Saturday, May 19, 2018

Review our National Service policy

There were 3 deaths of NS men while under training in recent weeks.

What should be done?

The first step is for the government to pay a compensation of $500,000 for each NS men who dies during training or under full time or reservist service.

In an earlier survey, the majority voted that the compensation should be $1 million. I think that this sum is too high. I would prefer a more modest sum of $200,000. So, $500,000 would be a compromise.

Will this cost a lot of money to the government? No, it will be petty cash (I would not call it "peanuts"), compared to a defence budget of more than $10 billion a year.

I expect the SAF to be more serious about improving the safety protocol for the soldiers. But a higher compensation would help them to work more actively in this direction.

I also like to ask for NS men to be given a higher allowance, perhaps $1,500 a month. I believe that a soldier earns a higher salary. Why should the country continue to exploit the conscripts?

If the cost of keeping the conscripts is higher, I would expect the SAF to be more creative in improving the training for the conscripts. Perhaps they do not need to keep the ordinary soldiers for two years. Maybe, it can be reduced to one year.

Maybe, they find it better to have a bigger professional army and stop the conscription. I understand that Taiwan is adopting this approach.

It is time to review the training method for our conscripts. It is also time to stop the exploitation of the conscripts (i.e. slave labor).

I hope that the recent and unnecessary deaths will make the SAF and the government review the current policy.

I also hope that more people will speak out on this matter. Please share your views.

Tan Kin Lian




1 comment:

Yujuan said...

Strange, you need many of our young men to die first before the Commanders take concrete action to protect our sons.
Meaning they are sleeping on their jobs all these years?

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