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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
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Singapore
Index
Government efforts to enhance the status of the
military
profession, particularly in the Chinese community, were
only
partially successful. During the colonial period, the
Confucian
tradition that valued scholarship or military service and
parental
influence discouraged young Singaporeans of Chinese
descent from
choosing a career in the military. In the 1960s and 1970s,
the
government attempted to overcome opposition to the
conscription
system through a media campaign that emphasized the
important role
of the armed forces. By the late 1970s, the draft and
compulsory
service no longer were controversial, but soldiers still
were not
held in high esteem by the general population. Although
military
service was generally viewed as acceptable within the
Malay
community, government concerns about ethnic and religious
loyalties
of Malays in the armed forces made it difficult for them
to become
officers or to be assigned to sensitive positions.
Data as of December 1989
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