Let women contribute by doing NS in the community

By Cho Ming En

The writer proposes that women do National Service for a year in areas such as healthcare, eldercare, environmental conservation and community building.

TODAY

27 August, 2019

[Every few years (or months sometimes), someone with an overblown sense of "fairness" stews about the unfairness that men have to do National Service and women gets a "free ride"... and then they suggest well maybe women don't have to do military service. They could be nurses, care-givers, maybe even child-care teachers etc.

Isn't that a good idea?

No. It's a sick idea arising from a sick mind with wrong assumptions and a perverse sense of fairness.

So to right the "wrong" of men being forced to do NS, we should similarly subject women to the same "slavery"?

Like I said, sick.

And this is not a new suggestion. But more on that later. For now, let's hear him out.]

National Service (NS) has been an avenue for young men to contribute to Singapore’s defence.

As we push to promote women’s rights in our society, we should also consider the gap between the sexes regarding NS.

Since every citizen enjoys the privileges of citizenship, the responsibility to keep the nation strong and robust should be shared equally. It would thus be prudent to review NS and how women can contribute to Singapore.

[Assumption: Women current DO NOT Contribute to Singapore. Also note the implied criticism: EVERYONE enjoys the privilege of citizenship (but women do not contribute.]

Military service is physically demanding and potentially dangerous. It is a tremendous sacrifice for men who spend two of their prime years protecting Singapore while their female peers advance in their education or careers.

Over the years, there have been recurring debates on NS for women. Our founding prime minister, Mr Lee Kuan Yew, wrote in his memoir From Third World To First: The Singapore Story (1965-2000): “I was keen to have our women do National Service as Israeli women did, because that would reinforce the people's will to defend themselves.”

Still, I feel compulsory military service for women will not be ideal given the physiological differences between the sexes. 

As an alternative, I propose that women perform NS through community service for one year. A year is a significant amount of time, but not too long that the programme becomes inefficient and a barrier to women’s professional aspirations.

They could serve in areas such as healthcare, eldercare, environmental conservation and community building.

[Healthcare and eldercare translates easily to "nursing". WTF is "environmental conservation" and "community building"?]

Singapore relies heavily on foreign workers and is experiencing a labour crunch in the healthcare and eldercare sectors. While most healthcare jobs call for years of professional training, we could explore the possibility of creating positions that require less training, perhaps with highly specific job scopes, such as National Kidney Foundation health assistants or palliative carers.

Singapore’s population is ageing. According to a Lien Foundation study released in July last year, the country will have to augment its pool of long-term-care workers by 45 per cent by 2020 to satisfy its eldercare needs.

It would be apt to tap our youth to take care of our elderly people and keep our eldercare expenditure low.

[So how are 1 year term "sub-nurse" (or under-nurse or nurses with the most basic skills) "long-term"?]

These community services are integral to a well-functioning society, and this proposal will make the NS system more equitable in the time and effort involved.

[And note there is NO elaboration as to what an environmental conservationist or community builder are. Or how they will function.]

Today, national servicemen are often offered higher starting salaries for the same job to acknowledge their contributions to defence. By rolling out NS for women, there will be no need for this difference in treatment. This will help to narrow the persistent wage gap between men and women.

Both men and women are valuable, and can contribute in their own ways to society.

[And then lip service to the fact that women contribute in their own ways, but he wants it to be HIS way.

In any case, as I wrote earlier, his suggestion is nothing new. Ho Kwon Ping made a similar argument in 2015. And he was a better "salesman". And this was part of the rebuttal.

"NS is a necessary evil. 
The conscription of men to serve in the military is a basic and base need - to defend the tribe, the home, the country, the nation. It requires men to do nasty things to other men. It requires sons and brothers, and fathers and husbands to kill other sons, and brothers, and fathers and husbands - to protect their home, their family, their way of life.
It is a necessary responsibility, and not one to be taken lightly. Nor to be shirked. 
And it is for this reason that conscription for military service is seen as a necessity, especially when the pool of potential soldiers is small.
Yes, we conceal the nasty with concepts like duty, and honour, and loyalty, and esprit de corp. We glorify military service to make it more palatable, to participate in the autistic conspiracy that what is necessary is also good.
And yes, some good does come out of it. But that is because of the indomitable human spirit, that seeks to find a positive in the most demented situation. 
Extending this necessary evil that has been necessarily inflicted on the men, onto the women is the sign of a deranged and immature mind. 
It is a mind obsessed with naive and infantile notions of "fairness". 
It is a mind stewed in paranoia, and the ideology of victimhood, and wishing to inflict the same suffering onto women. 
It is a mind confused and enraged by misconstrued ideas about gender equality, and lashing out in retaliation. 
It is a small mind, regardless of the intellectual capacity, lacking in compassion, empathy, and connection to women. 
It is a sad mind that seems to think that the only way to alleviate its pain is to ensure others suffer as well.
NS is a necessary evil.
Conscription is a curtailment of one's freedom to choose. We accept that for drastic and critical need, such suspension of basic human rights is necessary. Like Military Defence (National Service). 
But if one wishes to extend this suspension of human rights, this infringement of civil liberties, it has to be for a clear and present need. Conscripting girls today IN CASE we need to tomorrow is NOT a just cause. It is not a clear and present need.
Conscripting girls to be nurses, when it is possible and feasible to recruit from other countries, is unjustifiable.
But this NS for Girls question and issue will rise again. Not because it is a pressing and critical issue, but because there are always small-minded, vicious, ideologues who will want to make a case for NS for girls. 
They can dress their reason and logic any way they want, but deep down, they are basically women-haters. and they hate because they fear.
What do they fear? 
Sorry, I do not know. My instinct is to protect my wife, my mother, my sister, my daughter. Not force them to suffer. Or deprive them of their liberty. "

And here is a more pragmatic argument:

"You are a man. You have been conscripted. You hate National Service. Kill the enemy. 

You are are woman. You have been conscripted to be a nurse. You HATE nursing. You can't stand the sight of blood. Please care for this elderly woman. 

You have a sick parent, going to hospital for extended stay. How assured are you that the conscripted nurses and healthcare attendants looking after your frail, vulnerable parent will provide PROFESSIONAL care? Or can you expect at best, NATIONAL SERVICE LEVEL care?"

I can't seem to make fun of this letter because I take protecting my wife, my daughter, my mother, my sister seriously. And such well-thought-out suggestions are a threat that I take very seriously. ]