The Lens: Mandatory military training in the Philippines can have many benefits but comes with its own set of challenges

Anson Ng Wai-yan, 12, St Mary’s Canossian College

By requiring students to undergo military education and training, the Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC) programme ensures that the country has a pool of trained individuals who can be mobilised in the event of a national security threat.

Moreover, ROTC offers the opportunity to develop essential hard and soft skills that are valuable for personal development. The training fosters a strong sense of national identity and commitment to serving your country. These aspects are vital in cultivating self-esteem and confidence and maintaining a balanced lifestyle.

Despite its benefits, mandatory ROTC participation also presents drawbacks, such as the two-year time commitment. This could conflict with students’ academics and extracurricular activities. Balancing the demands of ROTC training with coursework can be challenging, and the programme could impact their overall academic performance.

Some students may also perceive mandatory ROTC as restricting their freedom since it may not align with their career goals or interests.

This limitation on individual choice can result in dissatisfaction and resistance, impacting their emotional well-being and ability to learn effectively.

Another issue is safety, as military training can be risky, and students could get hurt, which could cause backlash from parents.

With all these considerations, mandatory military service in the Philippines may not be necessary.

Instead, the government should consider alternative defence strategies, such as investing in high-technology military equipment to strengthen national security.

Angelina Au-yeung, 14, ELCHK Lutheran Academy

For many nations, “military conscription” conjures up ideas of patriotic duties passed down through generations or service requirements, depending on your country of citizenship. But for today’s Filipino students, these two weighty words could soon take on a new meaning. Since the focus of the discussion is on finding the right balance between quality and quantity, I believe that rushing into compulsory conscription could undermine the long-term effectiveness of the country’s defence strategy.

Firstly, university is already an extremely demanding time for students as they juggle intensive course loads, extracurricular activities and their social lives. Placing the additional burden of mandatory military training on overwhelmed youth means they might not take the training seriously or put in their full effort. How can we reasonably expect students to retain information and strategically apply complex concepts in the armed forces while their education suffers? By doing so, ROTC could compromise academic standards.

Secondly, ROTC can negatively impact morale and willingness to serve in the long run. Although students might gain skills from the training, such as discipline or leadership, forcing military service rather than allowing those dedicated enough to choose to undergo training will only breed resentment over lost freedoms. A student forced into uniform and stripped of the time to study will go through ROTC without developing the true sense of civic duty that comes from voluntarily answering the nation’s call.

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The Malaysian government is asking social media giants Meta and TikTok to present a plan for clamping down on offensive content, saying it wants to curb posts on the issues of race, religion, and royalty.

Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s administration has been on an extended campaign against posts considered provocative.

This follows a 2022 election that brought a conservative Malay nationalist minority bloc into parliament. Some blame the group’s political rise for creating tension in the nation.

Malaysia’s online regulators received 51,638 complaints of “harmful” social media content in the first quarter of this year, a surge from the nearly 43,000 cases reported in all of 2023.

Regulators said Meta and TikTok had been ordered to improve their monitoring following the spike in harmful content. The government also asked the platforms to remove content linked to scams or illegal online gambling and implement age verification for children aged 13 and younger. It did not set a required time frame or specify the penalties if the companies did not adhere.

Malaysia’s government has been criticised for trying to control the content of concerts, films and now the internet, ostensibly to protect Malaysian values. Critics say the current administration is on a slippery slope towards lost freedoms.

Earlier, the government threatened to take legal action against Meta for failing to take down “undesirable” content. It later dropped the plan after meetings with the company.

Staff writers

• Do the Malaysian government’s requests inhibit people’s freedoms? Why or why not?

• Are there some types of content that should always be censored or taken down? If so, what types?

• Should content be regulated based on a user’s age? What kinds of content should be monitored?