To conscript or not to conscript?

Taiwan's former President Chen Shui Bian's Democratic and Progressive Party (DPP) pro-independence stance was always going to increase Cross Straits tension. Whether rightly or wrongly, he often irked Beijing with his combative style. So when Ma Ying-Jeou of the Opposition took power in 2008, all eyes were on his China policies.
Within months of taking office, Time Magazine documented that Cross Straits Relations had improved dramatically.
Among other things, Ma launched direct weekend charter flights between PRC and Taiwan for the first time, opened Taiwan to mainland Chinese tourists, eased restrictions on Taiwan investment in mainland China and approved measures that will allow mainland Chinese investors to buy Taiwan stocks.

Despite all this, it was reported in 2009 that China continued to aim more than 2,000 missiles at Taiwan. I may not be an armament specialist but that seems enough to level most of Taipei.
Nonetheless, diplomacy has probably reduced the chance that those warheads would ever be fired.

You would think that such real military threat calls for an extension of Conscription.
But that couldn't be further away from the reallity.

Taiwan wants to completely do away with conscript and have a full volunteer force by 2014. The draftee service period will also be shortened to 12 months.
This trend is prevalent in many countries today. Close to 100 countries have no enforced conscription.
Many are also reducing service period.
Other than South Korea and Israel who obviously live in fear of their neighbours, Singapore is the only developed state that has compulsory service over 18 months, joining the likes of Cuba, Angola and Syria.

I guess most nations see that the pen is mightier than the sword. In today's globalised world where inter- regional trade sustains most economies, the risk of armed conflict is simply too high.
Many armies are also reinventing themselves by leveraging on technology advancements. The Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) is an example of replacing soldiers with machines. In the last Iraq War, the US Army also started using Unmanned Ground Vehicles to conduct dangerous missions.

The Singapore Armed Forces claims that it is transforming our military into a 3G Army. Yet one could argue that the manpower requirements seem to be the same as before.
Many people are questioning what they are defending, this compounded by the fact that over 40% of the population today are foreigners with no long term loyalty to Singapore.
Defence Minister Dr. Ng Eng Hen reiterated that he sees no reason why new citizens should serve National Service. (NS)
New walkover MP and former Chief of Army MG (NS) Chan Chun Sing shocked Singaporeans when he affirmed this view to defend another PAP MP who became citizen just three years ago without serving a single day of NS.
For those who don't know, the 2 years (plus 10 reservist years) of military service is a rite of passage for every Singaporean male.

I agree that we should never take security for granted. Which is why PAP officials should stop criticising other governments behind their backs.
It may be an opportune time to review the entire military service institution. If governments in warring or high tension regions can do it, why can't we?

To be honest, there is much more internal security issues to worry about considering that dead bodies have been turning up everywhere. And we had artwork done on our MRT trains, remember?