Former NSman calls NSF allowance “a betrayal,” rejects call not to conflate NS with transaction

He contrasted these figures with the government’s reported budget surpluses, noting a surplus of S$15 billion in the most recent financial year and several billion dollars in the year prior.

“This IS betrayal on our sacrifices for the nation my friend,” he wrote, citing the additional burden of reservist commitments that he said “hamper our career and family building.”

Revisiting the new citizen exemption

The video Tee reshared was made in reaction to Ng’s earlier parliamentary statements clarifying that male new citizens who naturalise as adults — typically in their 30s and 40s — are exempt from NS obligations, on the grounds that they did not benefit from Singapore’s social and economic infrastructure in their youth.

In the video, Tee described learning of this exemption with surprise and frustration.

“New citizens above the age of 30, they are exempted from NS obligations. I never knew all these. Something is wrong here,” he said.

He argued that men in their 30s and 40s are often physically capable of serving.

“At the age of 30 to 40, a lot of males are in their prime physically — not just in their career. These days people are hitting the gym, cycling on weekends. No issues at all,” he said, describing the age-based exemption as “an excuse.”

Tee said he is 48 years old and remains physically active, noting he is still able to complete a 2.4-kilometre run and distances up to seven kilometres, though he acknowledged it would strain his knees.

A call for loyalty and policy reform

In the dated video, Tee said that while he supports attracting foreign talent to Singapore, prospective citizens must be prepared to defend the country.

“I am a Singaporean. I am prepared to lay down my life for Singapore and defend it at any time when necessary, and take arms if any aggressor comes on us,” he said.

“So any foreigner who wants to become a citizen of this country must do the same. They must be prepared to take up arms and fight and defend the motherland.”

He warned that the current policy sends “a very wrong signal” to male Singaporeans currently serving NS and to younger cohorts approaching enlistment age.

Proposed remedies

In his Sunday post, Tee put forward two concrete proposals. First, he called on the Ministry of Defence (Mindef) to raise NSF allowances to match the national minimum progressive wage as a starting benchmark.

“Have a heart and you may win some,” he wrote.

Second, he proposed that if allowances cannot be raised, Mindef should revise the policy on new male citizens and require them to serve in some capacity.

“Doesn’t have to be combat. They can contribute to SCDF, police, and especially our healthcare sector, which is severely handicapped,” he said, referring to the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF).

He also urged Mindef to conduct an anonymous feedback exercise among current NSFs and those approaching enlistment age, to gauge how many feel genuinely patriotic and willing to die for the country.

“Our NSF size is shrinking,” he wrote. “If you can’t win their loyalty, at least pay them a respectable allowance.”

Public response

The post attracted a broad range of supportive comments. A self-identified former soldier said the frustration had been building “for decades” and that the reservist system had cost him career opportunities he could not recover.

Another commenter, describing himself as a retired regular officer, said he had served into his 60s as a volunteer and could not reconcile the disparity between that commitment and the treatment of NSFs.

A woman who identified herself as the mother of two sons who had completed NS said she felt her boys had been “used and forgotten” by a system that rewarded newcomers more generously than those born and raised in the country.

Several commenters echoed Tee’s call for new citizens to serve in the civil defence or healthcare sectors, describing it as a fair compromise. 

One commenter with a background in healthcare said the shortage of local manpower in hospitals had long been a crisis and that new citizens with medical training should be directed there as a matter of national contribution.

Others focused on the financial argument, with one former NSF noting that the allowance he received in the early 1980s was S$230 per month, and that the rate had not kept pace with inflation or the cost of living across the decades.

Background: The NS liabilities debate

The question of NS obligations for new male citizens has been a recurring point of parliamentary debate. In a ministerial statement delivered on 2 August 2022, then-Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen clarified that new male citizens who arrived in Singapore as youths and benefited from its social and economic infrastructure are enlisted for NS at age 18 or older, and that this group numbers approximately 3,400 per year on average since 2000.

Ng stated at the time that new citizens and Permanent Residents (PRs) had grown from approximately five per cent of full-time NSF enlistees in the early 2000s to around 20 per cent by 2022. He attributed part of this growth to the demographic need to offset smaller local birth cohorts.

In a written parliamentary reply dated 13 September 2022, Ng confirmed that approximately 57 per cent of new male citizens are below 30 years of age when they receive citizenship.

Of this group, about 70 per cent are below 18 years old, with the remaining 30 per cent between 18 and 30. Those in the latter bracket are enlisted upon reaching enlistment age. Males who naturalise as adults, typically in their 30s and 40s, are exempt.

The SAF Volunteer Corps (SAFVC), established in October 2014, accepts applications from new male citizens and PRs who wish to serve voluntarily. Approximately 250 individuals apply each year.

Chan has assured Parliament that NSF allowances and support measures will continue to be reviewed in consultation with the Ministry of Finance, subject to available budgetary space.

Editor’s note: An earlier version of this article described Jonathan Tee as a former RSAF pilot. This has been revised to reflect that, according to his company website, he underwent RSAF pilot training in 1997. His standing as a national serviceman who completed his full reservist duty cycle remains the basis on which his remarks are reported.