{"id":32896,"date":"2026-03-02T15:46:35","date_gmt":"2026-03-02T07:46:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=32896"},"modified":"2026-03-02T15:46:35","modified_gmt":"2026-03-02T07:46:35","slug":"former-nsman-calls-nsf-allowance-a-betrayal-rejects-call-not-to-conflate-ns-with-transaction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=32896","title":{"rendered":"Former NSman calls NSF allowance &#8220;a betrayal,&#8221; rejects call not to conflate NS with transaction"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p data-pm-slice=\"0 0 []\">A former national serviceman has publicly challenged Defence Minister Chan Chun Sing&#8217;s remarks in Parliament that national servicemen should not conflate their service with a financial transaction, questioning whether the current allowance structure amounts to exploitation and describing the treatment of those who serve as &#8220;a betrayal.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Jonathan Tee, who states in a video that he is guards-trained and recce-trained and has completed his full reservist duty cycle, made the remarks in<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/reel\/1641763483625109\/?__cft__[0]=AZYiIbd9_7R6Ech6hpfYSnHeRPRGjSetyoh_8tvsYTfSccN9zkhKmCfNnFZfVfHJVnguRTTGHLW5u5VWlI3PK7mt6P9DkLqD_B5AyB_NbOQ-8Y_MobY5pGrpYRrbvRRlcl49uXtdVCcywIyJpfsE_FiDkXBRHXaKKb-N4zqwqMNrsX3IDpcKAR8g-w6WPnoDV4ttiEf0YIoXmoWuca2SM4ph&amp;__tn__=%2CO%2CP-R\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u00a0a social media post\u00a0<\/a>published on Sunday, 1 March 2026 \u2014 two days after Chan&#8217;s statement in Parliament on 27 February 2026.<\/p>\n<p>According to his company website, Tee underwent RSAF pilot training in 1997.<\/p>\n<p>Tee&#8217;s post accompanied a video he said he had recorded some years earlier, originally made in response to remarks by then-Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen on the NS liabilities of new male citizens.<\/p>\n<h3>Chan&#8217;s remarks draw public scrutiny<\/h3>\n<p>During the Committee of Supply debate on 27 February 2026, Chan <a href=\"https:\/\/theonlinecitizen.com\/2026\/02\/27\/chan-chun-sing-rejects-call-to-peg-nsf-pay-to-local-qualifying-salary-says-ns-is-duty-not-transaction\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">rejected a proposal<\/a> by Workers&#8217; Party Member of Parliament Kenneth Tiong to align second-year National Service Full-time (NSF) allowances with Singapore&#8217;s Local Qualifying Salary (LQS) of S$1,800 per month.<\/p>\n<p>Tiong questioned whether duty and compensation were mutually exclusive as he noted that SAF regulars serve the same mission while receiving market-rate salaries and CPF contributions.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t think duty and compensation are incompatible at all,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Tiong also disagreed that accommodation, food and equipment should be considered part of a compensation package.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThese are simply operational necessities for the SAF,\u201d he said, arguing that feeding, housing and equipping soldiers are required to ensure operational readiness.<\/p>\n<p>He reiterated that the proposal would cost less than 1 per cent of the defence budget and asked why the funds could not be found \u201cto pay our soldiers fairly\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>In response, Chan said he would be &#8220;the first one to champion&#8221; recognition for NSFs and NSmen, but drew a firm distinction between recognition and monetary compensation.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Those of us who have served in national service will be very careful to not use the word compensate,&#8221; Chan said, adding that &#8220;no amount of monetary compensation can be equated with the contributions of our NS men.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>He urged members of the House not to reduce what he called &#8220;this sacred duty&#8221; into a transactional relationship.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Chan Chun Sing rejects pegging second-year NSF allowances to S$1,800 LQS, says NS is duty\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/bMkcBI3FbV4?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<h3>Tee: &#8220;Is it exploitation?&#8221;<\/h3>\n<p>In his 1 March post, Tee said he agreed in principle that NS should not be viewed as purely transactional but added that he was &#8220;a little offended&#8221; by the framing.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We all know that NSFs are cheap labour for NDP and other services when required and the joke is that even McDonald&#8217;s pay us better,&#8221; he wrote.<\/p>\n<p>Tee cited current NSF allowance rates, noting that recruits and privates receive S$790 per month, sergeants receive S$1,130 and lieutenants receive S$1,530 \u2014 all without Central Provident Fund (CPF) contributions.<\/p>\n<p>He contrasted these figures with the government&#8217;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.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;This IS betrayal on our sacrifices for the nation my friend,&#8221; he wrote, citing the additional burden of reservist commitments that he said &#8220;hamper our career and family building.