Hi everyone,

I am sure we have all heard about the recent training accident in New Zealand which has unfortunately claimed the life of local actor Aloysius Pang. There have been 4 training-related deaths in the past 18 months, in PEACETIME. The Ministry of Defence has only implemented safety measures and improved the safety of training after these incidents. They are reacting instead of pre-empting the various dangers. High-ranking officials can apologize all they want, but they also need to be held personally accountable to ensure their safety revamps can be carried out all the way and implemented fully.

I also feel that it is time to overhaul the National Service system. Singapore has enjoyed unprecedented peace in the past 55 years, and we have extensive diplomatic ties with almost every country under the sun, to the point the inaugural Trump-Kim summit was held here last year. We even have military bases overseas and have very strong defense ties with many countries. In light of all this, don't you think maybe having every single 18 year old man serve for two years and then have to serve reservist for many years after is a little excessive? We modeled our NS system after that of Israel, but Israel is constantly at war and having conflict with its neighbours. Taiwan has national service, but given the whole independence thing (which is a whole other rabbit hole to go down), it is quite necessary. Singapore experiences none of these things, yet we have over 1 million civilian reserve troops who, like Aloysius Pang, have to risk their lives during training unnecessarily. 

There have also been complaints, that the reason many NSFs neglect safety protocols is due to unreasonable time restraints put on them by superior officers. I am aware that currently the officials at MinDef are reviewing training tempo, but I believe that this is a systemic problem that needs to be thoroughly taken care of and it needs more than a temporary slowdown. 

Hence, I am calling on all of you, those that have served, those that are serving, those who will be serving, and those whose loved ones are serving. The National Service system needs to be looked at and revamped, and officials at MinDef need to be held accountable for lapses in training safety. Thank you for taking the time to support this. 

Yours truly,

Identity Crisis