BEYOND MILITARY DEFENCE : NATIONAL SERVICE AND SINGAPORE SOCIETY
MICHELLE NGOEI SU MAY
MICHELLE NGOEI SU MAY
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Abstract
Chapter 1 highlights how National Service has become an accepted fixture of Singapore life and is seen as a common national experience that bonds young men from all sectors of society. It also briefly discusses various studies that have been carried out on the Singapore Armed Forces. The objectives and rationale of this thesis are addressed. Finally the methodology employed in the research is stated and its limitations discussed.
Chapter 2 lays the conceptual framework for the entire thesis. The concepts of nationhood, and the state, and citizenship are examined. Besides these political aspects, the work of ideology and identity are also discussed. The place of history in the nation and its potential in ideological mobilisation and the legitimisation of the state are also discussed.
Chapter 3 is divided into two sections. The concepts discussed in the previous chapter are utilised to examine in the first section of this chapter, the nation-state of Singapore, and the ideological work that the state is constantly engaged in to maintain its hegemony. This is linked in the second section, which focuses on the military and the crucial need to gain the consensual consent of its conscripts. The ideological work carried out, i.e. what is claimed about the army, is examined. The findings from the fieldwork are presented to substantiate my arguments.
Chapter 4 focuses on the historical narratives and myths that are utilised during National Service to motivate and ideologically mobilise the men. The issue is not on the validity of the stories but the power that lies behind them. The means in which these narratives are propagated and the reactions of the men to them are analysed.
Chapter 5 rounds up the thesis with a discussion on the problems manifested in the ideological work, and provides a conclusion and answers to the questions raised earlier in the thesis.
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2001
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Thesis