&#8221;<\/p>\n<h3>Revisiting the new citizen exemption<\/h3>\n<p>The video Tee reshared was made in reaction to Ng&#8217;s earlier parliamentary statements clarifying that male new citizens who naturalise as adults \u2014 typically in their 30s and 40s \u2014 are exempt from NS obligations, on the grounds that they did not benefit from Singapore&#8217;s social and economic infrastructure in their youth.<\/p>\n<p>In the video, Tee described learning of this exemption with surprise and frustration.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;New citizens above the age of 30, they are exempted from NS obligations. I never knew all these. Something is wrong here,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p>He argued that men in their 30s and 40s are often physically capable of serving.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;At the age of 30 to 40, a lot of males are in their prime physically \u2014 not just in their career. These days people are hitting the gym, cycling on weekends. No issues at all,&#8221; he said, describing the age-based exemption as &#8220;an excuse.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<h3>A call for loyalty and policy reform<\/h3>\n<p>In the dated video, Tee said that while he supports attracting foreign talent to Singapore, prospective citizens must be prepared to defend the country.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;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,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;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.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>He warned that the current policy sends &#8220;a very wrong signal&#8221; to male Singaporeans currently serving NS and to younger cohorts approaching enlistment age.<\/p>\n<h3>Proposed remedies<\/h3>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Have a heart and you may win some,&#8221; he wrote.<\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Doesn&#8217;t have to be combat. They can contribute to SCDF, police, and especially our healthcare sector, which is severely handicapped,&#8221; he said, referring to the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF).<\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Our NSF size is shrinking,&#8221; he wrote. &#8220;If you can&#8217;t win their loyalty, at least pay them a respectable allowance.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/media.theonlinecitizen.com\/Comments_Jo_Tee_a38b8c4ee2.png\" alt=\"Comments Jo Tee.png\"\/><\/p>\n<h3>Public response<\/h3>\n<p>The post attracted a broad range of supportive comments. A self-identified former soldier said the frustration had been building &#8220;for decades&#8221; and that the reservist system had cost him career opportunities he could not recover.<\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p>A woman who identified herself as the mother of two sons who had completed NS said she felt her boys had been &#8220;used and forgotten&#8221; by a system that rewarded newcomers more generously than those born and raised in the country.<\/p>\n<p>Several commenters echoed Tee&#8217;s call for new citizens to serve in the civil defence or healthcare sectors, describing it as a fair compromise.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<h3>Background: The NS liabilities debate<\/h3>\n<p>The question of NS obligations for new male citizens has been a recurring point of parliamentary debate. In<a href=\"https:\/\/sprs.parl.gov.sg\/search\/#\/sprs3topic?reportid=ministerial-statement-1952\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> a ministerial statement <\/a>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.<\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p>In <a href=\"https:\/\/sprs.parl.gov.sg\/search\/#\/sprs3topic?reportid=written-answer-na-11296\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">a written parliamentary reply<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p><em>Editor&#8217;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 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.passions.com.sg\/v2\/about-passions-watch\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">company website<\/a>, 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.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/theonlinecitizen.com\/2026\/03\/02\/former-rsaf-pilot-challenges-chan-s-call-not-to-conflate-ns-with-transaction\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article At Source <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A former national serviceman has publicly challenged Defence Minister Chan Chun Sing&#8217;s remarks in Parliament that national servicemen should not conflate their service with a&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":32898,"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-32896","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\/32896","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=32896"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32896\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/32898"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=32896"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=32896"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=32896"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}