PASSPORT ENDORSEMENT FOR SAF RESERVISTS (Request for extension)

[Mr Speaker in the Chair]

Dr Ong Chit Chung asked the First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence whether the one-year inter- national passport endorsement for reservists of the Singapore Armed Forces will be extended to three or more years.

The Second Minister for Defence (Services) (BG Lee Hsien Loong) (for the First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence): Mr Speaker, Sir, the SAF is a national service army which depends critically on reservists. For operational reasons, it needs to be able to recall reservists at short notice. It therefore needs to know where each individual reservist is at all times.

Strictly speaking, reservists should apply for exit permits for each one of their overseas trips. Up till 1981, MINDEF in fact required them to do so. Then MINDEF relaxed the rule. Reservists who go abroad for less than six months no longer need to apply for exit permits, although they still have to keep their units informed.

However, MINDEF still requires reservists to renew their passports yearly, to help it to keep track of them, particularly when they are overseas. The measure is also a good reminder to reservists of their role in Total Defence. It is not meant to restrict or discourage reservists from travelling or working abroad. Reservists who are working or studying overseas are liberally granted full passports for the duration of their employment or of their course.

Dr Ong Chit Chung (Bukit Batok): Sir, I would like to ask whether the Minister is aware that many countries require a minimum of six months' validity of passports. Although they are given a one-year endorsement, in effect, they have only six months to use the passport before they required to extend the validity if they wish to travel to those countries. And this means a lot of inconvenience for many of our reservists who are in the business sector. Would the Minister consider extending, say, to two years if it is not possible to be longer?

BG Lee Hsien Loong: Mr Speaker, Sir, I am aware of this. I concede that there is some inconvenience involved in the renewing of passports every year. We have, in MINDEF, just recently reviewed the position as to whether we want to hold it at one year, or whether we want to extend it to two years. It is a question of judgment. In this review, we have decided to stay with one year. We can review it again in a year or two.