Recently, there has been a big commotion over a picture taken, shown above. A SAF man let his maid carry his backpack while he uses his phone. Many people, when they saw the picture, expressed amusement and made remarks such as "may as well bring her to war too". Others expressed concerned as to whether our generation of NS men were getting too "wimpy", and questioned if discipline was slackening.
The actions of this SAF man was wrong, and has tarnished the reputation of the Singapore military. It gives foreigners a chance to poke fun at us, calling us "wimpy" and "soft". I am not surprised at these reactions. We know that reputations that have been built up over a long period of time is often tarnished by the acts of a small, tiny part of the organization. People do have the right to question the SAF over such an issue.
However, we should also note that this picture of the SAF man is not reflective of SAF as a whole. Just because part of it may be "wimpy" and "soft", it does not mean that all SAF is as such.
We have heard about the views of the SAF man going for counselling. Even though I have heard comments saying things like "SAF should not force the soldier to accept its ideals", I feel that SAF has done right. Personally, I think that when you are in an organization, you should adhere to its rules, ideals, and rituals. The SAF man should just take the counselling and never commit this mistake again. To cite an example would be Hwa Chong. When we are outside, in the public, we are in open view of all the world to see. We have to behave in an examplary way to show others how well-behaved Hwa Chong students are.
Personally, this matter is for the purpose of entertainment, and amusement. It should not be taken lightly. If Singaporeans would cease to view this SAF man as a representation of all SAF, it would be the SAF man that feels ashamed in the end, and not SAF. This would save SAF any embarrassment, with the SAF man knowing to change for the better himself.
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ReplyDeleteDear Wen Hong,
ReplyDeleteI do agree with you when you say that the SAF man should have taken note of his own behaviour under the public's "eagle eyes".
I feel that the SAF man has his own personal life when he leaves the camp. For that, he represents himself, as an individual. Not as a SAF man, but himself. Therefore, I really think that his behaviour simply reflects his own laziness, and the other soldiers should not be implicated in this folly of just one of their comrades.
Take for example, in primary school, GEP kids are often said to be "proud and arrogant". I believe that this is an overgeneralisation. Maybe the person who started it only met one proud GEP kid. Many say women are bad drivers. The same reasoning applies; maybe the person only met one bad female driver who crashed into his/her car in an accident. Overgeneralisation is often misused by people.
However, we must also understand and "put ourselves into the shoes" of the SAF man, as what Atticus Finch of "To Kill a Mockingbird" would have done if he were to see this article. Perhaps, he was ill and needed desperately some rest. Thus, he passed the backpack to his maid. All these possibilities are not considered rationally by the public, before they give their opinions on the issue. This is very saddening to note.
Overall, I find your article very insightful, in the sense that I can understand your stand and point-of-view regarding this matter at hand.
Good job! :)
Best Regards,
Nathan :D
Dear Wen Hong,
ReplyDeleteThe Singapore Armed forces is the military arm of the Total Defence of Singapore; as well as the military component of the Ministry of Defence. Singapore prides itself on the SAF and they are well known for their high discipline and work efficiency.
What this man has done was to undo all this and give a chance to let people make fun of the SAF. When we are wearing the uniform of an organisation, people do not take us for an individual. They instead take us for the organisation. As such, the SAF man has tainted the SAF as people take him as representing the Singapore Armed Forces as a whole.
However, I personally do not think this sort of article should even go up on STOMP. Why should people be so sadistic and want to poke fun at other people? The author of this post, in my opinion, has no moral courage. If he/she wants to show that what the SAF man did was not right, why couldn't she just say that to him directly? Why must she resort to such means to get the public to scrutinise this man?
I would like to conclude by saying that this article was a good choice for a blog post. It really lets me think deeply about how people behave and learn many moral values.
Regards,
Nicholas :D