National service is the mother of all problems ....

Singapore has a penchant to be hubs for all things ....

Unintentionally, we are also becoming a PROBLEM hub. We have no babies, no talents, no customer service skills, no smiles and no money (except a few of us wearing white).

Luckily, our government is very talented. The solution, it seems, to all these problems is to import immigrants. Yep, all these problems will disappear when immigrants arrive by the truckloads.

Fortunately, old fogey discovered the mother of all problems while listening to Mr Brown's podcast on Pluto's downgrading. No, it's not Pluto's fault that we have problems but National Service for Singapore males.

OK, don't fret for those of you who die, die want to die for the country. I am not advocating to abolish National Service. Even though this is one important aspect where many singaporeans feel they have been disadvantaged as citizens against immigrants.

C'mon, get real. Where would all those regulars work if there is no MINDEF? Outsourced them to Iran and Lebanon? I respect those who believe in dying for their country. How romantic! Dying for love of a country, for fellow men and family (actually, I prefer my son alive but that's not the point).

In fact, I wholeheartedly agree with Dr Huang for his big-hearted proposal to welcome our immigrants. So, why is National Service the mother of all problems?

Listen to the podcast for those who had never served in the army, had no brothers in the family who served NS and if you're a white horse (or is it white knights?). Did you hear the atrocious, non-standard English used ever so freely by our esteemed army officers?! My god, they are supposed to be stewards of discipline and male bonding functions for our impressionable young men of 18 or more.

I spent much money and time in enrolling my son in 'branded' schools, attending Julia Gabriel classes with native speaking teachers and holidaying only in Europe and the States. Imagine, all these efforts will go to waste when he reports to the army in few years' time. Because, day in day out, his army officers will teach him an expanded vocabulary of 'chow keng','gen' and many other forms of non-standard English.

From the State's perspective, this is seriously detrimental to MOE's initiative to bring in more Native Speakers to teach our children. What's the point of teaching from young, to be corrupted just when they are ready to join the work force?

Remember, having a population of standard English speakers is very critical for our economy because the tourists and investors may not come if they don't understand us. Without money and economic growth, all other problems will pop up. The lack of money is the root of all evil, some say. (Evil is the fruit of having too much money?).

National Service is the problem. Yep. I urge the Minister for Defence (who's he hah?) to give this mother of all problems a serious thought. Maybe, we could ask those foreigners and immigrants to perform National Service as well. Spend some time in the army barracks to mingle and socialise with the local soldiers. They need not wear green, blue will do as a Mr Ng Ya Ken had suggested in Today (this chap suggested naming our citizens by the colour of the rainbow to forge cohesiveness).

Maybe, we could also adopt MOE's policy as well. Employ some native speakers to become army officers. Who knows, they might want to die for our country too, one day.

Singapore, national service