Pianist pays NS dues - 28 years later
He is fined for defaulting on his NS after he decides to return, as
his aged parents are finding it difficult to visit him in
By Kristina Tom
Nov 20, 2005
The Straits Times
AFTER staying away from Singapore for nearly 30 years because he
defaulted on his national service, pianist Melvyn Tan has finally
paid his dues.
The 49-year-old, who has lived in the United Kingdom for the last
37 years, has paid a fine for not fulfilling his national service
duty and will be performing at the Esplanade next month.
In an interview with The Sunday Times, a visibly relieved Mr Tan
said that he is glad to have put the past behind him.
He has not stepped onto Singapore soil all these years because he
had feared that he would be arrested and thrown into jail.
But his 86-year-old father and 80-year-old mother are getting too
old to make the regular trips to London to visit him at his home in
Notting Hill, London.
So he decided to take a 'risk'. After informing the authorities of
his intention to return, he came home in April for a court
hearing.
The hearing lasted 30 minutes but he had never been so nervous in
his life. 'It was very, very nerve-wracking,' he said.
To his relief, he was asked only to pay a fine.
He claims that he cannot remember the amount.
Under the Enlistment Act, those who evade national service can be
fined up to $5,000 or sent to jail for up to three years, or
both.
Although Mr Tan became a British citizen
in 1978, he was still a Singapore citizen when he failed to fulfil
his NS duties, making him answerable for the offence in a Singapore
court.
In 1994, The Straits Times quoted a lawyer who said that one of his
clients, a 39-year-old French citizen, was arrested at the airport
on arrival, fined and made to complete nine months of
training.
Mr Tan, who has an elder sister, was studying at Anglo-Chinese
School when he left Singapore to study at the Yehudi Menuhin School
in Sussex. He was then 12 years old.
After he finished his course, he stayed on in England to study at
the Royal College of Music instead of coming home to serve national
service in 1977.
He said: 'When I was at the Royal College and I got my final
call-up, I was just on the brink of starting a career. I thought
about it and thought about it and realised that I was not going to
get this chance again.
'So I made that very difficult decision to not return. It meant I
could never come back.'
Mr Tan first made his mark in the classical world with his
performances on the 19th-century fortepiano, the precursor to the
modern concert grand.
In the 1980s and 1990s, he produced a series of recordings that
popularised the early music movement, regarded as a slightly
eccentric niche within the music world.
He has about 30 recordings to his name and a regular touring
schedule in Europe.
Along with Seow Yit Kin and Margaret Leng Tan, he has helped
Singapore to gain recognition on the global piano scene.
The pianist is wasting no time in reconnecting with the Singapore
music scene.
He goes back to England tomorrow, but will return early next month
to sit on the jury of the National Arts Council's biennial National
Piano and Violin Competition, which starts Dec 7 and ends Dec
18.
He said that he is getting to know Singapore, which he describes as
'unrecognisable', all over again. And, of course, he has been
feasting on his favourite foods such as popiah.
But the best part about being able to come home as a free man was
showing up at his mother's 80th birthday party on Thursday.
His parents still live in his childhood home in Lengkok Angsa, off
Paterson Road. 'There were a few tears,' he said. 'She was just
delighted. It was the best birthday present she's ever had.'
