Same NS55 Treatment for National Servicemen across SAF, SPF and SCDF

We refer to Mr Chin Kee Thou's letter, "Ineligible for printed NS55 vouchers despite years with SAF" (Oct 24) and Mr Rashid Osman's letter, "Long wait for vouchers" (Oct 28).

As part of the NS55 Recognition Package, $100 worth of credits are disbursed via the LifeSG mobile application to all eligible national servicemen from the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF), Singapore Police Force (SPF) and Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF).

Those who experience difficulties with digital credits can request for physical vouchers as an alternative, as announced earlier this year. Arrangements will be made for the servicemen to collect the physical vouchers from a SAFRA or HomeTeamNS clubhouse at their convenience, typically within four weeks. Seniors who are unable to collect them in person can authorise a relative to collect the vouchers on their behalf or request that the vouchers be mailed to them.

In Mr Rashid's case, we needed to first verify his father's identity as the initial information he had provided for his father's NRIC number was wrong. We then needed to verify that the digital credits were unused, before they could be converted to physical vouchers. We also needed time to then process and prepare the physical vouchers.

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has since reached out to Mr Rashid and his family, and arranged for the physical vouchers to be given to his father.

For servicemen like Mr Chin who served their national service with the SAF for a period of time but were subsequently re-deployed to the SCDF or SPF, MHA oversees the disbursement of digital credits and physical vouchers to them as it has their most complete service records.

MHA had sent Mr Chin a letter to inform him of his eligibility for NS55 recognition benefits, and disbursed the NS55 credits to him in July. Mr Chin subsequently requested physical vouchers through the Ministry of Defence (MINDEF) NS55 call centre. He was under the mistaken impression that he was still managed by the SAF and only SAF NSmen were eligible for physical vouchers.

MHA has since contacted Mr Chin, and he has collected his physical vouchers.

MINDEF and MHA would like to register our appreciation to past and present generations of national servicemen, including Mr Chin, Mr Rashid and his father, Mr Omar Mohamad, for their contributions to national defence and security.

Rupert Gwee

Director, NS Affairs Directorate

Ministry of Home Affairs

Tan Weizhe

Director, National Service Policy

Ministry of Defence