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SINGAPORE – A dual citizenship man who previously pleaded guilty to failing to fulfill his national service obligations (NS) has been sentenced to four months and three weeks in jail.
Basil Lim Boon Hoh, 28, has citizenship of both Singapore and Malaysia.
The court heard that Lim, who is Singaporean by birth, was transferred to Malaysia when he was about a year old, but eventually returned to serve NS in 2018.
By then, he had been in default of his obligations to the National Society for almost 10 years.
Lim was sentenced on two counts under the Enlistment Act. Two other similar charges were taken into account during his sentencing.
Court documents indicate that Lim had been out of Singapore without a valid exit permit for a total of nine years, 11 months and 16 days.
His mother is Malaysian, while his father, with whom he is no longer in contact, is Singaporean.
Although Lim was granted Malaysian citizenship in 2001, his mother still applied for a Singapore NRIC on his behalf in 2007 because she wanted him to have a choice in the future, according to court documents.
Lim’s father informed him of his obligations to NS before he was 10 years old, but his mother told him when he was 16 that he could ignore these obligations as he had Malaysian citizenship.
Court documents indicate that two notices were sent in 2009 to a Malaysian address that Lim’s mother had provided to the Ministry of Defense (Mindef) Central Manpower Base (CMPB).
The notices required him to register online for NS, while the other informed him that he had to report to the CMPB. Lim didn’t do it both ways.
The court heard that during his time away from Singapore from 2009 to 2018, Lim had studied in Britain at Imperial College London from 2010 to 2014 for a master of science degree with a specialization in physics.
Lim’s lawyer also wrote to the CMPB in 2016, requesting that Lim be allowed to renounce his Singapore citizenship. This request was rejected.
Lim then returned to Singapore in March 2018 and enlisted in August of that year.
He completed his NS in August of this year.
The court heard that Lim now wants to keep his Singapore citizenship as he does not speak Malay well. He also intends to work here.
At a previous hearing, Assistant District Attorney Sean Teh urged the court to imprison Lim for five months and 18 days.
DPP Teh argued that Lim had informed CMPB at his own time, and that his surrender was “tactical and calculated”, and not out of “genuine remorse”.
Meanwhile, defense attorney Lim Kia Tong said in his mitigation statement that Lim’s mother had withheld her son’s NS obligations from him, as she did not want him to return to Singapore.
Citing Lim’s mother, Mr. Lim Kia Tong said that he had provided the CMPB with the address of a previous home in Malaysia and did not receive any physical letters regarding his son’s NS obligations.
Mindef had previously said that all male Singaporean citizens and permanent residents (PRs) have a duty to serve NS, and that it is important that NS have the support and commitment of all Singaporeans.
A total of 15 NS offenders, including Lim, have been incarcerated since the High Court established a sentencing framework for such offenders in 2017.
Lim will begin serving his sentence on October 19 and is currently out on $ 10,000 bail.
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