National Service- How can this be amended or improved further to alleviate the problem of dodging?

The problem of dodging in the national service has been getting more and more serious as dodging becomes more rampant among those who are about to be drafted. Therefore, it is essential that this problem be addressed immediately.

There are many reasons why these young men dodge NS. Many of which do not know the true meaning of NS. Many of them only look at NS at face value; they do not go on and find out about the true reason why they need to serve NS. Some of them just have the mindset that NS is a waste of their time. Many of them think that they can put the time to better use. For example, many of them think that they could use their time to further their studies to have a better standard of living in the future. Furthermore there are those that are scared out of their pants by the stories that their seniors tell them. These stories, true or untrue, have left a very bad impression on these people that are about to get drafted, causing them to have the intention of dodging. They all have the premature fear even before they enter NS.

It is essential that these people realize the need for them to not dodge NS. They must realize that we are living in a small red dot. We do not have a population as big as china or the U.S. they must know that if everyone is like that, Singapore would soon crumble under an invasion.

I would suggest having stricter punishment meted out to dodgers. By saying stricter, I mean that the punishment should freak the potential dodgers out so that they would not even think of dodging. These strict punishments should bring about undesirable consequences so as to deter people. However, we should also consider education talks in schools, road shows to raise public awareness and more advertising so as to inform people of the rationale behind national service and why they should not dodge it. This way, people would be warned before hand and they are less likely to dodge.

I think that commitment is the key to prevent dodging. I think that schools should take some time to instill commitment in their students. Students should be taught how to be committed to the country. They should also learn to be committed to serving and defending their country.

We should also consider giving compensation to those whom are about to go to university but is delayed by NS. Giving compensations might also help to deter people from dodging. However, compensation should not be overdone so that it does not become the main reason why people serve National Service.

I think that educating and informing parents is also important. With the right point of view, parents can persuade their children not to dodge and serve NS whole-heartedly. Nowadays, there are many parents that encourage or help their child to dodge NS because they are afraid that their child might suffer under the harsh conditions. Fines should be imposed on families who have children that dodge NS. Heavier fines should be imposed on the rich and influential. This will act as a good deterrent to parents.

All in all, I think that this problem is aggravating and needs to be attended to immediately.