Wow! I get two months less from "serving the nation" with effect from today! So that effectively leaves me with exactly 10 months left of NS before I will be set free to receive my pink I/C, my "voting right" as well as my passport valid for ten solid years!
Earlier today, someone asked me how long before I ORD. And I replied with "One year and One Day left". I guess more or less its good news that I have a reduction in my service time. Then again, this does not bode well for the people of my batch and the batch that ORDed just a few weeks ago.
It doesn't take much to be "promoted to the rank of a corporal". You get 70 dollars a month in extra basic "allowance" and basically you're bonded for 6 months more to "serve the nation". That's 420 dollars for six months of you're life. Talk about lousy deals. Oh yes, we mustn't forget how often the Police National Service Department is slow in "updating the payrolls". So let's keep that amount to just 350 dollars.
My goodness. That is really really pathetic a salary for 6 months of service. No wonder it is so unpopular. It doesn't take more than 2 "O" level passes to be "promoted" to the rank of corporal. After all, with the ever constant massive shortage of manpower, the rotten base and all the other bases benefit tremendously indeed. Think about it. Practically everyone has at least 2 O levels. Even ITE certificates are "somehow" counted as "3 O level passes". The few that ever "escape" are the N-Level holders. And how many N-Level holders are there aged 18 that enlist in the police force? Very few, and very far in between.
Once again, I said. The police force cannot survive without its NSmen. They do all the seriously menial jobs or else they end up being assistant clerks to senior officers that basically give them all the work to do. I have seen some of my clerk friends go to the office at 8a.m and leave only at 11p.m on a regular basis. All for less pay that what is granted on shift-work! And their bosses scoot off at 5.30 sharp and collect their fat paychecks and big bonuses every month and year whilst they taichi all the necessary work to the assistants.
Even when I was at my SGT course. Those clerks were constantly harrasssed by their bosses to head back to the office AFTER the course had ended at 5.30 to complete the work due them for that particular day that they were on the course. This is utter nonsense. If all the clerks went on strike one day. The police force would collapse under the copious amount of paperwork that it would be inundated with. Don't be a clerk in the police force. Its the worst job ever. You do all the work, get all the political backstabbing and never get your money's worth for the amount of work that you do.
Thus come december 2004. Every one who enlists will only serve 2 years. Irregardless of his rank obtained in NS. My neighbour, who is in his 50s, is a wealthy businessmen that often recounts his days in the army to me about the very extent that the servicemen would go to avoid being promoted to corporal. The six months of added service is just not worth the money at all.
Besides, it makes life difficult for so many things. Earlier this year, one of the guys in my team wanted to apply for entry to a polytechnic. However, he could only ORD in August. And he was not allowed to disrupt his NS due to "certain hithero unknown reasons". Today, with this announcement. He has enough leave to clear to ORD this very night. And now the door to apply to the polytechnics is closes. One whole year wasted just waiting to gain entry into the polytechnic.
Think about it, if everyone serves just two years. There wouldn't be vast quantities of people who keep disrupting every year just to head for higher studies. Two years is more than enough. Two and a Half years is just too much. It screws up the plans for everyone. And maybe universities can finally change their starting date to Febuary or March, instead of having make all the A-level girls waste 7 months waiting to gain entry into the university. That extra half a year just messes up the timing for everybody.
But too bad. When Ishvinder (The Great Indian Mathematician) heard the news. He was peeved by the fact that we didn't get 6 months off. After all, if other batches after us get to serve less. Why penalise our batch only with just a mere pittiance of an 8 week "discount"? Three months would be more like it. And somehow, no reason is given as to why it is only two months and not more than that.
I think being born in the year 1984 is really lousy. We get all the nonsense. We have a "new revised PSLE syllabus". We get a "new O-Level syllabus". We have "new A-level syllabus". We also have "revised university entrance admission requirements". We have to do the SATS, the Project Work, have the dumber than dumb PEARLS CCA system implemented. And now this. This is crap man. Everyone serves two years after us. While most of us have to do 4 months more on average. I don't like this.
And soon I might just expect the HDB to implement all kinds of weird rules with regards to the 84 batch. And who knows if the LTA might come up with some COE garbarge for those born in 84 and after. And maybe we'll be affected in all directions as well from healthcare all the way to the way our CPF sums are managed. Being born in 83 or 85 is better than ending up as the guinea pig batch for every single mass change.
Let's not forget the sudden emphasis on the Life Sciences from Engineering. Entrepreneurship over "getting a job" and mindless S cube seminars and "National Education" activities. We are the batch that really eats the dirt. Maybe that's why our generation is so apathetic. Just can't be bothered anymore after all the nonsense that has been thrown at us. I don't think we're "softies". We're just "sick-and-tired-of-everything".
