Another non-combat death in ship “incident”
Written by Our Correspondent
Another full-time national serviceman had died in the course of duty yesterday, three days after he was warded in the intensive care unit.
Lance Corporal Mar Teng Fong, 20, an engineering systems specialist, was on watch duty on Tuesday on the Republic of Singapore Navy’s RSS Persistence.
He was found unconscious on Wednesday morning, trapped between a hydraulic sliding door and the door frame of the ship which was out at sea for training at the time.
He had gone on a routine round to check the engineering systems at 11.40pm. When he did not return after 15 minutes, a fellow ser-viceman went in search of him.
According to the state media, LCP Mar was given immediate medical attention by a doctor on the ship, and was evacuated by helicopter to Singapore General Hospital at 1.15am.
The exact cause of his death was not revealed. LCP Mar’s case is the latest of a series of non-combat death to have hit MINDEF this year.
In July this year, a 21 year old National Serviceman, Second Lieutenant Nicholas Chan Wei Kit died yesterday after a jeep which he was inspecting rolled over and hit him, pinning him under its wheels.
There was at least a gap of about 30 minutes between the time he took over the vehicle and the time a recovery vehicle – located within the grounds of the camp – was dispatched.
In June, an army sergeant, aged 30, was found dead in his bunk in Taiwan.
A month before that, a 53-year-old parachute jump instructor at the Commando Training Institute died in South Africa when his parachute failed to open during a freefall exercise.
The others, which included a recruit and three warrant officers, all died in Singapore in separate incidents.
The circumstances surrounding their deaths were never released to the public. Like the cases before him, LCP Mar’s death will remain forever a mystery.
All Singapore males have to served mandatory National Service for two years followed by more than 10 years of reservist service each year.
The duration of two years is long compared to other countries who maintain a conscription policy such as Taiwan (12 months), Ukraine (12 months) and Germany (9 months).
MINDEF has never revealed the exact figures for non-combat deaths and injuries to Singaporeans. In the case of the latter, it is not known if the victims are adequately compensated by MINDEF.
The case of Corporal Jeremy Tan showed that MINDEF is not always forthcoming in offering compensation to NSFs who suffered injuries during their National Service.
In 2005, Corporal Tan, who was rostered as duty storeman at the Seletar East Camp, was found unconscious at the foot of the building where his bunk was located on the third level.
His head injuries were consistent with a fall from height, but findings by SAF investigators as to how he came to be hurt were inconclusive. Mindef classified his injuries as non-service related and stopped paying for his hospital treatment from March 2007.
Corporal Tan’s parents have to sue MINDEF in High Court in order to seek disability compensation and medical benefits from them.
The Minister of Defence Rear-Admiral Teo Chee Hean is also the Deputy Prime Minister of Singapore and a former Chief of the Navy.
There is no political pressure on the ground or opposition in parliament to exert pressure on the government to be more transparent about the figures of non-combat deaths in the armed forces.
No senior MINDEF officers are ever taken to task for the unnecessary deaths of these young men in the prime of their lives.
The “internal” investigations conducted by MINDEF are almost always classified state secrets.
Such sensitive cases are rarely reported in the mainstream media which remains tightly controlled by the ruling party.
Without a free media and an opposition to fight for their interests, Singapore parents must pray that their sons are in safe hands during their two years in National Service.
Related articles:
Our bloated defence budget: what is the perceived threat?
Reduce the duration of National Service
One non-combat death a month: is this acceptable?
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john on Sun, 22nd Nov 2009 5:07 pm
our young man and woman are put in danger everyday because of National Service, does it do any good?
why are we perpetuating the memory of a war that has ended 60 years ago?
why are our youths paying the price for failed merger negotiations conducted by LEE KUAN YEW and his pappies?
The Gal called V on Sun, 22nd Nov 2009 5:53 pm
I feel sorry for the men and women citizens (young people in their prime years, flesh and blood of their parents) who lost their lives training to DEFEND the City including protection of everyone on the land. Yes ,including everyone.
Those fortunate enough not to be injured go on to compete in the city, in their employment arena. They need to work hard to afford a roof over their heads and eventually to retire, but only if they could earn and save enough and get employment all the way till retirement age where ageing poses a problem for many citizens in face of competition with foreign talents that have settled down if not decided to work here long term where long term is an undefined time period that can be as short as a few years to a few decades where the future is uncertain even though some like to preach they know what lies in the future where the future is unpredictable for example war breaking out due to terrorism, or natural disasters or financial tsunami of the new type where no one knows the economy except on hindsight.
knnbccb on Sun, 22nd Nov 2009 9:26 pm
I can understand conscription for places such as Israel, Taiwan and South Korea. Those places need the military deterrent given by conscription.
Singapore Inc.? The military defence issue is overblown. Nevertheless conscription helps to force-feed patriotism into the gullible and provides business/employment for many.
That said, due to the rapidly changing social landscape of Singapore(more foreigners in, more Singaporeans out), I predict that the duration of full-time NS will be further reduced, along with the number of reservist cycles. Also, SAF is occupying lots of prime land which can be used for more pertinent needs eg. residential or industrial. Expect more camps to close/merge.
protoss on Sun, 22nd Nov 2009 10:13 pm
year after year more foreigners come in without having to serve ns. i did my ns. i was the old 2.5 year cycle. i still have to take ippt every year.
what you think i feel.
cy on Sun, 22nd Nov 2009 10:24 pm
2009 is certainly not a good year for singapore since the merlion was struck by lightning.
