SINGAPORE – The legal costs that was to be borne by the family of the late Private Dominique Sarron Lee has been fully waived, Today reported on Thursday (Mar 10).

The family had been ordered to pay legal fees amounting to $22,000 to the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) and two officers, after the High Court threw out the lawsuit.

The Straits Times had previously reported that the Ministry of Defence (Mindef) and one of the officers, Captain Najib Hanuk Bin Muhamad Jalal would waive their legal costs, amounting to $16,000.

In the latest development, the second officer, Major Chia Thye Song, has also agreed to waive his costs, according to Today.

Pte Lee, a full-time national serviceman at the time, died on April 17, 2012 after suffering an allergic reaction during a smoke grenade exercise.

The former track athlete’s family brought a lawsuit against SAF for failing to provide a safe training environment.

They also sued the two officers, who had been Pte Lee’s platoon commander and the exercise’s chief safety officer, for negligence. No criminal charges were brought against the two men, who had already been convicted of negligence by a military court.

Family of dead soldier sues SAF, two officers

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The Straits Times, The New Paper, facebook

After the suit was dismissed, Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen had called on Mindef to waive the costs to the family.

He explained that while the High Court’s judgment in awarding Mindef costs is based on sound legal grounds and precedents, there was no need to “add to the pain and anguish of the family of the late Pte Lee”.

Earlier, Mindef had said that it had provided a one-off welfare grant amounting to $20,000 to Pte Lee’s mother, Madam Felicia Seah, in 2012. The grant comprised a $12,000 SAF Benevolent Grant and an $8,000 Funeral Grant. Mindef also said that it had offered compensation to Madam Seah.

But in a Facebook post, Pte Lee’s family clarified that they had not accepted any compensation, apart from the funeral grant to defray the cost of the funeral.

seanyap@sph.com.sg

This year’s National Day Parade is set to dazzle with a slew of firsts – from drones and 3D projections to indoor fireworks, large props and performers suspended in the air.

The National Stadium, which last hosted the parade a decade ago, has a 82.5m-tall roof that provides the vertical space for these midair stunts.

The nation’s 51st birthday bash will carry the theme, Building Our Singapore of Tomorrow.

Announcing this yesterday, the parade’s executive committee chairman Kenneth Liow said his team wanted a “futuristic” concept to mark the first chapter after Singapore’s Golden Jubilee.

“NDP 2016 will be forward-looking as we celebrate the first of the next 50 years of our Singapore story,” said Brigadier-General Liow, who is also chief armour officer.

Close to 10,000 participants will be singing, dancing and marching in this year’s parade, organised by the army’s armour formation. The dome-shaped, 55,000-seat stadium at the Sports Hub will let about 275,000 people catch the spectacle.

Apart from the Aug 9 parade, there will be two preview shows and two National Education rehearsal shows for primary school pupils.

In all, the number of spectators will be more than twice that of previous years. Tickets for the parade and preview shows will be allocated by ballot.

BG Liow, 46, said the show is partly inspired by the SEA Games ceremonies staged at the stadium last year, which featured performers and props suspended from the roof “to produce a 3D show”.

While the performance area, spanning about 120m by 80m, is similar to that at the Padang, BG Liow said his team will be exploiting the vertical dimension that the National Stadium provides.

Theatre veteran Beatrice Chia- Richmond, who helmed last year’s SEA Games ceremonies, will provide the show’s creative direction. She was also the creative director for the 2011 NDP.

The centrepiece of this year’s official NDP logo designed by Singapore Polytechnic student Chelsea Lim Xin, 19, is a geometric heart with four shades of red. “The heart, with its four shades, represents the diversity of Singapore and our various races and religions living together in harmony,” she said.

Her design was shortlisted from about 250 submissions and eventually chosen by a public vote. The third-year visual communications and media design student spent 10 days during her examination period last year coming up with the logo.

This year’s parade is expected to cost $39.4 million, with a chunk of it going towards renting the venue. This makes it the second most costly NDP after last year’s edition, which cost $40.5 million.

While this year’s show has new elements, it will also exclude several perennial crowd favourites.

The Red Lions will not be parachuting into the stadium, for safety reasons. Aerial displays and the mobile column of a convoy of military vehicles will also be absent.

But BG Liow stressed that other popular segments will remain, citing items such as the military tattoo display, the state flag flypast and the fighter aircraft aerial salute.

Returning to the stadium after a 10-year hiatus is “an opportunity to try something new”, said BG Liow. “We’ll see whether the public takes to (it).”

yeosamjo@sph.com.sg

This article was first published on March 10, 2016.
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The developments in the court case of Private Dominique Sarron Lee who died in 2012 while he was serving National Service (NS) troubled one Singaporean parent enough for him to pen his thoughts in a letter to his son who is due to enlist in National Service (NS) soon.

Mr Philip Wu, who wrote the online letter on Monday (March 7) to his son, Jonathan, on Medium.com said he was “pretty troubled” by the case and described his own in NS experience when he enlisted in 1987.

Recalling his two-and-a-half years as an “enthusiastic” recruit on Pulau Tekong at Kilo company, he said he fought hard to get into the Officer Cadet School and was eventually selected for conversion to become a Guardsman and ended up a platoon commander. 

Mr Wu talked about the risks of his training and cited the death of a fellow officer cadet trainee during a night-time live firing exercise.

He wrote: “I was barely 200m away and heard him shout ‘I’m shot’. I was selected to be part of his honour guard at the funeral, and tears streamed freely as we sent off an excellent friend and soldier.”

In the letter, he also posed a few questions to Jon like whether he has been doing the “right thing” and whether he has been “teaching him wrong”.

Despite the “Singapore system” not being “entirely good to his son”, Mr Wu said he still wants him to serve NS with a positive attitude.

Singapore sons living overseas who came back for NS

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The New Paper, Republic of Singapore Navy

He wrote: “Because only then will you be able to make the most of these 2 years. I also want you to learn to look after yourself, and not just depend on the system to protect you.

“And if you ever get into a position of authority, contribute to the system to continue to protect and love the soldiers who are training to defend our country.”

While Mr Wu did say that the Singapore Armed Forces seems “impersonal, cold and uncaring”, he also made it a point to tell him that this does not reflect reality.

He went on to explain that his peers who trained along with him are “people of integrity and character”.

On the need to defend Singapore, Mr Wu briefly spoke about MacDonald House bombing in 1965, World War II and the future threats posed by the Islamic State.

“It is our duty, Jon, as Singaporeans to know the threats facing our country and it is actually quite meaningful to be part of a force of arms equipped and disciplined to defend a country,” he wrote.

Despite the difficulties he forsees his son facing, Mr Wu hoped that he will teach Jon right in learning from the past and applying it to the future.

He added: “Train Hard, Be Strong, Be Safe.”

stephluo@sph.com.sg

Read the full letter here.