Nanyang Siang Pau
Still, problems continued to crop up. When the Malayan government implemented a system of national service, whereby Malayan youths would be conscripted into the army to stave off communist attacks. Many Chinese refused to participate, fleeing to Hong Kong or mainland China via Singapore. Only 1,800 Chinese registered for the draft, many of them English-educated. The Chinese press opposed national service as well, with the "Sin Chew Jit Poh" arguing that skilled workers and teachers, as well as first-born sons, be exempted. The "Nanyang Siang Pau" insisted that the Chinese be granted citizenship before being called to defend Malaya against the communists, while the "China Press" stated its preference for a voluntary army. Tan Cheng Lock also spoke out in defence of the Chinese opposition, saying that the Chinese traditionally gave their loyalty to their family and locality instead of their nation, with the "Western" concept of social obligation all but unknown to the vast majority of Chinese. A similar system in Chinese-majority Singapore was implemented later that decade, with similar results. To the Malays, this indicated that the Chinese had no particular loyalty towards Malaya and justified "ketuanan Melayu", heightening similar perceptions caused by the apparent racial dichotomy between those in fierce opposition to the communists and those supporting the MCP.