4 ms·

> After graduating, every citizen is required to do active service in the military. Nitpick: Men only. It's a common lament here that the men start higher educ

by jingwen 13y ago

> After graduating, every citizen is required to do active service in the military. Nitpick: Men only. It's a common lament here that the men start higher education/work a couple of years later than their women counterparts, hence "losing out".

rdl 13y ago
I wish the Israelis or Swiss could come in to fix the Singaporean national service system. It is ineffective and inefficient -- the NS system produces a subpar military (the full timers are quite good though), and it provides very limited benefits to the individual. A shorter period of training, a competitive bidding process to get into elite units like Israel's 8200, and a longer term commitment with the same people for the rest of your life, would be vastly better (and probably something the US should consider). As it is, NS is basically wasted time for most people . Ambulance and SOF seem like the only decent options. The discrimination against the Malay origin singaporeans also seems wrong.
- jingwen 13y ago
  Getting the Israelis visibly and heavily involved in the Singaporean military is just asking for trouble in the region, given the nature of the country's neighbours. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israel–Singapore_relations http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israel–Singapore_relations
  - artificialidiot 13y ago
    You must admit it would make there quite a bit more "exciting" though.
mchaver 13y ago
Another issue I have heard about is the difference in local and expat salary (only hearsay, I don't have any data). Add that on top of mandatory military service for men and it could leave someone pretty unsatisfied.
agilebyte 13y ago
Do women have children then during the same period? Seems more like an equalizer to me when it comes to time away from work. Edit: explaining the equalizing factor
- altero 13y ago
  Should woman go to jail for avoiding children? It actually makes situation for woman with children much worse, since she is alone while her partner is in military. Gay couple with children, where both parents would have to go illustrates it well.
  - agilebyte 13y ago
    >> Should woman go to jail for avoiding children? Do not see a reason why. >> It actually makes situation for woman with children much worse... I am not discussing whether military service is good/bad, I am addressing the time away from work factor. >> Gay couple with children... If both were in the service, they would need to get someone to take care of their children.
    - lazylizard 13y ago
      no law compels a woman to have a baby, or take 2yrs' leave to look after it. maybe the husband shares part of the duty. maybe its the husband that looks after the baby. but conscription compels singaporean men to provide labor at well below market rates, in this case for 2yrs, plus ongoing resrervist cycles for the next decade or so. its like. by law singaporean women have 24hrs a day, men have 22. or something like that.
- jingwen 13y ago
  The only "equalizing" compulsory conscription provides is when it puts men of diverse backgrounds into a tight-knit environment where they have to live, work and play together for the majority of the week. You don't get that outside of the military, or at least not in the same scale. The pregnancy vs conscription issue really isn't debatable.
- 13y ago

by jingwen 13y ago

rdl 13y ago

I wish the Israelis or Swiss could come in to fix the Singaporean national service system. It is ineffective and inefficient -- the NS system produces a subpar military (the full timers are quite good though), and it provides very limited benefits to the individual. A shorter period of training, a competitive bidding process to get into elite units like Israel's 8200, and a longer term commitment with the same people for the rest of your life, would be vastly better (and probably something the US should consider). As it is, NS is basically wasted time for most people . Ambulance and SOF seem like the only decent options. The discrimination against the Malay origin singaporeans also seems wrong.

jingwen 13y ago
Getting the Israelis visibly and heavily involved in the Singaporean military is just asking for trouble in the region, given the nature of the country's neighbours. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israel–Singapore_relations http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israel–Singapore_relations
- artificialidiot 13y ago
  You must admit it would make there quite a bit more "exciting" though.

mchaver 13y ago

Another issue I have heard about is the difference in local and expat salary (only hearsay, I don't have any data). Add that on top of mandatory military service for men and it could leave someone pretty unsatisfied.

agilebyte 13y ago

Do women have children then during the same period? Seems more like an equalizer to me when it comes to time away from work. Edit: explaining the equalizing factor

altero 13y ago
Should woman go to jail for avoiding children? It actually makes situation for woman with children much worse, since she is alone while her partner is in military. Gay couple with children, where both parents would have to go illustrates it well.
- agilebyte 13y ago
  >> Should woman go to jail for avoiding children? Do not see a reason why. >> It actually makes situation for woman with children much worse... I am not discussing whether military service is good/bad, I am addressing the time away from work factor. >> Gay couple with children... If both were in the service, they would need to get someone to take care of their children.
  - lazylizard 13y ago
    no law compels a woman to have a baby, or take 2yrs' leave to look after it. maybe the husband shares part of the duty. maybe its the husband that looks after the baby. but conscription compels singaporean men to provide labor at well below market rates, in this case for 2yrs, plus ongoing resrervist cycles for the next decade or so. its like. by law singaporean women have 24hrs a day, men have 22. or something like that.
jingwen 13y ago
The only "equalizing" compulsory conscription provides is when it puts men of diverse backgrounds into a tight-knit environment where they have to live, work and play together for the majority of the week. You don't get that outside of the military, or at least not in the same scale. The pregnancy vs conscription issue really isn't debatable.
13y ago