Not too long ago, I clearly recall someone in the gahmen who said that "Mindef will not hold its NSmen for even more than one day than necessary" and that "we are constantly reviewing the time that each of our NSmen needs to serve". This was way back a long time ago when they finally revised the pay schemes for NSmen, after the pay had become ridculously pathetic. Well, it certainly took them one hell of a long period of time to come to this conclusion that they are "constantly reviewing".
The civil service is generally efficient. But come to the SAF and Police as well as MOE. They are seriously the opposite. Yes, we can also count in all those "statutory boards" that are responsible for "entrepreneurship" as well. What entrepreneurship???? Its overhyped!
I guess it might boil down to one thing. People are getting more and more unhappy with the prospect of serving National Service. And with all the various abuses rampant throughout the system where people play rank with each other. With the commando somehow drowning during training, as well as people collapsing after running their 2.4, not to mention courageous and the air force crash in australia. The mood just isn't so good anymore.
I guess what someone told me is true. Being a Permanent resident and being a citizen is really no different. Both can vote, both can buy HDB, both can buy private housing, both can get loan from the bank, both can get jobs, both can start businesses and only the citizen needs to serve NS. In consolation he is given "two chances for the NDP via sms".
If we look at Human Resource Management at the upper echelons. Especially in ACS where almost everyone's dad is some big shot or other in the business arena. Somehow, the worst kept secret is that Male Singapore Citizens who have to serve reservist each year are often passed up in favour of PRs with no In-Camp-Trainings. Not to mention the Foreign Talent that is "supposedly the best of the best". Yeah. So it justifies paying a foreign talent 4 million dollars a year when a Singaporean citizen in the exact same position just collects 339 000 a year. Something's not very right here.
And so when the reservists are done with all their NS liabilities. They hit the ceiling for 40. And we all know how hard it is for people over the age of 40 to get employed in today's job market. Politics, Philosphy and Economics is something that I strongly suggest anyone who is well-educated to delve into in his or her free time. As it opens up a whole series of questioning-thought process. Funny how my F-maths teacher at the end of the day tells me that "you should have gone to the arts stream". But I didn't. Because going to arts stream is more or less "limiting my options" and for the fact that that I could only head to the only place that others echo "arts fac is a dumping ground". Despite the newspaper report on the contrary.
Somehow, I don't even know why I serve two years and four months for a "right to vote". When my area has been a walkover for the last 20 years. Even my dad says that he's only voted once in his whole entire life. Polling day is really just another time to sleep late despite the "fact that voting is compulsory".
Earlier today, someone asked me how long before I ORD. And I replied with "One year and One Day left". I guess more or less its good news that I have a reduction in my service time. Then again, this does not bode well for the people of my batch and the batch that ORDed just a few weeks ago.
It doesn't take much to be "promoted to the rank of a corporal". You get 70 dollars a month in extra basic "allowance" and basically you're bonded for 6 months more to "serve the nation". That's 420 dollars for six months of you're life. Talk about lousy deals. Oh yes, we mustn't forget how often the Police National Service Department is slow in "updating the payrolls". So let's keep that amount to just 350 dollars.
My goodness. That is really really pathetic a salary for 6 months of service. No wonder it is so unpopular. It doesn't take more than 2 "O" level passes to be "promoted" to the rank of corporal. After all, with the ever constant massive shortage of manpower, the rotten base and all the other bases benefit tremendously indeed. Think about it. Practically everyone has at least 2 O levels. Even ITE certificates are "somehow" counted as "3 O level passes". The few that ever "escape" are the N-Level holders. And how many N-Level holders are there aged 18 that enlist in the police force? Very few, and very far in between.
Once again, I said. The police force cannot survive without its NSmen. They do all the seriously menial jobs or else they end up being assistant clerks to senior officers that basically give them all the work to do. I have seen some of my clerk friends go to the office at 8a.m and leave only at 11p.m on a regular basis. All for less pay that what is granted on shift-work! And their bosses scoot off at 5.30 sharp and collect their fat paychecks and big bonuses every month and year whilst they taichi all the necessary work to the assistants.
Even when I was at my SGT course. Those clerks were constantly harrasssed by their bosses to head back to the office AFTER the course had ended at 5.30 to complete the work due them for that particular day that they were on the course. This is utter nonsense. If all the clerks went on strike one day. The police force would collapse under the copious amount of paperwork that it would be inundated with. Don't be a clerk in the police force. Its the worst job ever. You do all the work, get all the political backstabbing and never get your money's worth for the amount of work that you do.
Thus come december 2004. Every one who enlists will only serve 2 years. Irregardless of his rank obtained in NS. My neighbour, who is in his 50s, is a wealthy businessmen that often recounts his days in the army to me about the very extent that the servicemen would go to avoid being promoted to corporal. The six months of added service is just not worth the money at all.
