Today, Singaporean mourn on the demised of one of its founding member, Dr Goh Keng Swee. Stories/ news in the papers these few days tell us how this man has played a part in shaping Singapore. He laid the foundation for industrial development, ensuring the stability of our currency’s value by eschewing deficit financing, having our own military organization etc, etc, etc….In other words he has his fingerprint on most of the important policies. Today, we can still feel the impact on some of those policies.
The policy that has impacted me most was the promulgation of National Service (NS) in 1967. It was meant to build a defense force by enlisting all male Singaporean by the time they leave school at the age of 17 ½. Regretfully, many in my community were not in the enlistment list for reasons publicly unknown. We were having hard time looking for decent jobs then as many employers preferred those who have done their NS.
The reasons for not enlisting many in my community was only made known to the public in late 1976 ten years after its promulgation during a dialogue session with an MP of T Belangah, Mr Ahmad Halim. In the early years of our independence, the armed forces were overwhelmingly comprised of Malay soldiers. To correct the racial imbalance, a ‘temporary stop’ of Malay recruitment is required. Thus many were not enlisted during this period. But why after 10 years was it then revealed????
My salutation goes to Mr Ahmad Halim. I was enlisted in 1977 at the age of 19 when many others of my age were completing their stint. But it’s never too late.
And my empathy goes to my brother, uncles, cousins, relatives, neighbors,friends and many more in the community who were not enlisted due to this policy.
