NATIONAL SERVICE ORDINANCE (Penalties for contravention)

Mr Teong Eng Siong asked the Minister for Defence (a) whether there have been cases of contraventions of the National Service Ordinance, and how many; (b) what penalties have been meted out to the offenders; and (c) if he is satisfied with the manner in which the Ordinance has been implemented.

Mr Lim Kim San: Mr Speaker, Sir, there were 448 cases of contraventions since the National Service Ordinance came into effect. The main types of contraventions are -

Before enrolment, wilfully failing to turn up for registration or wilfully failing to appear for medical examination when directed to do

After enrolment:

(a) failure to report for training; and

(b) being absent from training without leave.

Out of the total of 448 were dealt with in court, pending, 154 pending police investigations, and eight are missing.

On the whole, I think the Ordinance has been satisfactorily implemented. If we compare the number that has responded to national service with the number of convictions, the percentage is almost negligible. This in itself shows how successful national service has been.