February 15 is Total Defense Day in Singapore. The day is chosen for this purpose because Singapore fell to the Japanese on the same day 70 years ago in 1942. It took the Japanese just 69days (Dec 8, 1941 ~ Feb 15, 1942) to advance all the way from Kota Bahru on the North East of the Malayan Peninsula (near the border of Thailand) to City Hall in Singapore.

What followed was more than 3 years of hardship and suffering under Japanese Rule. The Imperial Japanese forces were specifically hard on the Chinese population, and the Sook Ching Massacre alone claimed at least 25,000 ~ 50,000 lives. Today, only the monument at the War Memorial Park next to Raffles City stands in mute testimony to the Japanese atrocities.

I know the older generation hated the Japanese with a passion. Two weeks ago a friend told me that his grandmother still referred to the Japanese as “Nip Boon Sai” (Japanese shit in Hokkien) and she taught them never to trust the Japanese. My father was a 6-year old boy when the Japanese surrendered and he once mentioned to me that his only memories of the Japanese as a boy was a public beating. A man was accused of stealing and the Japanese beat him on his back with a pole until the pole broke. Needless to say, the man’s spine broke too and he died.

My maternal grandmother was forced to marry my maternal grandfather a short while after the Japanese occupied Singapore. She has to cut her hair short and dress up like a boy because her mother was afraid that the Japanese soldiers would rape her. In a certain way, the only “positive outcome” of the Japanese occupation was that my mother was born a year before the Japanese surrender. Otherwise, I probably would never be as well.

We often forget just how small Singapore is. The longest distance between east to west is 41.8km, and from north to south is 22.5km. With modern guided weapons, an attacking aircraft probably does not even need to enter our airspace to deliver its ordnance and lay waste to large parts of our country. An artillery piece in Johor would be able to fire on any part of our little island. Any tank will be able to make its way from Tuas to Changi within a hour at full speed. Yes, we are that small and that vulnerable.

I’ll admit I often complain about National Service. I often talk about it as a waste of my time. Yet I also understand that we don’t really have a choice but to serve. Because no one except ourselves will defend Singapore – the only home I knew. Perhaps I wouldn’t survive more than a minute if it comes to war because I certainly ain’t soldier material. But being lined up by enemy forces and gunned down on a beach without a fight isn’t any better.

There are those who are asking for National Service to be abolished but I’ll not be so naive. Kuwait is a fine example of just how quickly a small national can lose everything in a short time frame. Unlike Kuwait, we are way smaller. Not to mention we do not have oil which means no coalition of Western nations will come and save us. Our neighbours may not be our enemies now, but who can tell what happens in the future? We often say – low crime rate does not mean no crime. Similarly, just because the threat of war is low, it does not mean there won’t be wars in the future.

It really doesn’t matter Taiwan or a lot of countries in the world have reduced or even abolished mandatory conscription. Let’s not forget, we are Singapore.