An Indian origin man in Singapore is facing a trial for defaulting on his compulsory national service obligations for more than five years and remaining outside the country in the absence of a valid exit permit.
National Service (NS) is compulsory for male Singapore citizens and permanent residents who are above 18 years of age.
A Singapore court on Thursday charged the 25-year-old Thirumal Pavithran for remaining outside the country in the absence of a valid exit permit for a combined time period of more than five years, an offense under the Enlistment Act, the Ministry of Defence said in a statement.
Pavithran has been charged with four counts of leaving Singapore without a valid permit before he began his full-time national service in May 2017.
According to the charge sheet, between November 1, 2010, and July 7, 2016, Pavithran committed the offenses on four separate occasions.
Pavithran first left Singapore when he was 16-year-old on November 1, 2010, for a period of 10 months and 27 days. He returned on September 28, 2011, and left again on October 5 the same year. He returned to the country on October 16, 2012. Once again on October 24, 2012, Pavithran left Singapore for three years, one month and 29 days. He returned on December 22, 2015, before going abroad eight days later on December 30, 2015.
He signed up into full-time national service on May 13, 2017 on coming back on July 8, 2016. He will be finishing his full-time service on Sunday and will be back in court on May 23.
The Attorney-General’s Chambers has pressed for a custodial sentence of 10 to 12 weeks of imprisonment for offenses related to compulsory national services in the forces.
The defense ministry in the statement said it takes a “firm stand” against those who commit offenses under the Enlistment Act.
“If we allow Singapore Citizens or permanent residents who are overseas to evade NS or to choose when they want to serve NS, we are not being fair to the vast majority of our national servicemen who serve their country dutifully, and the institution of NS will be undermined,” it said.
Over the past 10 years, there has been an average of about 350 national service defaulters each year, according to official data.
