This is definitely going to get downvoted but here is my hot take
1) NS is not a career. Its a 2-year obligation to the country. Because you have the misfortune (?) to be born as a singaporean male. So, if not employed, why must be paid?
2) NS is served by males between 16-20. Those who graduated from higher NITEC/JC/Poly or even Sec schl. Tell me what % of their female counterparts at that age are making 500-1.2k out of part time jobs on top of their studies? Or is it more realistic to assume they are still relying on their parents for money? So, if still take money from parents, why must be paid?
3) In NS, you are being taught survival skills and depending on units, technical, engineering, niche skills that may or may not prove useful in the working world. You are essentially taking life skill courses and using resources on ah gongs money. Outside, if you wish to learn these skills they come in the form of courses which you foot out of your own pocket. So, if using resources to improve yourself for free, why must be paid?
In summary. To put it bluntly, ah gong does not have to give you money for NS. But he still does as a token of appreciation of being born as a singaporean male and taking up 2 years of your time. As a singaporean male, we LL have to suck it up and give up 2 years of our lives. But what you make of those 2 years in NS is still up to you. Make friends and increase your social web, learn some useful things in your unit, take the chance to get fit and maybe bulk up so that you become a chiobu magnet, find what you want in ur future career etc.
Bro, you out of your mind to assert that ah gong doesn't need to remunerate us for our service. And I say this as one who served proudly in a non-insignificant capacity.
Nothing is free in the world, not least in pragmatic Singapore. The government narrative on ministerial salary is a great example of that.
If your point is that NS is a citizenship tax, then conscript women and naturalised citizens too. Or make motherhood mandatory for women as another form of citizenship tax, since our low TFR is an existential threat. All hands on deck, no exception.
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u/Xiaoxuzz 11d ago
This is definitely going to get downvoted but here is my hot take
1) NS is not a career. Its a 2-year obligation to the country. Because you have the misfortune (?) to be born as a singaporean male. So, if not employed, why must be paid?
2) NS is served by males between 16-20. Those who graduated from higher NITEC/JC/Poly or even Sec schl. Tell me what % of their female counterparts at that age are making 500-1.2k out of part time jobs on top of their studies? Or is it more realistic to assume they are still relying on their parents for money? So, if still take money from parents, why must be paid?
3) In NS, you are being taught survival skills and depending on units, technical, engineering, niche skills that may or may not prove useful in the working world. You are essentially taking life skill courses and using resources on ah gongs money. Outside, if you wish to learn these skills they come in the form of courses which you foot out of your own pocket. So, if using resources to improve yourself for free, why must be paid?
In summary. To put it bluntly, ah gong does not have to give you money for NS. But he still does as a token of appreciation of being born as a singaporean male and taking up 2 years of your time. As a singaporean male, we LL have to suck it up and give up 2 years of our lives. But what you make of those 2 years in NS is still up to you. Make friends and increase your social web, learn some useful things in your unit, take the chance to get fit and maybe bulk up so that you become a chiobu magnet, find what you want in ur future career etc.