Dr Allan Ooi's suicide note

Many people must have heard about the suicide case of Capt (Dr) Allan Ooi. It is very sad that a bright and promising young man would choose to end his life at the age of 27 because of his unhappiness. Here is an excerpt of his last email before he died. The issues raised here are believed by many to be the main reasons of his suicide.

"My job was terrible - no joy, no satisfaction, 10-14 hours a day of nothing. A prison. One of my own forging, perhaps, by signing a contract with the SAF at the age of 18. Youth was not an excuse, yes, but I refused to accept being deceived into believing things about the nature of my employment that were simply untrue. 12 years of bonded service became potentially 15 or 16, became unbreakable, became stifling to the point of utter hopelessness. How can a bond be unbreakable? How can it be extended at will by an administration, simply by passing a paper? And how can the people subject to this bond not even question it, but instead sit in silent resentment and ultimate dissatisfaction? I was angry, so angry, which stemmed ultimately from a sense of waste and imprisionment so profound that I had no choice but to leave it entirely. To the people within this system, please change it to better benefit yourselves and future generations, instead of creating a self-perpetuating cycle of at best, painful obligation, and at worst, utter dispair.

That was certainly the main cause of my severing of ties. However, it is not the only one. 

I can happily say that I have led a full life, despite it ending at the age of 27. I have many friends, some true friends among whom I value very highly (if you are reading this, you know who you are). Thank you for your love, trust and friendship. Especially those who sought to contact me after I left, long after even, you are truly special people"

It is not very difficult to read the full copy of the email, you can just google it. For me, I first came to know about it through a hardcopy that was circulating around during accounting class. So it's kinda spreading like wildfire.

I would like to end off with a note of advice for those of you out there who are enlisting soon and for those of you contemplating a career in the military. In addition to your normal national service training, you will definitely be exposed to at least a dozen recruitment talks on joining the military service. The compensation and benefits may look attractive, but make sure you know what you are getting yourself into before signing that contract. It's not always all about the money. I'm not saying that taking up a career in the military is bad. But what I'm saying is that you should be 100% certain that the chosen career path is definitely something that you want to do.