The gist of this question was supposedly the disruption and Tony Tan Son vocation as a “military” scientist. But upon further scutiny , some skeleton just pop out of the cabinet.
Mainly the Harvard B.A before his post grad degree that he deferred the army for. So was there a prior deferment? if so what was the rational.
This question boils very close to the hearts of all male Singaporean. Because the deferment for university is almost impossible(could be done if your in foreign education system) and his been a sore points in the Singaporean male and their parents.
Would this be a game changer? i am curious on how the office of Tony Tan would give a proper explanation to such a sticky situation.
Most importantly if the mainstream media , fail to publish this. How would the alternative media inform the general electorate.
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Because if you go for MD in US, you need a basic degree first, unlike the MBBS here, which is considered a lesser degree compared to the MD.
Yea ! i saw the reply given. But i am curious is this the norm? I cant seems to find any info on mindef website and i do remember my past conversation with doctor mentioning a single local md degree
Also if i am not wrong harvard pre-med is not a through track to stanford md/phd
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I am not sure if you guys know about “deferment” or not…
Seems like PT’s case has a mixture of disruption and deferment (except without the hefty bond)!
Apparently from the looks of things he disrupted once for B.A at harvard
and defer from returning from stanford
which is very peculiar , as they are two different school. Do they have a through train? i doubt so
We Singaporeans are a strange lot. We have been hoodwinked into thinking that the 2 year national service is sacred as the air that we breathe. And we get all worked up when someone appears to have had preferential treatment. Instead of questioning the very basis of 2 year NS and reducing it to a year or maybe less, we continue to insist that everyone give up two years of their valuable time unnecessarily.
No doubt no doubt! but well singaporean has been fighting for a conscription with more sense , let us finish our degree first . Do something interelated. but the goverment has shut down such notion.
Then out of no where a research scientist.
I guess this is where the issue lies
Given a choice almost all Singaporean parents will NOT subject their sons to a 2 year NS obligation. It is only the draconian enlistment act which forces parents to subject their sons to waste 2 years of their lives. But we are a docile lot who are bo chap even when it comes to the welfare of our teenage sons. The outrage directed at preferential treatment given to some people in NS is a sad testimony of our own pathology. We want others to share in the misery of something we do not favor and get angry when others dont want to share our misery. The 2 year NS is a sacred cow which needs to be “slaughtered” and resurrected in a number of creative ways: 1 year military service or less; work in welfare homes and NGOs for girls, etc. And those who really believe in the benefits of a 2 year NS should not be deprived of sending their sons to the army.
This insistence by MINDEF that NS be served first, then university studies is so rigidly applied that when my son on our return from overseas tried to get into Pr 4 which was his correct level MOE rejected it outright and he was forced to repeat Pr 3 level studies. Reason? If he had got into Pr 4 he would have completed his A levels by the age of 17 and gotten entry into an overseas U. The rule then was that if he was already in an overseas U before 17 1/2 yrs, he could defer NS until he graduated. Mind you, no deferment for post graduate even if this was with no break in studies. So definitely, this was an exception. Don’t tell me that it was because he was a Pressie scholar!
All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others..
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