Besides, it makes life difficult for so many things. Earlier this year, one of the guys in my team wanted to apply for entry to a polytechnic. However, he could only ORD in August. And he was not allowed to disrupt his NS due to "certain hithero unknown reasons". Today, with this announcement. He has enough leave to clear to ORD this very night. And now the door to apply to the polytechnics is closes. One whole year wasted just waiting to gain entry into the polytechnic.
Think about it, if everyone serves just two years. There wouldn't be vast quantities of people who keep disrupting every year just to head for higher studies. Two years is more than enough. Two and a Half years is just too much. It screws up the plans for everyone. And maybe universities can finally change their starting date to Febuary or March, instead of having make all the A-level girls waste 7 months waiting to gain entry into the university. That extra half a year just messes up the timing for everybody.
But too bad. When Ishvinder (The Great Indian Mathematician) heard the news. He was peeved by the fact that we didn't get 6 months off. After all, if other batches after us get to serve less. Why penalise our batch only with just a mere pittiance of an 8 week "discount"? Three months would be more like it. And somehow, no reason is given as to why it is only two months and not more than that.
I think being born in the year 1984 is really lousy. We get all the nonsense. We have a "new revised PSLE syllabus". We get a "new O-Level syllabus". We have "new A-level syllabus". We also have "revised university entrance admission requirements". We have to do the SATS, the Project Work, have the dumber than dumb PEARLS CCA system implemented. And now this. This is crap man. Everyone serves two years after us. While most of us have to do 4 months more on average. I don't like this.
And soon I might just expect the HDB to implement all kinds of weird rules with regards to the 84 batch. And who knows if the LTA might come up with some COE garbarge for those born in 84 and after. And maybe we'll be affected in all directions as well from healthcare all the way to the way our CPF sums are managed. Being born in 83 or 85 is better than ending up as the guinea pig batch for every single mass change.
Let's not forget the sudden emphasis on the Life Sciences from Engineering. Entrepreneurship over "getting a job" and mindless S cube seminars and "National Education" activities. We are the batch that really eats the dirt. Maybe that's why our generation is so apathetic. Just can't be bothered anymore after all the nonsense that has been thrown at us. I don't think we're "softies". We're just "sick-and-tired-of-everything".
Not too long ago, I clearly recall someone in the gahmen who said that "Mindef will not hold its NSmen for even more than one day than necessary" and that "we are constantly reviewing the time that each of our NSmen needs to serve". This was way back a long time ago when they finally revised the pay schemes for NSmen, after the pay had become ridculously pathetic. Well, it certainly took them one hell of a long period of time to come to this conclusion that they are "constantly reviewing".
The civil service is generally efficient. But come to the SAF and Police as well as MOE. They are seriously the opposite. Yes, we can also count in all those "statutory boards" that are responsible for "entrepreneurship" as well. What entrepreneurship???? Its overhyped!
I guess it might boil down to one thing. People are getting more and more unhappy with the prospect of serving National Service. And with all the various abuses rampant throughout the system where people play rank with each other. With the commando somehow drowning during training, as well as people collapsing after running their 2.4, not to mention courageous and the air force crash in australia. The mood just isn't so good anymore.
I guess what someone told me is true. Being a Permanent resident and being a citizen is really no different. Both can vote, both can buy HDB, both can buy private housing, both can get loan from the bank, both can get jobs, both can start businesses and only the citizen needs to serve NS. In consolation he is given "two chances for the NDP via sms".
If we look at Human Resource Management at the upper echelons. Especially in ACS where almost everyone's dad is some big shot or other in the business arena. Somehow, the worst kept secret is that Male Singapore Citizens who have to serve reservist each year are often passed up in favour of PRs with no In-Camp-Trainings. Not to mention the Foreign Talent that is "supposedly the best of the best". Yeah. So it justifies paying a foreign talent 4 million dollars a year when a Singaporean citizen in the exact same position just collects 339 000 a year. Something's not very right here.
And so when the reservists are done with all their NS liabilities. They hit the ceiling for 40. And we all know how hard it is for people over the age of 40 to get employed in today's job market. Politics, Philosphy and Economics is something that I strongly suggest anyone who is well-educated to delve into in his or her free time. As it opens up a whole series of questioning-thought process. Funny how my F-maths teacher at the end of the day tells me that "you should have gone to the arts stream". But I didn't. Because going to arts stream is more or less "limiting my options" and for the fact that that I could only head to the only place that others echo "arts fac is a dumping ground". Despite the newspaper report on the contrary.
Somehow, I don't even know why I serve two years and four months for a "right to vote". When my area has been a walkover for the last 20 years. Even my dad says that he's only voted once in his whole entire life. Polling day is really just another time to sleep late despite the "fact that voting is compulsory".
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