{"id":32444,"date":"2026-02-28T19:59:36","date_gmt":"2026-02-28T11:59:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=32444"},"modified":"2026-02-28T19:59:36","modified_gmt":"2026-02-28T11:59:36","slug":"mindef-cares-for-soldiers-beyond-allowance-ns-is-not-a-transaction-chan-chun-sing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=32444","title":{"rendered":"MINDEF cares for soldiers beyond allowance; NS is not a transaction: Chan Chun Sing"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">SINGAPORE \u2013 <!-- -->Besides a monthly allowance, Singapore takes care of its full-time national servicemen (NSFs) in other ways, such as through cash top-ups and tax incentives, Defence Minister Chan Chun Sing said on Feb 27. Where there is budgetary space, MINDEF will do more, added Mr Chan, who cautioned against reducing national service to a transaction.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Mr Chan was responding to a suggestion by Workers\u2019 Party MP Kenneth Tiong (Aljunied GRC) to raise the allowance of second-year NSFs to at least $1,800, which is the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.straitstimes.com\/singapore\/politics\/local-qualifying-salary-for-sporean-workers-to-be-refined-in-upcoming-budget-tan-see-leng?ref=inline-article\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" class=\"gap-x-04 items-center inline text-primary-60 select-auto\" aria-label=\"link\" target=\"_blank\" data-testid=\"custom-link\"><\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular inline\" data-testid=\"paragraph-test-id\">local qualifying salary<\/p>\n<p><\/a> that firms have to pay their Singaporean workers to be allowed to hire foreign workers.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">The Defence Minister said Singapore recognises the contributions of NSFs and NSmen not just for their two years of full-time service, but also the 10 years of operationally ready NS after that.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">\u201cThose of us who have served in national service will be very careful to not use the word \u2018compensate\u2019, because, in truth, no amount of monetary compensation can be equated with the contributions of our NSmen,\u201d said Mr Chan. <\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"NS allowances should not be treated like salaries: Zaqy responds to WP\u2019s suggestion\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/zLzsUJMjHSA?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">To support servicemen, MINDEF works with the Ministry of Finance on initiatives such as the National Service Housing, Medical and Education (NS HOME) Awards \u2013 a series of milestone payments to support their housing, healthcare and education needs, he noted.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">\u201cWhen we have the budget space, we will do more&#8230; But I don\u2019t want us to get into the wrong concept that this is a transactional relationship,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">During the debate on MINDEF\u2019s budget, Mr Tiong said NSFs\u2019 purchasing power had fallen despite nominal increases in their allowance over the years.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">On the other hand, SAF regulars serve the same duty, but with a market salary and full CPF. <\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">\u201cBy their second year, NSFs are fully trained and operationally deployed, manning posts, running day-to-day operations, performing similar tasks as regulars,\u201d said Mr Tiong. <!-- -->\u201cThey should be paid accordingly.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">He called for the NS allowance to be raised to $1,800 as that \u201cis the floor for every worker in Singapore; surely it is the floor for every soldier\u201d.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">In response, Senior Minister of State for Defence Zaqy Mohamad said there is a fundamental difference between salary and NS allowance, and an equivalence should not be drawn between the two.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">A salary is compensation for work done, while NS is a unique civic duty and contribution by all able-bodied Singaporean males and not a transaction, he added.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">\u201cWhile we acknowledge that serving NS involves opportunity cost, we should not erode our social compact and the ethos of service by casting it as an employer-employee relationship,\u201d he added. <\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Mr Zaqy said MINDEF regularly reviews the allowance and incentives for servicemen, with reviews in 2015, 2020, 2023, and in July 2025. The 2023 review saw the NS allowance increased by between $125 and $200, depending on rank and vocation. The 2025 review saw the allowance raised from between $35 and $75.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Over the past decade, the allowance for a recruit in basic military training has risen by 65 per cent, said Mr Zaqy. Recruits currently get $790 a month in allowance, while a lieutenant receives $1,530.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">During national service, the state also takes care of the vast majority of NSFs\u2019 basic needs, such as accommodation and food, and the allowance is designed to support their personal upkeep and incidentals, he added.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Mr Tiong said he disagreed with Mr Zaqy\u2019s framing that accommodation, food and equipping are part of the compensation package for NSFs. \u201cThe fact is that people who have no choice get paid less than people who do&#8230; Why can\u2019t we find it (in us) to pay our soldiers fairly?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">In response, Mr Chan said he had never seen Singaporeans think of NS as a transaction, and that he hoped that generations of Singaporeans would continue not to view NS this way.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">\u201cIt is not in our interest to cause invidious comparisons, or to bring down the sacred duty of serving our country into a transaction,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">\u201cOf course, we will take care of our NSmen. Of course, we will regularly review our NSF allowances (and) do more for NS HOME awards,\u201d added Mr Chan.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">\u201cYou can have my assurance we will take care of our NSmen, but I appeal to members of this House not to conflate duty with transaction.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.straitstimes.com\/singapore\/politics\/mindef-cares-for-soldiers-beyond-allowance-ns-is-not-a-transaction-chan-chun-sing\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article At Source <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>SINGAPORE \u2013 Besides a monthly allowance, Singapore takes care of its full-time national servicemen (NSFs) in other ways, such as through cash top-ups and tax&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":32446,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2611],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-32444","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-buzz-headlines","wpcat-2611-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32444","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=32444"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32444\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/32446"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=32444"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=32444"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=32444"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}