Don't chao keng (feign illness to escape responsibilities). Be considerate.
Welcome to another episode of Coffee Break,
where we get the most intellectual people in TSL to talk about Current Affairs.
Open!
Army.
It's a jockey cap.
About a week ago, there was a 23-year-old NSF who shot himself with his service revolver.
He was admitted to the hospital and died after six days.
Recently, there was a girl who went for the (NS) bootcamp,
and after that, she posted a bunch of Instastories,
saying how guys who have a bad attitude towards NS should not be tolerated.
She had suffered from depression for two years, and (said that) she would easily trade that
to serve NS (National Service).
Understandably, there was a lot of netizens are responding very badly towards that Instastory.
And Memedef (local army meme page) wrote this PSA -
they said that you shouldn't be using something that is a medical condition
to be compared with something that is a statutory obligation.
So a lot of people are enraged and now there are a lot of discussions about mental health in NS.
Because the whole idea of it is that when people 'chao keng',
the culture has become so prevalent that people are no longer able to tell whether someone has depression.
I realized that 'chao keng' has a cheem (profound) English term.
It's called malingering. Yes.
Malingering. I saw it when I was Googling.
In her words, she said that 'finding ways to avoid and give minimal effort is disgusting.'
'I lost two years of my life to depression while the guys served.'
'I would trade depression for NS anytime'.
In any aspect - any industry, company etc., there will be people like that.
There will be slackers that will make things slightly harder for other people.
That's just the way the world works - not everybody has the same motivation levels as you.
People have different purposes in life.
I think it's very unfair to just target NS.
But do you not realize that the woman who's posting this also suffers from depression?
Obviously, she's making it about herself because she has gone through a difficult patch.
This is no different from somebody who decided to write,
'Oh, I was coping with a good friend's death during the two years... and I would trade that.'
It's just a very emotionally charged statement.
But I think that the way it was delivered caused people to nitpick the wrong points.
They then fought with her on that particular point about comparing it to mental illnesses.
The very act of submitting your pink IC is like giving up your identity.
You're just a number, just a statistic, to be part of something greater.
And that is very difficult to wrap your head around,
no matter which era, no matter what age.
I feel that our system in NS has to rise with the occasion, to accommodate the new incoming generation,
if you want to train soldiers.
Not hope that the soldiers can keep up.
I'd read that some steps they are taking to prevent these things from happening...
... is to make sure that when they first enlist, all these problems are brought clearly to the medical officer.
I think that the broader issue has got to do with mental issues in general.
A lot of people, especially young boys - mental health is not something that is very easy to confront,
or to accept that you might have.
So most of these people probably don't even self-diagnose even before they enter army.
Or even if they think that they have (mental health issues), they are afraid to voice out that they have them.
(They are afraid that) they will get judged.
I think that this becomes even more difficult when you come from a challenging background.
Some of them do have very genuine issues - the people who chao keng
will never, ever consider this train of thought.
They will just think of themselves and think, 'I managed to get out of NS!'
(Joyce) There was this incident in 2014 when someone wrote in detail how he managed to chao keng,
almost like a tutorial.
It sort of normalizes and trivializes the act of doing that.
Do you think that someone with depression should still do NS?
Because there was a case where the guy said that he had depression, so he moved to PES E.
Even when he was in PES E, his depression got worse,
until eventually he had to be exempted.
I think that for people with depression, you need to analyze it on a case-by-case basis,
because this is where you require specialist care.
Yes, which is exactly what they are trying to work on now -
like some of the measures they are putting in place in response to all these suicide cases.
They are going to go through basic training to understand - maybe it's a lack of education.
So once you know that somebody might be depressed,
they will not assign them dangerous arms.
I have dealt with a friend's suicide before, so it's not necessarily just in army - just in general.
I think that it's just the fact that these people feel very alone,
and you never know if your actions help this person or not,
but at the same time, at least you tried, rather than regret for not helping.
Actually, do you know of the (contact) numbers to call?
In Singapore, let's say you are dealing with mental illnesses.
I know that a lot of people who have dealt with mental illnesses - they told me that these helplines don't work for them.
I honestly feel that talking to your friend is much more effective than calling a mental helpline.
How much do you think visiting a psychiatrist or psychologist costs?
(Alison) It's damn expensive. (Leah) It's quite expensive.
A hundred, or hundred plus. Or a hundred per hour.
I have a friend who went to a polyclinic - $20 per session.
(Alison) For the therapy? /N (Jonathan) Yeah.
In a polyclinic? In a polyclinic, they have psychologists.
$20 - $30 per session.
And they will have it with you as frequently as twice a month.
So actually, I think that a lot of people - based on this little survey -
A lot of people think that getting help is very costly and inaccessible.
But the truth is that most polyclinics in Singapore have that at this kind of prices.
If you didn't know this before, this is a very good opportunity and platform to get help if you need it.
Therapy is less accessible, because it requires you to have time and to pay,
but this sort of counseling - you can just call.
It's like Tinkle Friend back in primary school.
For this counseling thing - I've had friends who called, and
(they said that) the counselor made them feel worse,
by making them feel like they were doubting their condition, or undermining their situation.
But if you do know a friend who is in NS, you have to recognize that you are part of the support system.
If you don't support them, and there is no one else to support them,
that is the reason why it triggers them to do something - like suicide or to hurt themselves.
And you also need to take note that if your therapist or someone is not working out for you,
(or if) the person makes you feel worse about yourself -
it's ok to change your therapist.
Just stop. Yeah, you could just stop.
We all have to be more considerate of each other. Yes.
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