The Dollars and Sense of Citizenship

There is a same-titled article on today's Straits Times, but I haven't read it. The diagram shows the dollar value benefits of being a Singaporean family - $190 628, of which $132 000 are results of property appreciation.

I feel ashamed to even start reading it. Excuse me, is that what the Singaporean citizenship is all about?

Believe it or not, my idea of citizenship stems from a lousy American movie called Starship Troopers. One can only become a citizen by signing up to protect Earth from alien bugs. Those who don't are known as civilians.

In Singapore, it is almost the same scenario. All males serve 2 years of national service either with the armed forces, the police, or the civil defence force. I think national service is really the fabric that binds all Singaporeans together, when we pledged to defend this 660 sq km with our lives. Two years of sweat and blood, and sometimes the loss of lives due to accidents, mean something.

It is really not about a question of monetary benefits of being a citizen. I think the ST really got it all wrong.

When this famous ex-Singaporean pianist (whatever his name) was fined a few thousands dollars for evading NS, there was outcry over the peanuts fine, but deeper down, I believe Singaporeans are protesting because this chap has failed to fulfill his duties as a citizen then. He has to cheek to come back to Singapore to visit his old parents he deserted all this time, when thousands others before and after him trained hard everyday he was pursuing his dreams in UK.

"Do I not have a dream to pursue, but have to put it on hold first to protect his parents?"

I know I am not very balanced writing this entry, not the way GP has taught me. But NS is important for the sovereignty of Singapore. It is a matter of survival and I am not about to take a buffered approach.

Not when leaders of our neighbours use Singapore as a dartboard when things are not going right in their backyard. Singapore-bashing is prevalent in election years in Malaysia, and Dr M talked about skinning a cat (and Singapore). Do you still remember the half-blind Indonesian president Wahid calling us the little red dot and the way the Thai junta govt is treating Singapore now after Thaksin's visit recently.

Thaksin was in Bali and met an Indonesian minister and Thailand made no noise. Admittedly, the DPM Jayakumar maybe shouldn't have hosted Thaksin, but the difference in reactions to Indonesia and Singapore cannot be more polarized and unfair.

That's why we need to give our diplomats a big stick, we need SAF to be a strong deterrent, and we must be able to move in and win swiftly, because Singapore cannot afford a long war. That's why Singaporeans serve NS, and that's the value of citizenship.

It is not the few hundred dollars less we pay at university every year that makes citizenship valuable!