Straits Times Roundtable - Burden of National Service

At the Straits Times Roundtable held on 16 August, I posed this question, "Dr. Tony Tan, we all know that national defence is important for our country. But, when you were Minister for Defence, were you aware about the  national service placed an unfair burden on our male citizens. They have to serve national service and faced difficulty in competing with foreigners and girls for jobs as they start two years later. They also have to be disrupted regularly for reservist duty. What could you have done before or what would you do today, to reduce this burden?".

Dr. Tony Tan replied at length about the importance of national service to our country but did not address the question about the unfair burden being shouldered only by the male citizens. I wanted to follow up on this matter, but the moderator replied that time has run out and he closed the discussion.

There are many measures that can be taken, if the Government recognizes the unfair burden. They could pay the NS men an adequate salary, rather than a small allowance, or can contribute towards their CPF savings for the full time national service. They could give a bigger housing grant to NS men for the purchase of HDB flat (rather than offer the grant to eligible people, regardless of whether they had served national service).

I written on this matter for the past 25 years. I will continue to bring up this issue, until the unfairness of this system is addressed and the burden is more fairly spread among the males, females, citizens and non-citizens.

Tan Kin Lian