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Son of senior lawyer who defaulted on NS withdraws appeal

SINGAPORE – The elder son of senior lawyer Tan Chee Meng, who was sentenced to 16 weeks’ jail in February for being a National Service (NS) defaulter, has withdrawn his court appeal. No reason was given for the withdrawal.

Jonathan Tan Huai En (on the left), the elder son of senior lawyer Tan Chee Meng (on the right). His younger brother, Isaac Tan, was jailed by the District Court for a similar offence - defaulting on his National Service. Photo: TODAY file photo

Jonathan Tan Huai En (on the left), the elder son of senior lawyer Tan Chee Meng (on the right). His younger brother, Isaac Tan, was jailed by the District Court for a similar offence - defaulting on his National Service. Photo: TODAY file photo

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SINGAPORE – The elder son of senior lawyer Tan Chee Meng, who was sentenced to 16 weeks’ jail in February for being a National Service (NS) defaulter, has withdrawn his court appeal. No reason was given for the withdrawal.

His appeal was slated to be heard in the High Court on Wednesday (Sept 20), some two months after the High Court issued new sentencing benchmarks for NS defaulters, including how offenders should not be treated more leniently because they voluntarily surrendered themselves or performed exceptionally well during enlistment.

In July, the coram of judges also spelt out the starting points of the penalties for four categories of NS dodgers, based on the length of the default period.

Jonathan Tan Huai En, 28, was sentenced on Feb 2 to 16 weeks’ jail for defaulting on his NS obligations for over a decade. He was supposed to have started serving his sentence immediately, but was released on a S$10,000 bail pending his appeal against the court’s decision.

On Wednesday, Tan, represented by Senior Counsel Chelva Retnam Rajah, applied to withdraw the appeal. No objections were raised from the prosecution, and the judge allowed Tan’s application to defer his sentence till Oct 6.

When asked to comment on the decision to withdraw the appeal, Tan’s father, Senior Counsel Tan Chee Meng, declined comment.

Tan had migrated to Canada with his family in December 2000, as he and his brother were unable to cope with studying Chinese language in school. Only his father remained in Singapore due to a lack of work opportunities overseas.

He and his family had also applied for Canadian citizenship. He received it in 2005, and continued to study and work in Canada, graduating from the University of British Columbia with a Masters of Engineering in Clean Energy and getting a job at a multinational corporation.

But he never renounced his citizenship in Singapore, and was liable to serve NS. Between December 2005 and June 2006, the Ministry of Defence sent Tan three Registration Notices informing him to register for NS and medical screening. Central Manpower Base (CMPB) officers also visited his father’s registered address at a Hillview condominium twice.

In 2009, his father informed CMPB that Tan wanted to give up his Singapore citizenship, and asked if the latter’s NS obligations could be waived.

CMPB replied that Tan would first have to serve NS before renouncing his citizenship. They also told Mr Tan Chee Meng that his son had been classified as a defaulter, and would have to return to Singapore as soon as possible.

According to Tan’s defence lawyer then, Tan was unaware that his NS liabilities had not been resolved. He only realised this in 2013, when his grandfather fell gravely ill and Tan wanted to visit him. His mother then told him that he would be arrested upon setting foot in Singapore.

Tan decided to return on May 5, 2015, and reported to CMPB the following day. He enlisted in January 2016.

His younger brother, Isaac, 25, has also returned to serve NS and is under investigation.

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