Li Hongyi, a national serviceman with the rank of second lieutenant, had sent the email to the defence minister and hundreds of military personnel to complain that a colleague had gone absent without leave on two occasions.

Li had also said in the June 28 missive the errant officer's supervisors had failed to act even after he raised the matter.

"Second Lieutenant Li was found to have contravened the General Orders ... by broadcasting his letter of complaint to many other servicemen," the ministry said in a statement.

"There are proper channels within the SAF (Singapore Armed Forces) to address servicemen's grievances or concerns."

Li is the first-born son of the prime minister's second wife, Ho Ching, who heads the state investment firm, Temasek Holdings.

The defence ministry said Li had been formally charged and reprimanded after a summary trial earlier this month.

It added that the errant officer about whom Li had complained would be court martialled for going absent without leave. His two supervising officers had been issued warning letters.

A purported copy of Li's letter was posted online by several blogs, fast emerging as an alternative source of information to the city-state's pro-government press. The text was also circulated by email.

"One thing that cannot be tolerated is a reputation for having bad leaders," Li was quoted as saying.

"While I may only be a second lieutenant, I am a citizen of this country. And as a citizen I have the right to demand high standards from the leaders of the SAF."

The ministry declined comment on the letters' contents.

Some analysts said the government had been wise to act quickly, even though it was probably pressured into releasing information about the incident due to the Internet publicity.

"That the Prime Minister's son was reprimanded shows the integrity of the system," said Lam Peng Er, a senior research fellow at the East Asian Institute. "Nobody is above the law."

Li is set to leave soon for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the United States to read economics on a government scholarship, local newspapers said.
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