Dear Sirs,
I was interested to read the letter from Pratheesh. I agree with Pratheesh that National Service is a waste of time, and have said so on earlier postings. I have been informed that Singapore has not been at war with another country since the Second World War, over sixty years ago, and is at present unlikely to be invaded by another country.
National Service is also a waste of the government’s (and therefore the tax payers’) money as the governement are spending more money on its defence budget than it needs to.
Pratheesh has suggested replacing compulsory military service with some sort of community service, but I think it would be better to abolish National Service altogether. The two years young men currently spend on National Service would be better spent furthering their educations or looking for work. (As I understand it only young men have to do National Service. I believe Israel is the only country where young women also have to do military service.)
CLIVE
UK