Focus on the ties that bind us together

I saw the movie, A Yank at Oxford, for the first time when I was at Malay College Kuala Kangsar. I knew then that I wanted to further my studies either in Oxford or Cambridge. But as fate would have it, I was told to complete my graduate studies at the University of Malaya in Singapore, and to start serving the country immediately. 

A newly-independent country needed as many graduates as possible, to serve as soon as possible, I was told. So how can anyone say no to the call to national service?