By Selina Lum
THE High Court on Wednesday set aside the jail term given to a National Service (NS) defaulter and fined him $5,000 instead.
Seow Wei Sin's dodging of his NS obligation stands out as one of the longest periods of default - 23 years - by a Singaporean to have surfaced in the courts.
He was born a Singapore citizen, but in 1963, when he was just a year old, his parents moved to a small town in Trengganu, Malaysia, taking him along.
In Malaysia he stayed, and did not step foot here from the late 1970s. The issue of his NS obligation arose in 2008, when, at age 47, he applied for a Singapore passport.
He returned to Singapore last year and was arrested for failing to fulfil his NS liability by having remained outside Singapore for 23 years without an exit permit.
In March, he pleaded guilty in a district court to one count under the Enlistment Act and was sentenced to 18months' jail. He could have been jailed for up to three years.
