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Monday, October 08, 2007

-- Opened --

#-Something stuck up your behind

So I have to come back to finish up my service, which really does suck, considering how many lessons I'm going to miss in these 3 weeks. No doubt I'm pissed and angry at them for calling me back, but it's not like I can do anything about it.

Honestly I think the policies they come up with is way below the level of stupid. For a country that wants to be a hub of research, not letting even their brightest minds go to studying as soon as possible just doesn't make sense. And on the grounds of "fairness"?! That's even more lame. Statistics clearly show that a person is most creative and innovative between 18-25 years of age, and during that age we're slogging and rotting away in an inefficient and useless organization. Clearly the goal of arts and research central is never going to happen if at their prime, the government forces people to be brainwashed and conformed into a fixed mindset, totally ineffective and incompetent, for a more than significant period that will either render their brains inactive at best, or turn their skulls into mere containers for the disintegrating slush inside at worst.

Their inflexibility just goes to show how unwilling they are to compromise to achieve greater goals, and it's not only in a single instance. Besides, what they term as "fair" is one-sided. If one is called into the organization later, than he/she could have used the time before entry to do something useful, like attend internships or attachments. Of course the same argument can be used for the time between post-service and studies, but if the overlap is just a few weeks, can't they just accomodate these people and let them study? In the end, no matter how they try to control it, people will still do it, and lucky them if they have good superiors who know how to cover them, but being so darn anal about such a small matter really just encourages dissent and discontent with the organization, and in turn, the government. "Fair", is when absolutely every single person in the country has to serve, no exceptions.

Come to think of it, even certain well connected people get to skip most part of their service to study and come back only to serve in a more useful sector; certain scholars, whom in my opinion, and judging from grades and performance in school, obviously do not deserve the scholarship. What makes scholars able to delay their service anyway? Is that "fair" then? If they do that, then they should allow people who are going to further studies, whether on scholarship or not, to delay their service. That will definitely be an incentive for them to come back, especially when there's a chance that the service might be in a field they are trained and interested in. Moreover, such a policy will also encourage more people to further their studies, even if only to delay their service. Both parties benefit.

The attempts at trying to keep people in the country or make them come back in the future isn't going to work very well, a main reason being this less than useful organization. In fact, does the country really need this organization, that they need to force people in? I doubt it. Sure that's what they say and all, but think of all the logistics and administration needed to draft every single person, train them only to work for a short period of time. Moreover, it gives the regular workers excuses to slack off and become incompetent, because the more hard-working, younger and smarter temporary staff will always end up doing most of the work.

Each country has its own strengths and weaknesses, I acknowledge that. But a country is only as good as the people in it, and if the citizens resent the governmental organizations, then that really doesn't reflect well on the nation does it? Foreigners often comment and compliment on the cleanliness and the stable government, but without first-hand experience, they will never know the truth. Perhaps the stable government is really authoritarian. Maybe all procedures are "transparent" only because they let you see enough for you to convince your conscience and prevent you from probing further. Cleanliness that I acknowledge, but many things I still have to question its integrity.

Missing 3 weeks of school might be fun for the high school student, but in university, when all the things you learn are applicable, and when you miss important lessons and practicals which you will have problems making-up for, that isn't half as fun. I'm missing many practicals, tutorials and lectures, which I will have to work much harder to catch up on when I return. Not to mention all the opportunities for music and dance and what not.

God has a plan, I'm sure of it, but I still cannot prevent my hatred for this organization and what it represents. I just hope these 3 weeks would pass faster.

-- Closed --

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