A young Singaporean man has been granted a deferment from military service so he can take part in an international computer games competition, a newspaper reported on Tuesday. In the first such a case in Singapore — where military service is compulsory and lasts two years — 20-year-old Stanley Aw was allowed to postpone national service by nearly two months so he could compete in the World Cyber Games.
“In line with the Government’s support for sports, culture and the arts, the Ministry of Defense will consider granting one-time deferments for pre-enlistees who are selected to represent Singapore at prestigious international sports and cultural events,” the Straits Times quoted a spokesman as saying.
What does he get if he wins?
This pisses me off….I served my time in SG back in 1990 for 2 years for my National Service. I had a friend with me also serving who had a wife and a newborn baby and he could not get a deferement for a few months to work and provide for his wife and month old baby. He wanted to work for a few months to get some extra cash cos his wife just gave birth and could not work. They did not have any other family to help them. The 3 of them were it. I was really pissed off then cos they could have deferred his service for a few months easily. During your National Service we were only paid about US$170.00 a month. Yes, they feed you and clothe you…but $170.00 is not enough even for bus fares to and from the military camps.
Now, reading this has really pissed me off…again….this jack ass is gonna play games and he is getting a deferrement…Great!! He is representing his country…its good the “gahmen” (government) is changing and being more open…but it still pisses me off that they do shit to show off to the world but oppress their own people when it is not on the world stage…sad.
Great article… it’s good to see professional/competition gaming achieving recognition as a legitimate ‘sport’.
A nice little pat on the back for bringing fame to his country and some combat gear, perhaps.
Life imitates art. This reminds me of the movie “Starship Troopers”, where the guy who’s real good at video games gets command grade rank.