In another brilliant move guaranteed to maintain the exodus of young and capable Syrians, president Bashar announced the establishment of new regulations regarding compulsory military service. It is basically yet another reshuffling of the amounts, in hard currency, that the government wants to extort from Syrian immigrants for the right to return to their homeland if they have not completed their military service. A new twist added to this new edict is that children of immigrants born abroad and who wmay have never set foot in Syria, will also owe the government money to get excused from the military service. One other change of significance -especially for me- is that the age at which you are excused from military service has dropped from 52 to 42.
The overwhelmingly negative response to the new edict in the comments section of the Syria News report is telling. Clearly, the two year compulsory service is a great burden on young people trying to complete their education or start a career. Most commentators feel that the law is discriminatory against young Syrians living within the country. Many are asking that the choice of paying off one's military service be extended to citizens living in Syria. Others have have pointed out, rightly, that extending this privilege (if you can call it that) to those living in Syria will help families with financial means leaving the poor with the burden to serve in the military. No matter where one stands on the issue of military service, the undeniable fact is that it has and continues to cause a massive brain drain that Syria can ill afford. Lebanon recently did away with their compulsory service precisely because of that reason.
The two year compulsory service should be abolished altogether as an unnecessary burden on the citizens. What should replace it, if anything at all, is a much shorter, much more flexible service that will not interfere with the future educational or work prospects of young people. Financial payoffs that favor the well-off, immigrant or otherwise, should be abolished. If exceptions are to be made, the equivalent time could be paid off in the form of civil/community service that benefits Syria directly.
From a personal point of view, with the change in the age limit, the new law gets me off the hook. However, the whole military service issue has been a sore point with me for the duration of my adult life as someone who left Syria before reaching adulthood. For some of my adult life paying off my military service was not an option. When that option became available, I could never get myself to pay the thousands of dollars required. It was not that I couldn't afford it but I could never stomach the idea that this money will end up in the pockets of a corrupt government. So at every important juncture of my life as I contemplated my future prospects, going back to Syria was never a feasible option. This is a conundrum that hundreds of thousands of Syrians have faced and continue to face. It should not be so.
7 comments:
Abu Kareem, Excellent topic, I agree with you...compulsary military service should be abolished since it is useless to say the least.
Also milking money from Syrians outside is like blackmail since only people who love to visit will want to pay. The rich people inside already buy their way out, they usually pay bribes to some officers and do the military service at home, that of course make some officers do that as a business.
To maintain a strong army, pay the people who would like to join for few years a handsome salary just like in Canada or Europe.
i thought it was always mandatory service, but the badal is now lower for people born abroad.
Abu Kareem, thanks for highlighting the subject. Information and statistics will give great help here, because I wish to know how many countries in the world with mandatory military service cash their people to pay their way out of service. In a country with 15-18 millions immigrants, it is not a huge amount of money for government and officials who facilitate or deviate from the law it is also source to keep the boots over Syrians’ head.
The issue you raised about immigrants children who do not have Syrian nationality is not only critical, it highlight how the regime extended it discrimination beyond the Syrian boarder to even violate other’s country citizens domicile. This is not only violation of international law; it is a test of the immigrants will to stand in the face of violators of international law. I wish of someone to catch this post and start a class action lawsuit on behave of our kids against the government of Syria for this law which mention them as obligators to pay fine for military service to a foreign country for them called Syria. In the recent Bashar decree, he only exemption from payment of $500 were the immigrants’ children who served at the army of that country. That is mean, if I’m an American form Syrian origin, and my child did serve in the American military, he still has to pay $500 “Jejia” to Syrian regime only because he is from a father of Syrian origin. All I hope is the USA State Department will take notice and make them pay for this irrational law.
saint
Abu Kareem,
Yes, the new decree has reduced the upper age to 42, but increased the fees that you have to pay from around $1,000 to £5,000 (for someone like you me!..).. So, you are NOT off the hook, my friend... The irony is, in two years' time, I would have been eligible to pay the $1,000 and be set free!..
The amount is a side issue.. it is the principle that made me object to paying a fee for the privilege of visiting my own Country
SB,
Are you sure of that? I got confirmation from relatives that I am indeed "off the hook" with the change in the age. I have looked at the reports of the decree in two different places and the information does not quite match. No one is as good as they are in keeping their citizens guessing.
Abu Kareem,
In the link that you have placed in your post (Syria News), there is a paragraph about those of us who have exceeded the drafting age, and how much they have to pay. It states that you and I would have to pay the equivalent of the salary of a lieutenant X 35. That comes to about 250,000SP, or about $5,000. However, confusion still reigns.. and someone will probably come up with more explanations.. I am trying to get more info, and will let you know.
It is rather interesting for me to read this article. Thanx for it. I like such topics and everything that is connected to them. I would like to read a bit more soon.
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