Remembrance Day

Remembrance or Armistice Day commemorates the end of hostilities that brought World War One to a close. These hostilities ended on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month in 1918.

I am anti-war. I just do not see the point of sending young men and women off to get killed. However, I appreciate those that do join the armed forces and serve their countries with dedication and honour. For those of us that do not serve, we must never belittle the sacrifices that these brave men and women make in order that we sleep snugly in the warm blanket of freedom.

My brother serves and I am immensely proud of his service, his dedication, and his courage.

We must not forget those who have served and fallen. This is why I take a moment on days like today to remember those who have fought and fallen in order that I enjoy the freedoms that I currently have.

I hope for peace.

Turkish Transsexual On Trial

I must confess that I did not know that Turkey even tolerated transsexuals let alone that a transsexual could become a star! I am a life-long learner and I try and learn something new everyday!

Bulent Ersoy is a singer of Turkish classical music and is one of Turkey's most popular singers. She enjoyed fame as both an actor and a singer before her sex change operation in 1981 and this fame and success has continued post-operation.

However, Ersoy has run afoul of Turkish authorities not for her status but rather for having the gumption to criticise Turkish policy with regard to the 23-year old fight against the Kurdish separatist movement. The campaign against the Kurds has already claimed some 37,000 lives. Ersoy's crime was to suggest on Turkish television that if she had a son then there would be no way that she would allow him to go off and fight the Kurds. This statement was the premise for the arrest and trial. If found guilty then Ersoy is liable for a 3-year prison term.

The actual charge is "alienating the public from military service". The prosecution contends that every Turk is born a soldier and that comments about the military are not protected by any free speech provisions.

Turkey has compulsory military service and every man over the age of 18 is required to sign up for anywhere between 6 and 15 months.

Compulsory Military Service

Fostering national unity in diversity through compulsory military service. Although no one is saying so explicitly the Draft Bill being prepared for parliamentary debate some time early next year will require all 'men' between the ages of 18 and 45 to enlist in a military reserve. Presumably this will be any branch of the armed services, but not necessarily of the prospective reservists choosing.

The Bill is being drafted so the actual or specific content is still subject to debate and change as the process motors along. Nevertheless, it seems whether you want to or not all Indonesian men are destined to become part of Indonesia's war machine. A system of 'on call' reservists ready, willing, and able to deploy to whether the Government thinks they are needed. I guess it is somewhat reassuring that one of the drafters has stated that reservists are not to be used in fighting terrorism or domestic separatist movements. However, there have been plenty of US reservists deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq over the last 4 or 5 years. The difference here being that the US does not use compulsory military service to boost military numbers.

Being short on detail means that at best one can only speculate. But hopefully the Bill will include benefits such as educational assistance to those who have to enlist, practical skills training aside from weapons handling, and other useful, in the broader community, skills.

There is a public policy possibility here in that the compulsory military service program could be used to fill shortfalls in other Government programs such as education. It would be a little cynical to try and hide Indonesia's unemployment figures by forcing the unemployed into compulsory military service. Yet, a program of this nature could conceivably be used to provide vocational skills, perhaps even re-skilling retrenched workers, for re-entry into the workforce.

Not everyone would be happy that these skills were gained through compulsory military service but from the Government's perspective it is simply killing two birds with one stone!

The idea that all countries, as some researchers have suggested, have compulsory military service is simply untrue. Almost all states have some former of military reserves where the obligation generally is one weekend a month and two weeks a year, but this is not compulsory.

It will be interesting to see how the Draft Bill deals with meeting the military's exacting physical fitness standards. Perhaps compulsory military service may even become a public health issue as compulsory military service may ensure that even the sedentary get some exercise.

May the force be with you (or at least you will be with the force irrespective of what you want!) when you are asking yourself "...not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country."