Asked what his interest was, the businessman – a pawnshop owner – admitted that his own son had gone to the United States as a boy to study and had remained there, avoiding conscription.

He got a job, married and had a couple of children. Now he and his family wanted to come home but was a fugitive under the Enlistment Act. There were hundreds, if not thousands, of others like him, who feared going to prison.

“Once in a couple of years, my son and his family would visit Johor Baru for a family reunion with me and my wife.”

He said the government should let these people return after handing them a stiff fine. “These people made a mistake when they were very young and should not be condemned for life,” the father appealed.

As a journalist, why not help them be reunited with the country and their parents, he suggested. “It is a loss of human resources for the country,” he said.

Without much thought, I replied that I was not inclined to support his suggestion. Merely fining Singaporeans who ran away from national service would demean it and encourage others to do so. It would also result in rich people paying their sons out of national service.

I said that my son, who had just finished his two-and-a-half years stint (now reduced to two) and many of his servicemen mates would probably skin me alive if I were to do so.

National service (NS) was launched two years after Singapore's independence in 1965. It requires boys who reach 18 to enlist. They then join the reserves and resume their education or enter the workforce.

The training is often tough. This is probably why Singaporeans who come through tend to look with disdain at those who siam (Hokkien for “avoid”) national service as in the recent case of accomplished pianist Melvyn Tan.

Singapore-born but now a British citizen, Tan, 49, had dodged national service duties when he left as a teenager. He returned here last month to give a concert and to “face the music” – and was fined S$3000.

Tan left Singapore nearly 30 years ago to pursue his postgraduate degree at Britain’s Royal College of Music. He became a British citizen in 1978 and shot to fame in the classical music arena.

However, neither his fame nor the fact that he is no longer Singaporean stopped a wave of anger sweeping across a population that believes he got off too lightly. (The maximum fine for the offence is S$5000 or/and imprisonment of up to three years.)

In a newspaper poll, 94% of Singaporeans said it was too lenient, 6% said it was right and 92% wanted a jail sentence as mandatory for offenders.

The strong reaction may have doomed efforts to make it easier for draft dodgers and may even lead to tougher punishment in future.

In obvious deference to the strong sentiments, the Defence Ministry has announced that it is reviewing penalties under the Enlistment Act.

The reaction was a surprise. Emotions ran so high that Melvyn has issued a statement explaining his return and cancelling his sold-out concert, saying public sentiments had made it impractical to carry on.

“Every male Singaporean must serve NS and he knows that. He broke the law and he should be charged and sent to jail,” is a common viewpoint.

Student Sai Chin Kai, 18, said: “If he’d carried on with the concert here, I would have gone there with banners and protested. So what if he’s an accomplished musician?”

“Please, he is a foreigner! British subject!” one of them said, arguing for Tan.

A few, however, have pleaded for a tempered response, saying that it will be more practical to devise an appropriate punishment (like a few days in jail) that will allow these wayward souls, many of them well trained abroad, to return and serve the nation.

o Seah Chiang Nee is a veteran journalist and editor of the information website littlespeck.com

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