The Minister for Defence said that there was no preference treatment for National Service deferment. He explained in detail to Parliament how the process for deferment was carried out. However, the newspaper report did not carry the details. I hope that our MPs in Parliament would question the process, to ensure that the relevant questions have been asked and answered satisfactorily.
http://www.straitstimes.com/Parliament/Story/STIStory_725378.html
My preference is for National Service to be made fairer to male citizens, so that they do not need to sacrifice their time and opportunity. This can be done through reducing the duration of national service and/ or compensating them adequately for the time that they have to spend. The Singapore males have to compete with foreigners and females in the job market and should not be placed at a disadvantage.
My preference is for National Service to be made fairer to male citizens, so that they do not need to sacrifice their time and opportunity. This can be done through reducing the duration of national service and/ or compensating them adequately for the time that they have to spend. The Singapore males have to compete with foreigners and females in the job market and should not be placed at a disadvantage.
The Defence Minister did not explain why Patrick Tan cannot complete his 2 & 1/2 year NS before he got 12 years deferment for his medical study, especially Patrick Tan has already in NS for 6 months? What are the criteria to get this very special treatment?
ReplyDeleteI think most National servicemen who were accepted into medical school are allowed to disrupt, with the idea that once they complete their medical training, they would continue their national service as military doctors, which in my opinion, makes sense, as they serve the nation in a way that maximises their skills.
ReplyDeleteOh, and by the way, I was in OCS in the same platoon with a general's son. I did not percieve preferential treatment for him. In fact, I suspect we got extra scrutiny from our Company Warrant Officer because he was in our platoon. Just my humble experience.
ReplyDeleteThe General would never dare to cross the line, as an accusation of abuse of Authority would undermine his position to lead his men with respect.
ReplyDeleteNot so sure about ex Minister of Defence and President Tan's case though, a lot of words used in defence of his son serving NS in the lab.
Dear Simply Terror,
ReplyDeleteYou have totally missed the arguments:
1.Why can't Patrick Tan complete his NS before his medical study like most of the medical students from 1980's onwards?
2. Why deferred 12 years? why not deferred 5 or 6 years like most of medical students in 1970's ?
3. Why he did not serve as a MO like most of the medically fit male medical students?
These questions are still remain unanswered.
http://www.mindef.gov.sg/imindef/news_and_events/nr/2011/oct/19oct11_nr.html
ReplyDeleteThe full transcript is here..go read here.
They dare not release more facts so that the public will not scrutinize them further. Is call selective good news.