Full-time National Servicemen Requiring SAF Financial Hardship Assistance after Enlistment

22 Mr Leon Perera asked the Minister for Defence for each year in the past five years (a) how many full-time National Servicemen (NSF) have requested assistance due to financial hardship after enlistment; (b) how many NSF receive SAF financial assistance; (c) what is the average dollar quantum and type of assistance provided to such applicants; (d) what is the average duration of time for processing and addressing such cases; and (e) how many cases of NSF Absent Without Official Leave (AWOL) charges have been associated with financial hardship.

The Senior Minister of State for Defence (Dr Mohamad Maliki Bin Osman) (for the Minister for Defence): Mr Speaker, NSFs who require financial support can apply for Term Financial Assistance (TFA), which is monthly assistance that can be provided for as long as the NSFs are serving their full-time NS. The TFA eligibility criteria and quantum provided are similar to public financial assistance schemes. Family size, income and expenditure needs are considered and additional support is provided for families with school-going children and/or members with recurrent medical conditions.

In processing applications, commanders conduct interviews and home visits to better understand the NSFs' family situation. About 80% of the applications are approved and on average, about 120 NSFs receive the TFA. Sums range from under a hundred to a few thousand dollars each month and for an average of eight months. The TFA grants were given to most recipients within two weeks of submitting the completed application.

In addition to the TFA, their Commanding Officer (CO) or Department Head can extend quick financial aid in the form of a one-off Contingency Grant of up to $500, or the Welfare Grant for higher amounts. These schemes benefit more than 50 NSFs each year.

Over the last five years, a minority of NSF AWOL offenders convicted in the General Court Martial cited financial hardship as the main reason; about 28 cases a year, constituting about 14% of all offenders.

Mr Speaker: Mr Perera.

Mr Leon Perera (Non-Constituency Member): I thank the Senior Minister of State for his reply. Just a few supplementary questions. The instances of NSFs who are charged for AWOL, who cite the financial difficulties, are there also cases of those individuals who go on to re-offend, to commit AWOLs subsequently, and what proportion go on to re-offend and also citing financial hardships.

And then, secondly, in cases of re-offenders who repeatedly offend for AWOL because of financial hardship, what action is taken to more decisively address the issue or to look into the concern.

And my third supplementary question is really on whether there are NSFs who are charged for taking up paid work in the hours when they are not on duty, when they are off duty as it were. Are there charges in such cases and how many of such cases will there be?

Dr Mohamad Maliki Bin Osman: Mr Speaker, Sir, first, let me say about AWOL. AWOL is a serious offence so MINDEF, SAF will continue to take stern disciplinary action against servicemen who commit AWOL offences. With that we also understand that, as I mentioned earlier, a small proportion of our AWOLees cite financial reasons. Of the cases in 2017, for example, only one went on to commit AWOL offence despite receiving financial assistance; so the number is very small. As I mentioned, overall, about 14% cite financial reasons as the main reason why they offend.

What do we do and what can we do to help them? While we take stern action against them, we also continue to assess their financial needs and we offer the financial assistance I have mentioned earlier. We counsel them. We look at the whole family situation. Where necessary, we make referrals to the other help agencies around. I must assure Members that financial assistance is not just provided by the SAF to these families. Often times, we know that there are many different touchpoints that families face, whether it is touchpoints – may be the schools, may be the hospitals, may be the community – so we look at where these touchpoints are and we help them. From the SAF perspective, we will continue to help these NSFs wherever we can, and as I mentioned earlier, once help is given, it is given throughout the period of service, whichever is lesser, for up to 12 months at any one time.

On NSFs taking paid work, they know they are not supposed to take paid work. We are not aware of the details of NSFs taking paid work, but upon enlistment, we inform NSFs that at any point in time where they need financial assistance, they can come to their Commanding Officers, their OCs (Officers Commanding), their commanders to seek help, wherever necessary.