Mr Gerald Giam Yean Song (Aljunied): Mr Chairman, NS is an obligation that every male Singaporean or second-generation Permanent Resident (PR) must fulfil. However, it is undeniably an opportunity cost that is disproportionately levied upon one segment of society. Due to NS, Singaporean men begin their careers two years behind their female peers, first-generation PRs, new citizens and foreigners. NS poses a significant challenge for aspiring professional athletes, disrupting their training and competition during their peak performance years, and hindering their world-class aspirations.
The current philosophy of giving NSFs an “allowance for basic upkeep” needs to be reviewed in view of the significant increase in cost of living and NSFs’ opportunity costs.
As a first step, the terminology should be changed from “NS allowance” to “NS salary”, and it should attract CPF contributions. The median NS salary should be at least the Local Qualifying Salary of $1,600 a month. This still would not be a market salary, but it will go some way to compensate NSFs for the opportunity cost of two years of service and help them contribute a little to their household income.
I must emphasise that this does not in any way diminish the ethos of NS – just because we pay our NSFs fairly does not mean their service is any less of a national duty.
The Senior Minister of State for Defence (Mr Heng Chee How): Mr Gerald Giam asked about the NS allowance. NS is a duty to the country. It is not a form of employment. Instead of a salary, NSF receive an allowance to support their basic personal upkeep. And this allowance is regularly reviewed, most recently in July 2023. And I must also say that if you look over 10 years since 2012, from 2012 to 2023, this allowance was reviewed four times. When we say that we will provide an allowance to support the basic upkeep of our NSFs, we mean it and we will ensure it.
I note that Mr Giam has also used the word “obligation” in his cut – not wrong, but I also noted Dr Wan Rizal in his cut used the words “honour” and “duty” – also correct.
We are all on the same page because Mr Giam also finished his cut by saying that we all recognise the importance of citizens defending this country. Because for whom are we defending this country? For MINDEF? For the SAF? No. It is for each and every Singaporean, for now and for the future. We will continue to review regularly to make sure that the allowance remains relevant.
The Chairman: We have some time for clarification. Mr Gerald Giam.
Mr Gerald Giam Yean Song: I thank the Senior Minister of State for responding to my cut. The Senior Minister of State said that NS is a duty to country and is not employment. However, does the Senior Minister of State agree that the two are not mutually exclusive? For example, SAF regulars, they are both employees and they are also serving their national duty. But that does not detract in any way their sense of national duty.
I want to emphasise that I do support NS, but I feel that NS pay should better reflect the realities of the opportunity costs that NSmen have to incur.
Mr Heng Chee How: Mr Chairman, I thank Mr Giam for his question. I think we agree that serving NS to protect this country is a duty of citizens. And when we enlist our young male citizens into NS, we do not just take them in as volunteers.
We recognise that we call on their time for two years – well, 22 months if they have a certain level of fitness – and that during this period they do need basic upkeep as they fulfil their duty to this country. That is why we recognise that in the fulfilment of their duty, we also provide for this basic upkeep. And this is also why we regularly update and enhance the allowance that we so pay to our NSFs.
Ministry of Defence
29 February 2024
https://sprs.parl.gov.sg/search/#/sprs3topic?reportid=budget-2353
Office of the Leader of the Opposition 