The NSF picture

Some people said that the NSF picture taken at Jurong East MRT station was really a mockery and it indeed shows that life is tough for these NSFs. Well let's dig deeper...

Imagine you are born a Singapore Male. All through your life, you've been into good schools, put through some say the best education programme. You've not done anything wrong or done anything against the law... But suddenly, when you turn 18. You're ARRESTED and placed behind green fences. You lost all freedom as the judge sentenced you to 2 years and 4 months imprisonment. You wondered what went wrong. You then go through all sorts of emotional trauma and every morning you do things that no one wants to do. You are forced to serve the people with tatoos, the people who have no formal education, the people who are rejected by society and have no choice but to sign on. Then they call this serving the nation. You try to meet the whimps and fancies of the regulars and you'll be punished if you do not do so. You lost all dignity and self esteem. Woe to those who said that if you do not study hard, you'll end up as a rubbish collector/ road sweeper cos all the JC students end up sweeping the roads and collecting the rubbish as the tatoo-clad monsters shout out orders.

It doesn't stop there. In the midst of protecting the country from military attacks from neighbouring countries, you begin to wonder why must you serve. Even the songs they teach inside remind you of the huge question: Why must you serve. Then some say it's so that your family will be protected, so that we can have job security, a better future, so that people will not invade our country. This doctrine is then deeply imprinted into our hearts and we are brain washed into this seemingly righteous cause. As time goes on and the people in camp are seperated from reality outside, you begin to have a little glimps of what life is really like during your pathetic weekends. You go to places like Jurong Point and Jurong East and you see the foreign workers there. They are drinking and peeing on the land that you've laid down your life to protect. As the advert says, this dirt on my face is my land... Well, not when this dirt on your face has been peeed on by some foreign construction worker that is. And as you begin to walk towards the shopping centre, you realise that the gatherings at the fields are just a prelude of what's going to come. The ants nest is really inside. As you begin to walk from shop to shop, you begin to wonder has the invaders already arrive? They begin to invade not with weapons of war but with diversity, different culture and different attitudes. They said you must protect Singapore and if there's any reason why you should is so that your family will be protected. Then when you are in camp you read the newspapers that says 'Foreign workers molesting Singaporean girls during Christmas countdowns'. '77-yr old granny robbed in lift, witness says a dark skinned male took her gold chain and ran off' The list just goes on... You begin to wonder if the society will be a safer place if you are out of camp instead of being locked inside. Even in camp, you see fellow camp mates dying one by one. Some after running, some after doing pull ups, you wonder when's your turn? You cannot say you want to stop all these nonsense as that is a chargeable offence under insubordination. You remembered the folks who built the great wall of china and how they were treated like slaves with no human rights, the only rest time is when you drop dead and die. You feel for them.

Then 2 yr 4 mth passed and you think you're through. Not quite. You enter the job market and realise that the jobs you want are given to foreigners already. You being the Singaporean have to take the left overs cos of your NS, the companies have to pay you more.To add on, you have reservice, foreigners do not, which means that they can fully concentrate on their jobs. THey do not need to have IPPT and hence no risk of RT too. I.E, they can work overtime while you go back camp for RT in the name of providing a safer environment so that they can go home happily and hug their wife and kids.

So you think that's all? Wait till you try getting a HDB flat. You queued up for all eternity and finally it's your time to ballot. You got your dream house and when you moved in, you realised that your neighbour's unit is stuffed with 20 construction workers. You called the authorities as you see 20 pairs of muddy boots outside. Well, who ask you so cannot make it, got to stay HDB, if you are good, stay condo la. Then you take the MRT to work and again it's stuffed with foreign workers. You begin to wonder are you still in Singapore or in foreign land (see video posted 2 entries back). When the doors open, they will rush and fight to get a seat, you have no choice but to stand if you do not want mud and sand on your clothes. Again you cannot blame anyone, who ask you so useless, cannot afford a private car? Then you really feel the pressure building up but you think of all the ERP gantries and parking you've to pay if you buy a car, you decide to forget it. Thus, you endure and just live with it.

Your kids are born and you think that it's really not a good place to raise up kids in SG and you decide to migrate. You go over to US, the people there treat you like 2nd class citizens as you're yellow. You go to Australia, people throw milkshake at you as you are there to steal their jobs. You go to anywhere else in the world, you are a 2nd class citizen. You decide to come back to SG to be a 1.5 class citizen. It's still better to be a 1.5 than a 2 rite? Then they ask if you think our future should serve NS. You strongly said yes since you've already done it. Why let other have a better life? The cycle continues. The people who gets to decide who serve and for how long are always people who have been thru NS. It's the same as why the retirement age keeps getting pushed back later and later cos the people in power are getting older.... Think abt it.