SINGAPORE: A local man who also has Indonesian citizenship was given the maximum jail sentence of three years for defaulting on National Service (NS) for 21 years and nine months. He was also fined S$3,000.

The judge in his case, James Elisha Lee, said that Zao’s behaviour falls under the worst category of NS defaulters. Edmond Yao Zhi Hai’s lawyers filed an appeal against the conviction after he was sentenced on Tuesday (May 26).

Yao, now 47, was supposed to report for enlistment into full-time NS in January 1997, but failed to do so. In his sentencing, Justice Lee noted how the Defence Ministry’s Defence Central Manpower Base (CMPB) had repeatedly informed Yao and his parents of his obligation to serve the NS requirement, but this was “blatantly” ignored over the years.

According to Zao, he was following Indonesian law, which does not allow its citizens to serve in the armed forces of another country.

However, the judge said that Zao’s “failure to contact CMPB to resolve his NS liabilities can only be attributable to an outright refusal to acknowledge his NS obligations.”

Zao’s backstory

Zao was born in 1978 to a Singaporean woman married to an Indonesian man. While his father registered him as an Indonesian and obtained an Indonesian passport for him, a deed poll stating that Yao was a minor and a citizen of Singapore was made by his mother when Yao was 8 years old.

He was educated at Catholic High School, Raffles Institution, and Raffles Junior College, and received a national registration identity card (NRIC) in 1990.

Yao received a notice from CMPB in January 1996 informing him he needed to register for NS. In 1997, his father wrote to CMPB, asking for a deferment until Yao was 21 on the basis of his being an Indonesian citizen. This request was denied, as CMPB pointed out that Yao is a citizen of Singapore and therefore must fulfil the NS requirement.

From 1997 to 2001, Yao studied overseas. In 2003, he wrote to the embassy of Singapore in Indonesia to renounce his Singapore citizenship. According to CPMB, it did not support this renunciation.

He married a Singaporean woman in 2005 and applied for permanent residence. Since he was in effect a Singaporean citizen, this application was rejected.

Yao later travelled in and out of Singapore using his Indonesian passport, which bore the name “Edmond Jauw Ming Siang.” In 2021, he was arrested for defaulting on his NS requirement and was later fined S$3,000 for immigration offences. /TISG

Read also: Rare National Service evasion case: Prosecutors push for maximum jail term for Singaporean over dual citizenship dispute

This article (3-year jail sentence given to man who evaded National Service for over 20 years) first appeared on The Independent Singapore News.

SINGAPORE: A Singaporean man who also held Indonesian citizenship has been handed the maximum three-year jail sentence for avoiding National Service (NS) for almost 22 years, in what is now the harshest punishment imposed in a Singapore NS default case.

The 47-year-old Edmond Yao Zhi Hai was sentenced on May 26 after the court found that he had failed to serve both his full-time NS duties and later reservist obligations for more than two decades. District Judge James Elisha Lee said Yao’s conduct fell into the “worst category” of NS defaulters because he had effectively skipped the entire system from start to finish.

The court also fined him S$3,000 for immigration offences after he failed to present his Singapore passport to immigration officers when entering Singapore, Channel NewsAsia (CNA) reported.

NS remains one of Singapore’s most politically and socially sensitive obligations. The country’s conscription system is a shared duty that cuts across race, income, and social status. Many Singaporean men spend years serving and returning for reservist training.

The court rejected his claim that he believed Indonesian law excused him from NS

Yao contested the enlistment charge in court, arguing that he believed Indonesian law prevented him from serving in a foreign military. The judge rejected that explanation.

Judge Lee said Yao had been informed of his NS obligations by the Central Manpower Base (CMPB) from the beginning and couldn’t reasonably claim he acted in good faith.

The defence argued that Yao had entered and left Singapore for years without being arrested, suggesting delays by the authorities. The judge disagreed. He said Yao had used an Indonesian passport while travelling and had “clearly contributed” to avoiding detection. The court found no improper delay in prosecution. Yao, currently on bail, plans to appeal both his conviction and sentence.

He left Singapore before NS enlistment

Court documents showed Yao was born in Singapore in 1978 to a Singaporean mother and Indonesian father. He studied at well-known schools, including Raffles Institution and Raffles Junior College, before failing to report for enlistment in January 1997.

He later continued his studies overseas and tried to renounce his Singapore citizenship in 2003 through the Singapore embassy in Indonesia. However, the Ministry of Defence didn’t approve the renunciation because of his NS liabilities.

In 2005, he married a Singaporean woman and later applied for permanent residency in Singapore. The application was rejected because Singapore still regarded him as a citizen. He continued travelling to and from Singapore until September 2021, when he was arrested while trying to extend his short-term visit pass.

NS evasion through the lens of fairness to others who have completed the obligation

Singapore courts have consistently treated NS default cases seriously, but this case pushes sentencing into new territory because of the length of the default.

The judgment shows that citizenship obligations continue to apply to Singaporeans even when dual nationality, overseas education, or long-term residence abroad is involved. It also shows how Singapore increasingly views NS evasion through the lens of fairness: when one person manages to avoid duties that others have no choice but to complete.

At the same time, the case shows how citizenship laws can become messy when they overlap across countries, especially for children born into dual-nationality situations. Still, Singapore’s position on NS has remained firm for decades. Once a male citizen is liable for service, leaving the country or attempting to renounce citizenship later rarely removes that obligation.

A reminder that Singapore treats NS obligations seriously

Cases like this are taken seriously in Singapore because they concern citizenship fairness and identity. And the courts have remained consistent: NS is treated as a national obligation, not a voluntary arrangement people can opt out of later.

For Singaporeans who have served before, the sentence reinforces a long-standing social contract. For others with complicated cross-border backgrounds, it is another reminder that Singapore citizenship duties can follow a person for decades, even after they leave the country.

Read related: Rare National Service evasion case: Prosecutors push for maximum jail term for Singaporean over dual citizenship dispute

This article (Singaporean with Indonesian citizenship gets maximum jail sentence of 3 years for evading National Service for almost 22 years) first appeared on The Independent Singapore News.