SAF is having too much deaths in 2009
XIIIblackcat on Sun, 22nd Nov 2009 11:01 pm
One more year for me before I enter NS. Not sure whether I’ll make it out alive though. Sigh… Got choice meh?
Rainnix on Mon, 23rd Nov 2009 4:33 am
Since there are so much foreigners in Singapore, once the war breaks out, Singapore can just close the border thus forcing other countries to come protect their citizens. Let them fight the war for Singapore, we don’t need an army at all.
Kian on Mon, 23rd Nov 2009 9:14 am
I beg to differ, Chief Commando Officer stepped down due to the death of 2SG Hu En Huai. Please check facts.
MINDEF has also explaint the death of 2SG Ong Jia Hui and 1SG Shiva Mohan, LTA Lionel Lin…
Personal opinion – quite a few people equate serving NS to wasting time and money, however, surely there must be something gained although people are not really forthcoming to acknowledge it.
Time for Change on Mon, 23rd Nov 2009 10:47 am
We have about 60,000 Filipino men. 30,000 Myanmarese, 50,000 Vietnamese and more than 1 million PRC men. Does any one really believe that these men would not do anything if Singapore had a conflict with any one of these countries.
Lets say for argument sake that we can a conflict with Vietnam. If we were to send our men out to fight, just imagine the damage that 50,000 Vietnamese men could do to our families here. It is ridiculous that we are still spending billions and billions of dollars on defence. The money would be better used by helping poor Singaporeans.
But the most ludicrous thing is that when our population hits 7 million, Singaporean males would probably account for 1 in 5 of the males residents here and yet we are expected to shoulder all the responsibility for the defence of this island.
Jobs for foreigners, NSF and possible death for Singaporean males.
Kian on Mon, 23rd Nov 2009 11:18 am
@ Time for Change
-So what would you do if you are the government?
-Any other ideas or concrete plans?
Trojan Horse on Mon, 23rd Nov 2009 1:01 pm
Singapore does not realise the Trojan Horses that she is/has accepted. All the FTs are the enemy within. Internal defence is what we should not forget.
Time for Change on Mon, 23rd Nov 2009 1:15 pm
Dear Kian, there are many things I would do if I were PM but I can only list a few for starters.
1st, I would cut my salary. I would probably pay myself no more than $200,000 a year instead of $3 million now.
2nd, I would not employ my relatives or the relatives of any ministers or MPs to top posts in government or non-governmental organizations. I would look for the best person for the job.
3rd, I would sack any minister who allows a handicap terrorist to escape from prison during his watch, even if he was married to my cousin.
4th, I would fight the elections fair and square, withot threatening or bankrupting my opponents.
5th, I would treat all workers, both Singaporeans and foreigners the way I would like to be treated.
6th, I would cut down on defence spending and help poor Singaporeans to lead decent lives.
7th, Singaporeans would get priority in everything and singaporean children would get maximum help so that each and every one reach their maximum potential. Bursaries will be given to needy student and no scholarships for the children of the elites.
8th, I would repeal the Internal Security Act (ISA) which allows arbitrary arrest and detention without trial.
9th, I would give NS reservist their just reward and make sure they don’t have to fear being discriminated against.
10th, Women will not be discriminated against for becoming pregnant. I will not just pay lip service to this. The full weight of the law will come down on any errant employers.
Dear Kian, maybe you could continue with the list.
nncore on Mon, 23rd Nov 2009 1:30 pm
1 Mil PRC?!… is there enough soldiers/policemen in Singapore to quell them should they decide they are tired of us locals complaining about them all the time?! If half of them are ex-PRC Military… 500k… we are doomed.
Kian on Mon, 23rd Nov 2009 1:44 pm
@ Time for Change
i actually mean on NS and foreigners in SG…
But I agree on point 1,2,3 and 9…the rest in my opinion has other complications if we look macro scale…and how we want to measure achievability.
jiangbao on Mon, 23rd Nov 2009 2:09 pm
if you were PM, its certain you would put your own ppl in the top job. politics is dirty, there is no such thing as a clean politician. That is a lie really. Being in politics means you outwards pretend to care for the ppl but inwardly reward yourself and your family as much as possible till you are no longer in office.
As for deaths in the army. when i was in the army, i attended at least 3 formation funeral sentoffs. go figure that in a 2 year 4 month period.
singapore boy on Mon, 23rd Nov 2009 4:04 pm
My regards to Lance Corporal Mar Teng Fong’s family and friends.
What a shame to lose someone so young. A young life lost forever.
Please conduct a fair and honest Board of Inquiry.
Please do not cover up for any mistakes made by the navy personnel ( regardless of rank, regular or not).
We want the truth.
We entrusted the young lives of our children to the service of country.They entered the service alive and left the service dead.
Please pay the family for the loss. Compensate them at least (the service and combat pay of a regular for 30 years).
Since NSF work and job scope is identical to a regular but the NSF pay is a least 1/3 of regular pay.
Please ensure the recommendations of the BOI can be adhered to. To prevent the loss of innocent lives.