Monday, April 01, 2013

Good and bad points of National Service

Stanley Loh Chong Keng asked:

Mr Tan, about NS in Singapore. If I insist you provide one good point of NS, what will you give and why? And if I also insist on you giving a bad point of NS, what will you give also. Thanks!

REPLY
Good point - as told to me by many parents. NS helps to instill the discipline in your sons. The parents cannot control them - so they are happy for the SAF to control them.

Bad points - there are several:
1. Disrupt the tertiary education
2. Place Sgns at a disadvantage compared to foreign workers
3. Delay marriage by 3 years, leading to the decline in birth rate
4. Too long, time wasted doing non-productive duties
5. Instill bad habits - smoking, switch off (but not apply to all NS men)

2 comments:

Unknown said...

South Korea has reduced NS to 18 months and Taiwan has reduced NS to just 1 year. Why does Singapore still keep its NS to 2 years?

Weng Mao Fa said...

Thailand: 6 months with attractive salary.

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