Below is an article from the straits times ... there's a promise of a fuller report in saturday's papers ....
Indonesia has asked Singapore to exempt Indonesian citizens who are permanent residents from performing National Service.
Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda said that such an exemption was necessary as Indonesian citizens doing military service in another country risk losing their citizenship.
'For our citizens, whatever the reason, undertaking foreign military training would mean losing their citizenship under the citizenship law,' Mr Hassan was quoted as saying by the Republika daily on Friday.
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He said that the issue of national service for Indonesian citizens with permanent resident status had been around since the Singapore government started requiring foreign citizens with such status to be enlisted.
'In our communication with the Singapore government, we have requested that Indonesian citizens, including those with permanent resident status, to be exempted from doing national service,' he said.
He did not disclose when the Indonesian government had made the request.
He also said the government could only remind Indonesians that under the law, their citizenship could be revoked if they agreed to be enlisted.
So Should they be excempted ? ... to me, the answer is definitely NO ! ... the cheek ! .. to ask that they be excempted ? .... okie, their big brother act aside .... well ... by the time these chaps are old enough to be enlisted, they should be wise enough to choose where they want to remain, no ? .... why should anyone, from anywhere, be given the benefit of having Singapore as their persona bolt hole, reaping all the benefits, and paying none of the price ? .... To me, it's either serve, or fark off ...
NS Chaps I've met here who are indo PRs, please feel free to weigh in on this ...
as above.
Serve or Foxtrot Oscar.
As long as these PRs are aware of the policies and know what they're doing, it's neither government's business to interfere. We should treat all of them equally, regardless of nationality. And as with Singaporeans who take up citizenship elsewhere, the government doesn't have to know. :P
A sudden influx of Indonesians (or other migrants) looking to capitalise on this change, if it goes through, isn't a particularly savoury thought.
Yeah it will be bad if we allow them to be exempted. Every other country would be doing that too isn't it? And if we do other indons will surely take advantage of it. There's a price to pay to get into a thriving tiny island man. Gotta pay the price. Personally, I feel it isn't feasible for Singapore to exempt them. We don't have any benefits and there's no need to upset the current system. Indon PRs can make a choice to stay or go, to risk losing their citizenship or not. Right? It's really up to the individual.
PRs that do NS want to be singapore citizens eventually. otherwise why would they bother wasting 2 years defending a foreign country? the indonesian government didnt think before they released the statement.
Simple. Don't issue PR to Indenesians because their government has a problem with it. Cuts out all of the bullshit.
If you want your citizenship, serve.
Even the United States is offering accelerated citizenship process for legal immigrants who are signing on in the Army.
Anyway, most Indonesians who are PRs would already have to serve, given the age requirements for enlistment and all that. I believe the numbers otherwise won't be that huge.
Still, this is a matter of diplomacy, because one domestic policy carried out by us has an impact on another nation's domestic policy. We'd best not act arrogant to the Indonesians over this. There are hidden costs when we try to play the bad cop all the time.
Just to throw an interesting question.
If another country introduces a policy where you must serve military service to get your citizenship, will Singaporean immigrants to that nation serve?
How many of us here will be willing to do so? I'll bet not many.
this brings to mind a conversation I had with a malaysian classmate of mine way back in during my poly days ......
we were talking about our future after graduation, so I asked the chap if he would be getting a Singapore PR or even become a citizen .....
he said a PR for sure, but definitely not till he's 28 or 30 ... I asked him why wait till then ? ....
and he asked if I'm mad ? .... why waste 2.5 years of his life in the army when he could simply apply for PR when he's too old to serve ? ... makes not much of a difference anyways ....
I was dumbfounded ............
i want to fark off also cannot. knn.