A letter from a member of the public.

I read with interest the article " No 'White Horse' label in NS since 2000" dated 12th Nov 2003, Straits Times. It was indeed interesting to know that there was in fact a "white horse" classification in national service. However, this came as a no surprise to all Singaporeans who had served or worked in the armed forces, as the `classification' is an open secret, be it an official or non-official term.

What is disturbing is the reply from Cedric Foo, Minister of State for Defence, who claimed that the classification is to "ensure that they (the white horses) were not given special privileges." This is an absurd and contradictory statement that an ordinary citizen can easily detect. In the very first place, the mere existence of this special classification already sounds `warning bells' to the camp commanders and officers to take extra good care of the particular 'white horse' solider. If the ministry of defence had really wanted to be fair to all citizens who had served or are going to serve their national service, they should let these supposed `white horses' serve their duty without any added labels at all!

Furthermore, I, like a lot of male citizens who had served their NS, had a completely different experience and view of this matter to that of Dr Warren Lee's (Sembawang GRC).

I was enlisted for NS in 1994. My platoon mates and I were at first unaware that there was a `white horse' among us. Therefore, we were generally surprised with the `special privileges' accorded to us that ranged from more frequent canteen breaks, later wake-up hours and sometimes better food servings. It was only till the passing-out parade (for recruits) that the truth dawned on us. One of our platoon mate, who did not stand out in any way, be it in physical tests, shooting skills or leadership qualities, was named the company's best recruit instead of other more worthy ones. The puzzle was quickly solved when it was known that the `white horse's' influential father is the guest-of-honour for our batch's passing-out-parade. The only thing that I tend to agree with Dr Lee is that this labelling exercise did indeed put our company's best recruit under pressure. In fact, a lot of us had then chosen to distance ourselves from this undeserving young man.

This issue is of particular concern to all citizens as some of the ministers' and influential Singaporeans' sons are about the age to be called up for national service. This preferential treatment accorded to the supposed `white horses', although officially no longer in existence, will continue to bother the people, especially those young men who are entering NS together with these so-called `white-horses.' It is interesting to know how this special group of people will be treated in NS, be it with or without the official `white horse' classification.

Dawei Yan