Another of our brother-in-arms dies for duty, honour and country. I posted about the St. James Policy of Discriminating Against Singaporeans and received a few comments relating to that article. Some commenters felt that discriminatory policies have always been around at nightspots i.e. no cover charge for airline crew, ladies nights etc. so this is no big deal.
One Malaysian poster commented that there were other types of discriminatory behaviour in Singapore besides ladies night such as Malaysians being able to pay for entry to Singapore Zoo in ringgit and Singaporeans being able to buy HDB , landed property and join SAFRA.
My reply was simple. As a Singaporean male citizen, you can join SAFRA. As a Singaporean male citizen, you can also risk dying during IPPT or during a training activity. That's life for conscripts in the Lion City.
Majullah Singapura and may our brother-in-arms rest in peace.
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2 comments:
The idea is that, yes, things are unfair. But it is not as if foreigners are getting a free ride in your country. It most likely make sense for St James to offer free entry to foreign students (a lot of them to take this up are well-heeled exchange students, by the way). That's the reason why they do it: not to spite military-serving Singaporean males.
Most clubs that offer student discounts (like Taboo) also extend it to NSFs (and not to someone serving in, say, the Korean national service). They don't do it because they absolutely love students and NSFs, they do it because it makes business sense.
Dear Rajan r
Thanks for your comment.
I am not sure where you got the impression from my articles that foreigners are getting a free ride? I point out instances where the rights and responsibilities of citizenship for male singaporeans is skewed against us.
There are differences in rights and responsibilities between these 2 groups in most countries including Singapore. But the unique thing about Singapore is that conscription imposes a responsibility that can end up in death. Not quite so common in other types of rights/responsibilities e.g. buying HDB, joining/not joining SAFRA.
You may feel targeted because you are a Malaysian, but my blog does not target anyone. It is our system that imposes the rights and responsibilities and the liberal issuance of PR for the sake of economic growth helps the country as a whole but affects social cohesion and creates the tension that my blog expresses.
I went through 2.5 years of full-time NS and 10 years of reservist.
I have encountered 2 cases of people dying during their service. One case was tank overturn where a regular Sergeant my age was killed with 1/3 of his face smashed while the other was a couple of years ago where a reservist collapsed and died during IPPT in my unit.
Honestly, the St. James thing is minor compared to the risk of dying for your country just because you were born MALE in Uniquely Singapore.
Have a great day.
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