All National Service (NS) servicemen will be given S$100 vouchers and a 1-year SAFRA club membership this year for the SAF’s 50th anniversary celebration, according to the SAF.
NS, more conspicuously known as National Slavery, is a compulsory 2-year military service with only a S$450 salary for all Singaporean males born in Singapore. Singaporeans who completed NS will have to serve reservist training each year for 10 cycles, up to the age of 40. The time consumed during NS resulted in Singaporean males lagging behind in academic and employment, while females and foreigners are given a head start in life.
While wasting one’s youth, time and life opportunities, Singaporean conscripts are imparted with negative values like having to obey orders without question. Many NS soldiers also pick up bad habits like smoking, prostitution and a bureaucratic mindset during their training in the army. No soldier is taught to value life, and they were taught to kill. Expressing opinions and refusal result in imprisonment under the military regime.
However, the government often abuse the 154th-ranking state media to publish fake news, propaganda and films claiming that NS builds “character” and “turn boys to men”. Like North Korea, PAP-linked director Jack Neo’s film on whitewashing National Service, “Ah Boy to Men” series, saw state sponsorship and full support from the government.
New citizens are exempted from NS, and so are Permanent Residents and foreigners on employment passes. More Singaporeans are refusing to allow their sons to serve NS conscription today through emigration, resulting in Singapore having the lowest birth rate in the world for over a decade (1.24 compared to Japan’s 1.45). Many Singaporean men are also leaving Singapore to work overseas just so they can be excused the burden of NS reservist training.