shuigao

His mum campaigned hard with the ministry of defense to get his national service (temporarily) deferred.

Even now after the gold medal, the ministry has only agreed to a further deferment until after Tokyo 2020.

I for one feel that he should be exempted entirely ... but Singapore is not known for being emphatic and flexible with rules

lingua101

You did not say that you are saying, for SQ to give Schooling free flight for lifetime, it will cost SQ something.

I am saying that giving him such privi, does not cost SQ extra dollar, as this is the same as SQ staff traveling cost.

lingua101

It does not matter where you live. His national service is being deferred. Otherwise, he has to go back to Singapore and serve the National service.

lingua101

I think it really depend on his performance in Tokyo. If I am not wrong, no one else has managed to get his NS deferred.

I think if he performs well, I am not surprise, if his NS will be deferred for another 4 years, and by then he probably too old to do his NS.

May be by then he will be MP

SQ319

Even if you are living overseas, u will be summoned to return to fulfill your NS obligations. His parents fought for a deferment for him, so that he could continue training.

Exemption is a wrong word. He still needs to do his NS after the four years, unless his parents can get another deferment or exemption.

He can do his NS after his swimming career is over. The govt should just defer him until then. He can become a Physical trainer in the SAF then...

SQ319

Actually deferment of NS is not that uncommon. It's just a very tedious process and a very expensive one as the parents/guardians need to put up a bond to guarantee his return to SG. I do have friends who deferred their NS to after their university studies.

Also there is no such thing as "too old" for NS. Even if you're too old/not physically fit/able to do NS, the govt will then assign you to a desk bound position. That is also considered NS.

MSPeconomist

Singapore seems to proudly adhere to the prinicple that virtually all young male citizens do their year of national service. This is considered good for the young men and for society in general since, for instance, people from different backgrounds and ethnic origins are mixed together away from home.

However, at some point it becomes awkward for a guy to do this at some older age when almost all of his peers entering national service would be about 19.

Am I correct that even the initial deferment was quite an unusual exception?

tide

My understanding is it was not usual.

The National Service obligation is usually served in a continuous 2 year period but it itself is made up of 3 month basic training (BMT) and then assignment to either more training for non-commissioned or officer training or assignment to a vocation for the rest of the time.

Usually, if one disrupts, it is done after BMT is served. Many do so with valid reasons. For example, this is the case if one is part of the 150 or so males who get entrance to NUS' medical school. They serve BMT for the whole 3 months, then disrupt, attend med school, then serve out the balance of their years after graduation as medical officers. The current president's son(s) is a notable example, having disrupted even beyond medical school.

Schooling did not serve BMT and has completely avoided NS to date. I believe the initial proposal from the Ministry of Defense was that he serve BMT and disrupt after, but this was fought by his parents.

MSPeconomist

Yes FF miles that passengers normally earn by flying, credit card use, etc. are not taxed according to the IRS, but I think the case of miles that are payment in kind in lieu of wages or other payment for services would be considered compensation, although there could well be arguments about the market value of such miles for the purposes of income taxation.

Otherwise airlines could compensate their staff using miles instead of salaries and that would make their employment earnings free of taxes??? It doesn't sound right to me, especially since stuff like housing (that isn't provided for the convenience of the employer) is normal considered part of compensation and therefore constitutes taxable income, evaluated at fair market value.

SuperFlyBoy

Correct.

I would think that if Schooling served BMT, he might have lost training time/tempo in order to keep in shape to win this medal.

Alawyer

Here is a good example of a guy who was sent into the army for BMT at the peak of his career and ended up burnt out before he could win the 50m freestyle gold for Singapore.

In 1982, he was the fastest swimmer in the world. He did not get any Krisflyer miles for his effort. (Was there even a Krisflyer program in 1982?)