1. This post is written with the utmost respect to those that are in my honest opinion are the best of what this nation has to offer.
2. If I had it my way, i would have made it compulsory for all to serve the nation for a few years before they start serving themselves for a lifetime.
3. Anyway, that is not what the issue is about. The issue is about enhancing the attractiveness of the military force. The reason for enhancing the attractiveness is simple at heart.
4. This is a nation which the total size is 329,750 sq km. This is a sizable size by any amount.
5. This nation requires the service of its young men adn women to ensure its survivability.
6. Recent years has shown a decline of and able young men and women willing to join the service.
7. I believe there are a few reasons for the decline
1) The attractiveness of the salary
2) The attractiveness of the life
3) The clarity of the progression path
4) The extra trainings of skills that can be learned to be applied later outside of the service.
Before you read further, i appreciate if you could see the table attached to understand the context better.
Now assuming one is a university graduate and is looking for work he may consider joining the military service as a career option. One thing is for sure, if you could refer to the table attached, assuming a graduate will attain the rank of Captain the moment he enters the service, he may expect a salary base of RM 2000 to 2500 excluding any perks he is entitled for. (ie medical/housing/travelling)
Compare this to the other options that a university graduate has, from what i know a university graduate may earn a starting pay in KL of
a)RM 3000-3500 in a public sector excluding perks (medical/housing/travel)
b) RM 3000 -4500 in a private sector excluding perks (medical/housing/travel)
c) RM 3000-3500 in a teaching profession in a local university excluding perks (medical/housing/travel)
That is a variance of RM 500-RM 1000.This makes a whole lot of difference for someone who is about to start his life. 500-1000 could be used to pay for necessities such as paying for the rent/car/ food and etc.
Furthermore , if you could look at the salary progression in the table attached, At the height of his careeer assuming if he can be made a General ( there is only about 5 or 6 of them so such position is highly rare, his peak salary would be about RM 9835. A General would easily be someone who would be around 50 years of age ++. This mean that the salary that he would attain at the peak of his career is at most about RM 10,000. Such is the sacrifice these brave men and women make to serve this nation. Remember Leftenan Jeneral Zaini Mohd Said who stared down the barrel of an M16 in the Al Maunah confrontation. Yup.His salary is about that range. How many of us have the guts to do the same for such amount of money ( with all due respect im sure Leftenan Jeneral Zaini did not do it ffor financial reason but rather patriotic duty)
Lets also not forget that other profession also would require less strain on the physique and also would mean the warmth and comfort of home and family at the end of the day. Being in the military would mean missing home many times a month and a sleeping cot for comfort for many nights.
Then the reasonable question would be, what would be the enticement be for the young men and women for this country to join ?
I believe it is safe to assume that there is no way that the military could ever surpass the salary of the private sector. The best it could do in any given condition is to match it. Even then it wouldnt last forever.
Therefore i propose a way to make the military service be more attractive.
I propose that the military service offer professional courses for their servicemen. ie the military should offer professional medical courses to the servicemen who qualify. In the end of the bond, they should be able to get their medical degree.
This is a way to entice the young to join the military.
Sure, not all can qualify, no doubt, but imagine a nation where the military servicemen are not only soldiers but also given the trainings of a doctor, lawyer, engineers and accountants. Wouldnt that be wonderful ?
This cadre of disciplined young men and women equipped with the knowledge of specialised skill is more invaluable to the development of the nation more than any weapon systems combined.
I believe this is killing two birds with one stone. You get more people to enroll to the service due to the possibility of their degree being sponsored and also you are building the nation with capable men and women.
This program is not new, the Ministry of Defense had committed to such programme but the implementation seems to vary year by year. And what is most definite that this programme is not being used as a “promotion” for the young to join the military service.
This proposal believe will be an attractive offer or “carrot” to entice young men and women to join the service. Imagine if they are being told that one of the benefits of joining the service is that they will get a medical degree/ engineering qualification/ ACCA certificate/ Called to the Bar at the end of their service.
Wouldnt that be an attractive option ?
I believe the military service now is an option that is only seriously considered by kampung boys like me who has no further avenue to pursuit their life dreams. They ( We) are mostly too poor to go to overseas or afford such expensive learning option. A medical degree will set us back Rm 600 000.00 and no amount of selling our harta pusaka/sawah/bendangs will ever get us that much.
Joining a service that provides an avenue for such learning is definitely an attractive option for us, even if the salary is low but if at the end of the day we will get to achieve our dreams then it would be definitely worth it.
Back to you dear readers.


