In comparison to the other two countries,Oman by far has the biggest youth population. If it follows the between 18 years to 35 years age band of Qatar for young people to be militarised, then Oman would send more than 45 per cent of its population to the barracks. On the other hand, the UAE’s age strata of 18 to 30 years would mean more than a third of Omanis would be heading to the military camps. By a rough estimate, between 600,000 to 800,000 young Omanis would need to be enlisted. In Qatar, about 65,000 are eligible for military service while a little over 220,000 in the UAE.
If you use the above population’s account as an indication, Oman would need to dig very deep in its financial coffers to come out with the expenses of militarising its young people. In Qatar and the UAE, the ministries of finances of both countries have the expenses well covered. Oman will not know, if it decides to go ahead with the military service, how much it would cost in the long run but the question of affordability would stick up like a sore thumb in the already severely stretched financial situation.
According to the World Bank, Qatar’s GDP is over $180 billion while the UAE’s is about $350 billion and Oman’s is estimated at just $77 billion.
Positive impact
On the positive side, if Oman could come up with the extra costs should the country decide to send its youngsters to the army, the military exercise would toughen up the normally pampered and sheltered youth. It will also teach some discipline to those young people who are terrorising the roads with their dangerous driving and tame the rough behaviour of the rest. It may even cut down the number of drug users and peddlers among the nationals, whose numbers have sharply increased in the last decade. But before the government sends these youth to army bases, it must decide on the age group, the length of the service and the educational background.
The Qatari government’s decision of the age group of up to 35 years runs closer to the middle age. The UAE’s maximum age of 30 years is realistic but I would have thought between the ages of 18 to 25 years is more practical. Since Oman has a bigger youth population, it would cut down the costs by limiting the age group.
Moreover, young people after the age of 25 years want to concentrate on their careers or higher studies and not disrupt these with military exercises.
As for educational background, it must be linked with the number of times a young person needs to serve in the military. Those who dropped out from schools must serve much longer than those who have completed their secondary education.
There is a sense of desolation and hopelessness among the dropouts. Two years of military training will boost their confidence and keep them out of mischief. It will also equip them with specialised skills to help them find jobs at places that rejected them before they joined the army. It will have a positive effect on school goers knowing that if they drop out then they will have to join the army for two long years. This arrangement will see a steep rise in the passing rate of students in the basic education besides help curb drug addiction.
For students who passed their secondary education and are headed for work may do nine months, those studying for their degrees or working after graduating just five months. By lowering the serving time for different level of education will encourage young people to do better academically.
However, the government must also think whether to make it compulsory for women or enrol only men. If it is not mandatory for women, then they will have a head start in the job market while men would still be serving in the army. Another problem is that while young Omanis are tied up with military service, it will leave a gap in the job market for expatriates to fill in making it harder for nationals to penetrate into it.
