I resurrected my old Motorola phone to bring to camp because of a new directive which states that no servicemen are to carry with them any camera hand phones within the premise of the camp. Fortunately, my old phone still works but I have already made my stand and informed some of my camp mates that I may be uncontactable.
There is a new directive on disruption. For servicemen who enlist in December / January, these servicemen will be allowed for disruption to attend Australian Universities if need be. However, servicemen intending to attend universities in the United States or United Kingdom will not be allowed to disrupt prior to those from their cohort owing to equity.
In both circumstances, there is a striking problem. It is how MINDEF directives and policies are decided upon and implemented. There is no regard for long term consequences. There is no hint of objectivity in their decisions and most importantly, there is little practicality in their decisions. Take the case of camera hand phones for example. Rather than looking at the situation of security as a hardware problem, MINDEF should be looking at softwares to accommodate their policies on security. I believe that there are camera jamming devices available in the commercial market, yet, because of cost reasons, MINDEF takes a hermit approach to this situation.
Regulars, especially officers are paid so much to do so little. If a pay cut across the board that includes all officers and an on-going retrenchment within MINDEF that also include officers is implemented, I think we can seriously look at a great cost-saving measure here. The issue here is not about covering up the loopholes within an already flawed organisation. It is about surfacing these issues and allow for a genuine public scrutiny.
--- till later ---
