Singapore blogger calls NS ‘slavery’

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An honorable member of the Coffee Shop Has Just Posted the Following:

http://sg.news.yahoo.com/blogs/what-...2.html#more-id

Want an instance of "modern day slavery" in Singapore? Look to National Service (NS), claims local blogger Alvin Lim.
Last Friday, he launched into an anti-NS tirade on his Alvinology site -- attracting 248 comments on the article itself, more than 8,000 Facebook shares and "over 100,000 page views over the weekend", according to a follow-up post by Lim on Monday.
The marketing professional, 33, was moved to blog his distaste for military conscription after reading a BBC report mentioning a certain Alex Liang, who renounced his Singapore citizenship to settle in the United Kingdom.
Pointing to NS as his primary reason, Liang told BBC that "Singaporean males (are) discriminated against by the government because of compulsory national service and many years of reservist obligations afterwards".
This clearly touched a raw nerve with Lim, who opened his strongly-worded blog post by concurring that he was "sick and tired" of the "stupid discriminatory" nature of NS.
He then ripped into the IPPT system; the hair checks conducted during reservist/in-camp training (ICT) and the need to notify the Ministry of Defence (MINDEF) when travelling overseas, among other requirements of NS.
"My only crime was being born a Singaporean male," Lim proclaimed, adding that if he ever chose to "migrate out of Singapore... MINDEF and SAF are highly responsible".
He ended by calling for a review of the NS and reservist system.
Responses to the article streamed in thick and fast, with the bulk of them echoing Lim's call for a makeover of the NS process.
"Male Singaporeans are effectively handicapped – first by the 2/2.5 years spent in full time NS and then thereafter by the annual ICTs," said reader "rytt".
Another commenter, "voice of people", agreed that the NS method of punishment by "charging people who (do) not obey, is the same as whipping slaves into their bidding".
However, a number spoke up in defence of NS, such as "Average singaporean dude", who argued that "those two years brought me lessons, lifelong friends, skills and fitness that few other countries can give".
After the weekend, Lim wrote a response to clarify his stance on NS. Among other points, he mocked the ideology of "nation before self" while admitting to looking out for his own "self interest and comfort".
Lim then drew the same conclusion of NS as "modern slavery" and repeated his demand for a review of the system.


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