said so, it must be true. Mini$ter Koo further added that “NSmen who had completed their NS obligations had ‘benefited from the peace and prosperity that they’ve helped create’.” I am pretty sure he speaks from the bottom of his heart, considering how much money a mini$ter like him earns every year while NSmen keep the nation safe!

The Mini$ter, however, has been kind not to elaborate on all the other benefits that many other NSmen have gotten. Unlike Malaysia which gives the bumiputra an advantage, Singaporeans males gave foreigners who graduate together with them a generous head start of at least 2 years in the workforce, and a go at our women while they run around with a gun in the forest and learn the arts of war. Old NSmen like us are also so much superior (than the present stock) that we gave an extra half a year in service more than what the current batch is giving now. It doesn’t even matter some of us would have lost touch with our studies when we are done with our Full Time National Service, we believe ultimately we will still beat our foreign opponents no matter how much head start we have given them!

The army also allows us to pick up the priceless knowledge like the finesse of Hokkien, and the directness of its profanities. Everyone becomes Hokkien, as people gets names like Chow Ah Kwa, Kam Lan etc. The army even teaches us a lingo of its own, like keng, wake up your ideas, bobo king, tekan etc. All of which go forth to enrich our vocabulary in Singlish, making our conversations more lively.

Did I also mention all of the food we eat during our time in the pre-3G army have their own purposes? Hard-boiled eggs can be used as weapons when we run out of grenades. They are lighter than rocks but they are hard enough to cause as much pain. Perhaps getting hit by one of these hard-boiled eggs inspired our engineers in Singapore Kinetics to design the Terrex ICVs and Bionix AFVs.

We even get extra protein in the form of worms in our cabbage when we are lucky! The worms assured us that the cabbages bought by the SAF are of the highest quality because no insecticides were used on them. Otherwise, how else would the worms have survived? To think of it, the SAF even used its food to train us to be armed to the teeth, and literally so! We are given noodles which is like rubber band that when worse come to worst, we can use our teeth to chew right through the taut muscles of our enemies in one bite!

That’s not all. We learn dexterity in the form of change parades, changing from our Long 4 uniforms to PT-kit and back, or a mix match of both. It would have been kinky to be in long 4 shirt, PT-shorts and ‘panda brand sports shoes’ or untied boots if we weren’t men. We also learn flexibility, converting between sit-up position to push-up positions or to jumping jacks or burpees in rapid succession. I recall having fun numbering the lamp posts in the PT field, so that when the Physical Training Instructor (now known as Fitness Specialist) wants us to remember the company line’s telephone number we will be running to the lamp posts in that order. At times, the PTI encourages us by ordering pizzas and we will be running to lamp posts 2, 3 and 5 to keep our spirits high.

We shoot with primitive iron sights (not scopes!) and we can still pick out individual targets 300meters away. We are told our M-16 rifles are like our wives even though they have served (or abused by) the batch before us much like a prostitute served the previous customer. We are even trained in quick thinking by having all our gear thrown into a common pile during bunk inspection and then learning to quickly sort out our own and put every item back in their place in the cabinet within 5 minutes. Mind you, it’s only 5 minutes on a day when the Platoon Sergeant (or Platoon Commander) is feeling generous. On a day when God looked the other way, we get just 3 minutes. If we didn’t meet the time frame, we all take it in stride and do as many push-ups as we can until our arms give way. Everyone do the same and anyone trying to be special (or funny) learns the true meaning brotherly love in what is uniquely SAF – The Blanket Party. Blanket parties are such intense affairs that at times some brothers gave just a little too much love causing the recipient to end up at the sick bay with injuries.

Really, there’s really much, much more than all these. Not forgetting the then rather generous BMT Recruit allowances that started at $90 in the early days of NS. That must have caused a real strain on the country’s coffers at that time.

All of these benefits made the pre-3G NS experience so priceless that it is definitely worth more than $9000. The government gahmen is indeed wise not to give those of us who are done with NS a cent at all. If they did it would really have cheapen our NS experience. The gahmen is giving these new NSmen the money to compensate what they are missing!

The more I think of it, the more I want to use this renowned Hokkien phrase to express my appreciation of the past benefits of NS:

kan ni na bu chao chee bye!

.