Refusal
to serve and conscientious
objection
Those who are liable
to serve national service, but refuse to, are charged under
an Enlistment
Act. If convicted, face
imprisonment for a period of three years and a fine of S$10,000.
Controversy arose when the penalties were increased
in January
2006 after Melvyn
Tan, who was born in Singapore, received a fine for
defaulting on his National Service obligations. Tan left
for London
to
study music
during his enlistment age
and later acquired British nationality.
In parliament, Defence Minister Teo
Chee Hean provided some illustration of the punishments
defaulters would face:[4]
Each year, a small
number of people are convicted for their failure to enlist or
refusal to serve in the military.[5] Most of them
are Jehovah's
Witnesses, who are usually court-martialled and sentenced
to three years of imprisonment, although they are usually held in a
low security detention facility and separated from other military
offenders. The government doesn't consider
Conscientious
objection to be a legal reason for refusal to serve NS.
Since 1972, Jehovah's
Witnesses as a religious group have been banned from
Singapore.[6]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Service_in_Singapore
