Dr. Ng Eng Hen,
Minister of Defense
Mr. Lee Hsien Loong,
Prime Minister of the Republic of Singapore
To whom it may concern:
Re: Abolition of National Service
With regards to the NLB saga, this writer understands that the NLB’s original decision to remove and pulp several books such as “And Tango Makes Three” was because these books espoused ideas that are not in keeping with the norms, social mores and values of conservative mainstream Singaporeans. These norms, social mores and values includes taboos against same-sex relationships and that the government regards a family unit to comprise of a husband, wife, children and the parents if they are still alive.
This being the case, on behalf of the people of Singapore, this writer calls upon the government to abolish National Service because NS runs contrary to these norms, social mores and values and in addition, promotes ideas contrary to ideas and concepts that the government wants to promote among Singaporeans. This notion can and will be proven in the following paragraphs.
1) NS runs contrary to traditional family units: As noted above, the government regards a family unit as comprising of a husband, wife, children and the parents if they are still alive. In stark contrast, NS requires teenage boys to leave their homes and families thus breaking up the family unit for 2 years. Even worse, the boys are then housed under conditions that might encourage deviant (according to the government definition of family) conduct as can be seen in the next paragraph.
2) NS provides conditions conducive to the formation of same-sex relationships and other deviant sexual behavior: Teenage boys undergoing NS are required to eat, live, sleep and bathe together. No doubt this is to foster a sense of camaraderie and togetherness. Nonetheless, this is also how married couples spend their lives together and in all likelihood, same-sex couples as well. Also, are you aware that the buddy system practiced in NS actually originated from the Spartans, who encouraged their conscripted soldiers to engage in same-sex relationships because they rightly believe that a man will fight to the death to protect what he loves and cherishes most?
The logic here of course is that two soldiers engaged in a same-sex relationship will fight ferociously, even to the death to the detriment of their enemies in order to protect each other. Moreover, servicemen undergoing NS are deprived of female companionship for extended periods of time. They are also told their rifles are their wives. Won’t this run the risk of some sex-starved servicemen actually having sexual relations with their rifles then, be it having penetrative sex with the rifle breech or sodomizing themselves with the barrel? Abolishing NS will eliminate such risks don’t you think, since they will then not have access to the rifles?
3) NS teaches Singaporeans to become xenophobic: The strongest possible proof of this comes from Sembawang GRC MP Dr. Lim Wee Kiak, who openly said that NS should remain a privilege for only Singaporeans. Isn’t his statement xenophobic since it openly discriminates against foreigners? Also, Mr. Lee, you yourself have openly said that Singapore belongs to everyone living here, Singaporean or foreigner alike. In stark contrast, NS teaches every male Singaporean that foreigners are here to take everything that Singaporeans have worked so hard to build up away from us. Even worse, NS teaches us that foreigners are our enemies and that we must be prepared to kill them if necessary to keep Singapore for ourselves exclusively. Worst of all, NS actually teaches us to kill them to drive them out of the country. How much xenophobic can you get than this Mr. Lee?
4) NS promotes ageism: Isn’t TAFEP encouraging employers to employ older workers? And Mr. Lee, didn’t you say that one reason why you don’t want immigrants to serve NS is because you don’t want to be the PC in charge of soldiers in their 30s, 40s & 50s? Is it because older soldiers are not as good as younger ones? With all due respect, as you’re a former army general, can you state categorically if all general officers in the SAF think the same way as you do?
Also, there is a very serious logical flaw here. If foreigners in their 30s, 40s & 50s are considered too old to serve, then shouldn’t the NS liability of all Singaporean males end at age 29, and at age 30 they receive their honorable discharge and wristwatch because after age 30 they too would be too old to serve? And conversely, if Singaporeans aged 30 to 50 are not considered too old to serve, then aren’t foreigners in this age bracket also still young enough to serve? Isn’t this demonstrating ageism against the foreigners then?
Are foreigners so physically inferior to Singaporeans that a 50-year-old Singaporean is combat-fit whereas a 30-year-old foreigner is not despite being 20 years younger? In that case, shouldn’t these foreigners be unfit to work here at all? Or is it simply because Singaporeans age much faster than any other nationalities because there have been many floods in the country despite the fact that flooding occurs only once in every 50 years here?
5) NS promotes segregation between Singaporeans & foreigners: Mr. Lee, didn’t you often say that you want to see Singaporeans integrating with the foreigners and learning to accept and adapt to their ways? Since foreigners are exempted from serving NS while it is mandatory for Singaporeans, this means that will be an automatically built-in them versus us divide in relations between Singaporeans and foreigners. How can we Singaporeans expect the foreigners to understand what we have gone through in NS when they have not done so themselves?
At least female Singaporeans know what it’s like for their husbands, sons and brothers to be separated from them to serve NS, even if they don’t have to serve it themselves. And how can the foreigners in turn understand the sacrifices that we make for the country when they’re here freeloading at our expense? Since NS is dividing the country, shouldn’t it be abolished in the interest of preserving national unity? Or alternatively, if you say that NS promotes community bonding and social integration among Singaporeans, then shouldn’t foreigners also serve NS so as to promote community bonding and social integration between them and us? Otherwise, how can there ever be true integration between them and us when NS is always creating a barrier against it?
6) NS teaches us to defend the undesirable: Didn’t Mr. Lawrence Wong say that NS men are serving to defend such undesirables as the casinos, Gardens-by-the-Bay & the F1 pit building? Mr. Lee, Dr. Ng, I will fight to the death to defend my family and friends because I care about them, my home because it is where my family lives and the factory I work in because it pays my salary so that I can look after my family.
I will NOT defend Gardens-by-the-Bay because it is a monument to hubris in destroying the forest that grew there once in order to create an artificial forest. Nor will I ever defend the F1 pit building, because it is promotes the unhealthy value of squandering huge sums of money on an event that provides little benefit for the majority of Singaporeans when the money spent can be put to far better use providing healthcare subsidies or helping the needy and less-fortunate.
And I will NEVER defend the 2 casinos since they are vice dens that promote the highly undesirable pastime of gambling and will cause serious social problems. And for that matter, WHY should any Singaporean have to defend them since they were built as playthings for the super-rich against our objections anyway?! If the wealthy want them, then let the wealthy themselves defend these things since they were intended for them and not for us.
So there you have it Mr. Lee, Dr. Ng, the reasons why NS is contrary to the norms, values and social mores of most Singaporeans, why it also promotes ideas contrary to ideas and concepts that the government encourages in Singaporeans and creates barriers preventing integration between Singaporeans and foreigners. For the sake of preserving family values and social norms, preventing the possible development of unhealthy social relationships between the servicemen as well as to promote integration between Singaporeans and foreigners, this writer hopes that the government will set narrow parochial interests aside and abolish NS for the greater good of the country instead.
Thanks and best regards.
Darth Vader