Singaporean swimming aces Joseph Schooling and Quah Zheng Wen have had their mandatory national military duties deferred up until now. However, the Olympians will soon be entering the military, as there will be no more extensions to their deferments,
The Ministry of Defence (Mindef) stated this week, “Deferment from full-time National Service (NS) was granted to national swimmers Mr Joseph Schooling from 2014 to 2021 for a total of seven years, and Mr Quah Zheng Wen from 2015 to 2021 for a total of six years.
“As previously explained in Parliament, such deferment from full-time NS is granted very selectively for exceptional sportsmen assessed to be potential medal winners at international competitions like the Olympic Games and who are able to bring national pride to Singapore.
“Each appeal for deferment is assessed based on stringent criteria in consultation with the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth.” (Yahoo)
Schooling took the 100m butterfly gold medal at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio, however, he missed out on the semi-finals this past summer in Tokyo.
On Mindef’s decision, Schooling stated, “I am very grateful for the support I’ve received from the Mindef and MCCY for their non-wavering support in my swimming career. Without a doubt, I would not have achieved the results I’ve had without deferring my national service.
“As a son of Singapore, I am honoured to serve my country. More importantly, now more than ever, my family needs me. It is time for me to fulfil my filial duties. I have been and will continue with the pre-enlistment procedures and will await the next steps from Mindef.”
In terms of future swimming plans, th former Texas Longhorn stated,
“My intention is to continue swimming. I have resumed my training while I continue with the pre-enlistment procedures and await for instructions from Mindef.
“Right now, I am focused on the present – to continue training and be the pillar of support for my family. I’ll take it one step at a time.”
The mandatory military service length is 2 years.
Forced National Service is so dumb
Yes and no. I think the US would be a better country with better quality people if we were forced to do some sort of national service.
Go full Heinlein and say military service is required to be able to vote
All aside, it is extremely messed up if a nation can’t grant life deferment from mandatory military service to the only Olympic champion they ever got.
If there ever was a chance to rescue his talent and bring him back to a decent showing at least on continental level, throwing him in for 2 years of military service seems like the best and most effective way to curtail his (and Quah’s) career altogether.
Or it may rejuvenate his discipline…which he clearly lost along the way to Tokyo.
Interestingly, some countries use this as part of their Olympic incentive system. If you win a certain medal at a certain event, you get to skip military service.
It’s all philosophy, really. Do you believe that there’s value in showing “nobody is above the service”? It’s not as if he’ll be out digging trenches, though – they’ll probably use him for publicity and get freeish marketing out of it. That alone is worth millions.
Become a champion and then “get used” by the military-industrial complex…fodder for “the machine”.
Yeah, I was specifically thinking about South Korea where even an Asian Games gold medal is enough to get life deferment from military service.
Knowing how Singapore works, though, I have little doubt that this was done mostly to appease the netizens’ social envy towards Schooling once he kept getting deferred and stopped bringing medals home. Given the extent of how he got used as a government publicity tool after Rio, one could say his training towards his gold medal was enough service to the country to allow him to skip the actual service altogether, especially since he is (or he should be) in his prime and he technically can still compete at international level.
However, asking him to… Read more »
Mandatory military service is a dumb af thing in general.
But if a country has it it should
1) not be 2 years, that’s way too long. Most people aren’t interested in the military to begin with so it’s just stolen time and 2 years is in no way justifiable. 6 months tops
2) be mandatory for everybody, not just men. Definition of sexism is not hard to understand it’s simple af.
Israel, with all its other horrific government measures, even got that right and they seem the only one, so let that sink in lmao
You can question whether Singapore should make national military service compulsory for women as well, but to say mandatory military service is dumb in general is a step too far. While it might be unnecessary in highly secure countries like the US, for many countries anything short of universal male conscription is a recipe for disaster. Singapore is small island nation (effectively a city-state) in one of the most geostrategically important locations on the Earth (the Strait of Mallaca). Without mandatory military service it would be hard pressed to exist as a true sovereign state as it would be subject to coertion, and possibly even outright control, by foreign powers.
Sounds like this fine young man is about to fly on the straight and narrow.
“It is time for me to fulfil my filial duties.” How much was he paid to say this?
They found out this year that his dad has cancer
I did not know this. Wishing him a speedy recovery.
You’re terrible
Wow, really great, professional response by Schooling.
I’m certain he has a publicist
I did my military service in practice
How many years does he have to serve?
2 years
National Service in Singapore is 2 years, you get a 2 month reduction if you can pass a physical fitness test. I presume they both can.