Singapore: It’s high-time we brought NS pay above the poverty line
When Wilfred Owen wrote the famous poem, “Dulce et Decorum est,” he was not just describing the horrors of World War I, he was also condemning his government’s propaganda machine for glorifying a gruesome war in order to discourage draft evasion.
He famously wrote at the end of his poem:
The old Lie; Dulce et Decorum est
Pro patria mori.
The old Lie; it is sweet and honourable to die for your country.
For Owen, the lie was not telling soldiers that they were fighting a necessary war. The lie was telling them that it was glorious, and that the more you sacrificed, the more glorious it would be; death being the ultimate sacrifice.
In Singapore, a similar lie is often repeated, …show more content…
Paying a serviceman as if it is his job doesn’t make it any less his duty just as being loyal to a company doesn’t make it any less of a job. The two—duty and job—are not mutually exclusive. They are considerations that can be made separately. We therefore shouldn’t be afraid of paying servicemen for doing a job that is at the same time their duty.
Justification #3: Give to Caesar what is due to Caesar
This justification is usually only given implicitly. The implicit argument here is that because citizens owe a debt to their country, they do not need to be fully compensated for their service since part of what they would have earned goes to repaying their debt. Of course, something as distasteful as this can never be said aloud. So, the only way to maintain this belief while simultaneously believing that a citizen’s duty cannot be measured in monetary terms is with some very risky doublethink.
Thus, when the Minister of State for Transport Josephine Teo said that an NSman’s service to Singapore cannot be measured in dollars and cents, she was trying to emphasise the value of national service (NS) but was instead accused of diminishing it. Unfortunately for her, she was caught in her
When Wilfred Owen wrote the famous poem, “Dulce et Decorum est,” he was not just describing the horrors of World War I, he was also condemning his government’s propaganda machine for glorifying a gruesome war in order to discourage draft evasion.
He famously wrote at the end of his poem:
The old Lie; Dulce et Decorum est
Pro patria mori.
The old Lie; it is sweet and honourable to die for your country.
For Owen, the lie was not telling soldiers that they were fighting a necessary war. The lie was telling them that it was glorious, and that the more you sacrificed, the more glorious it would be; death being the ultimate sacrifice.
In Singapore, a similar lie is often repeated, …show more content…
Paying a serviceman as if it is his job doesn’t make it any less his duty just as being loyal to a company doesn’t make it any less of a job. The two—duty and job—are not mutually exclusive. They are considerations that can be made separately. We therefore shouldn’t be afraid of paying servicemen for doing a job that is at the same time their duty.
Justification #3: Give to Caesar what is due to Caesar
This justification is usually only given implicitly. The implicit argument here is that because citizens owe a debt to their country, they do not need to be fully compensated for their service since part of what they would have earned goes to repaying their debt. Of course, something as distasteful as this can never be said aloud. So, the only way to maintain this belief while simultaneously believing that a citizen’s duty cannot be measured in monetary terms is with some very risky doublethink.
Thus, when the Minister of State for Transport Josephine Teo said that an NSman’s service to Singapore cannot be measured in dollars and cents, she was trying to emphasise the value of national service (NS) but was instead accused of diminishing it. Unfortunately for her, she was caught in her