National Service in Singapore plays a curious role in the psyche of Singaporeans. We view it as a chore, an obligation that we must meet as Singaporeans. Although a vast majority serve in the armed forces, we do not equate national service with the brutality of war, conflict, death and destruction. This is of course completely understandable. Most Singaporeans have never known the reality of conflict. We are a generation seated firmly in the plush comforts of peace and the cries of death and conflict from other parts of the world do not echo audibly in our city-state. We do not see our soldiers as warriors trained to defend the soil of the motherland and hence we often forget to salute our glorious dead.
Recent times have once again brought this often ignored issue to the forefront. The death of Private Lee Rui Feng Dominique Sarron, a 21 year old, during training, prompted a young Singaporean girl to remark online “Singaporeans too weak? LOL”. This of course prompted a deluge of critical comments in her direction. While her comments can be defended on the grounds of pure idiocy, it highlights the fact that we do not view the deaths of national servicemen in Singapore with the honour and glory that they deserve. In a brilliant commentary article in the Straits Times on May 20th, K.C Vijayan argued that Singapore should consider paying tribute to the dead national servicemen of our country with a memorial. The Social Swami would like to actively campaign this cause.
Our dead national servicemen may not have died in the heat of battle, ravaged by bullets or punctured by bayonet wounds. They may not have been blown apart by bombs and shells but they fell serving the country, pursuing the idea of defending our nation. Is that any less brave an ideal? Should we consider the national servicemen who died during military exercises and physical exercises any less than one who fell in war? It may lack the Hollywood heroism that war movies portray of American soldiers in movies such as Saving Private Ryan and Black Hawk Down, but let us not forget that even the boys that became men in Army Daze were serving the very same ideal.
K.C Vijayan suggests that a memorial that honours our servicemen who died in service would be an appropriate and meaningful means of acknowledging the debt that the nation owes them. His idea is one that we must strongly consider supporting actively. Singapore today has a war memorial for the dead soldiers of the first and second world war that died defending our soil. Should not the dead servicemen who died in the pursuit of that ideal deserve the same honour? Visiting the Kranji War memorial in my student days impacted me considerably. It created in me an active interest in the history of our country during those times of war and forced me to consider such a reality in our times. I believe that a physical manifestation that pays homage to the sacrifice that our servicemen made, will function as a symbol to the ideals of national service and remind us that the nation owes a debt to our fallen comrades.
I have no doubt that many of us will be cynical of such a memorial. What good does it do to erect a structure when young lives have been lost in vain? Indeed, structures of cement and steel cannot heal the wounds of loss but the nation should and must nonetheless convey its gratitude and its homage to our unfortunate casualties of peace. More importantly the memorial will become a rallying point to the comrades of the fallen soldier as well as his family. A military funeral often exudes a sense of pride and dignity towards the loss of life for a greater cause. It offers a strange solace and a monument will do the same. In an age where Singaporeans feel increasingly disillusioned with the Singaporean identity, let us immortalize and set in stone the sacrifices we have made, and the lives that have been lost in keeping our nation safe.
* The writer has chosen not to enter a debate on whether NS is necessary on purpose. The sacrifices our soldiers have made should not go unnoticed whether or not NS is a necessary policy.
Pravin Prakash
The Social Swami
The Social Swami 
Saluting our Glorious Dead
In Pravin Prakash, Social Commentary on June 6, 2012 at 2:21 amNational Service in Singapore plays a curious role in the psyche of Singaporeans. We view it as a chore, an obligation that we must meet as Singaporeans. Although a vast majority serve in the armed forces, we do not equate national service with the brutality of war, conflict, death and destruction. This is of course completely understandable. Most Singaporeans have never known the reality of conflict. We are a generation seated firmly in the plush comforts of peace and the cries of death and conflict from other parts of the world do not echo audibly in our city-state. We do not see our soldiers as warriors trained to defend the soil of the motherland and hence we often forget to salute our glorious dead.
Recent times have once again brought this often ignored issue to the forefront. The death of Private Lee Rui Feng Dominique Sarron, a 21 year old, during training, prompted a young Singaporean girl to remark online “Singaporeans too weak? LOL”. This of course prompted a deluge of critical comments in her direction. While her comments can be defended on the grounds of pure idiocy, it highlights the fact that we do not view the deaths of national servicemen in Singapore with the honour and glory that they deserve. In a brilliant commentary article in the Straits Times on May 20th, K.C Vijayan argued that Singapore should consider paying tribute to the dead national servicemen of our country with a memorial. The Social Swami would like to actively campaign this cause.
Our dead national servicemen may not have died in the heat of battle, ravaged by bullets or punctured by bayonet wounds. They may not have been blown apart by bombs and shells but they fell serving the country, pursuing the idea of defending our nation. Is that any less brave an ideal? Should we consider the national servicemen who died during military exercises and physical exercises any less than one who fell in war? It may lack the Hollywood heroism that war movies portray of American soldiers in movies such as Saving Private Ryan and Black Hawk Down, but let us not forget that even the boys that became men in Army Daze were serving the very same ideal.
K.C Vijayan suggests that a memorial that honours our servicemen who died in service would be an appropriate and meaningful means of acknowledging the debt that the nation owes them. His idea is one that we must strongly consider supporting actively. Singapore today has a war memorial for the dead soldiers of the first and second world war that died defending our soil. Should not the dead servicemen who died in the pursuit of that ideal deserve the same honour? Visiting the Kranji War memorial in my student days impacted me considerably. It created in me an active interest in the history of our country during those times of war and forced me to consider such a reality in our times. I believe that a physical manifestation that pays homage to the sacrifice that our servicemen made, will function as a symbol to the ideals of national service and remind us that the nation owes a debt to our fallen comrades.
I have no doubt that many of us will be cynical of such a memorial. What good does it do to erect a structure when young lives have been lost in vain? Indeed, structures of cement and steel cannot heal the wounds of loss but the nation should and must nonetheless convey its gratitude and its homage to our unfortunate casualties of peace. More importantly the memorial will become a rallying point to the comrades of the fallen soldier as well as his family. A military funeral often exudes a sense of pride and dignity towards the loss of life for a greater cause. It offers a strange solace and a monument will do the same. In an age where Singaporeans feel increasingly disillusioned with the Singaporean identity, let us immortalize and set in stone the sacrifices we have made, and the lives that have been lost in keeping our nation safe.
* The writer has chosen not to enter a debate on whether NS is necessary on purpose. The sacrifices our soldiers have made should not go unnoticed whether or not NS is a necessary policy.
Pravin Prakash
The Social Swami