He delivered the ruling in sentencing 22-year-old Lim Sin Han to 18 months' jail for disappearing from national service for three years to support his wife and new baby, the Straits Times reported.

"National service is vital to the security of Singapore and it necessarily entails sacrifices by national servicemen and their families," the report said quoting from Yong's written judgement in the latest Law Academy Digest.

"If the court were to sympathise with the personal difficulties of every national serviceman, the overall effectiveness and efficiency of civil defence, or the Singapore armed forces, would be severely compromised."

Yong said Lim's plea for leniency because of the need to support his family was unacceptable because national service was about duty to the country ahead of all other interests.

It was necessary to hand down a stiff punishment to deter other servicemen from being tempted to be absent without leave (AWOL), he said. The fact Lim had no previous criminal conviction was not a mitigating factor, he added.

Lim reported for national service in January 1996 and went AWOL seven months later. He surrendered to police last October, after working as an odd-job labourer for more than three years to provide for his family.

All able-bodies Singapore males are required to do two and a half years of national service from the time they reach the age of 18.