Editors Word;
All the best policies in the world remain useless if they never see actual
application and exist only on paper and in theory.

The Singapore Government has adopted (on paper) the mere form of a written
Constitution. But they have failed to realise the true spirit of this sacred
document in the course of actual state administration.

ST Forums
24 Oct 2003
KENNETH WEE BENG QUEE

NSmen lawyers an idea overdue

I REFER to Colonel Bernard Toh's letter, 'Mindef will consider NSmen
lawyers' (ST, Oct 18). He states that the SAF Court Martial Centre
conducts regular training to equip defending officers for their role
and that the Court Registry also provides material and cases from its
database to assist defending officers in the preparation of their
cases.

During my national service, I was asked twice to be a defending
officer. Never was I told before the trials that training was
available, nor that the Court Registry could assist me. The Officer
Cadet School provided no such preparation either. When told that I
had become a defending officer, I protested that I was not a lawyer,
but was just told to do the best I could.

Combined with what I have heard from my peers, this suggests that
although such training and information are available, little effort
is made to make sure we know about them. I wonder how many soldiers
put on trial are equally ill-informed about their rights and options,
and mistakenly believe that the best thing to do is to plead guilty,
which many of them do. Of the 15 or so cases I heard while attending
the two courts martial, only two or three involved not-guilty pleas.
Most of the other defending officers, like myself, were young
fulltime national servicemen (NSF) there only to make mitigation
pleas.

How much success could any defending officer, usually quite untrained
in the law, have against the big guns of the professional Mindef
Legal Service? I wonder how aware parents are that their children,
should they ever end up in a court martial, will in all probability
find themselves defended by a young lieutenant who is still waiting
to go to law school. The idea of having professional NSmen lawyers
defend cases is one that is past due.

In his letter on the death of Second Sergeant Hu Enhuai (ST, Oct 18),
Mr Timothy Lin Zhiliang asked what checks there are on abuses in the
Singapore Armed Forces. I would also like to ask, what checks are
there on the less dramatic forms of negligence that, nevertheless,
have a big impact on people's lives? Young, impressionable NSFs are
easily browbeaten into submission and silence. Despite its rhetoric
about feedback and training, does the SAF's top brass really know
what is happening on the ground?

KENNETH WEE BENG QUEE

-------------------------------------------------------------------


From: Sg_Review@yahoogroups.com
Date: Wed Oct 22, 2003 8:28 pm
Subject: Soldier Alleges Abuse in Singapore Army

Editor's Word;
Below is an unreported case of abuse in the Singapore army which was never
Publicized.

If there are any more unfortunate service men who have suffered a similar
experience, please send your articles/letters to us. For obvious reasons, (upon
your request) your anonymity will be preserved.


Date: Sun, 19 Oct 2003 14:24:11 +0100 (BST)
From: "apson lim"
Subject: Soldier alleges maltreatment - a 1998 case
To: Sg_Review@...

http://www.singapore-window.org/sw99/90210ben.htm

Soldier alleges maltreatment

The following chilling report was sent to Singapore
Window. The person who made it available to us
received the report in October 1998.

I, Lou Hsiao Wuen Benjamin S7539621Z of 1st Commando
Battalion HQ Company S4 Branch have the below
mentioned incident to report.

This report has been submitted to the following:

Chief Commando Officer 1st Commando Battalion (CCO)
Commanding Officer 1st Commando Battalion (CO)
S4 / OC HQ Company 1st Commando Battalion
S1 1st Commando Battalion
DYS4 1st Commando Battalion
HQ Company, Company Sergeant Major 1st Commando
Battalion
Colonel Ang – Psychiatrist (CMPB ) Singapore Armed
Forces Psycho Medical Branch
SIB – Singapore Armed Forces Special Investigation
Branch
Mr Ganesan - Counseller Singapore Armed Forces
Counselling Centre
Dr Brian Yeo – Psychiatrist National University
Hospital Neuroscience Department
Mr Low Thia Kiang - Member of Parliament for Hougang
Constituency. (Workers Party)

I was enlisted into the army (1st Commando Battalion)
on 18 January 1996. I had signed on before I was
enlisted into the army. At that point and time, I was
the only Regular soldier in an entire Company (intake
of 241 soldiers). The following incident happened in
April 1996 while I was a Recruit in 1st Commando
Battalion 2nd Company Platoon 4, Section 1.

April 1996, ATP (an annual range/marksmanship
proficiency test) shoot at Pulau Tekong. The below
mentioned happened only to me. It is not part of the
Commando training and the rest of the 240 men were
treated in humane and normal ways except for me, who
had to undergo the following. I was singled out.

For 15 days, I was deprived of sleep. No sleep at all.
I was watched over by all the trainers and they
ensured that I had totally no sleep. When training was
over, the entire 240 men were allowed to bathe and
rest and change into T-shirts and shorts and running
shoes, but I for those 15 days had to wear my helmet,
my camouflage uniform, my boots, SBO/webbing (6kgs)
all filled with equipment , my rifle (4kgs) and my
field pack (30kgs) filled with both my equipment and
stones/rocks. Throughout the 15 days I went
everywhere, did everything with everything mentioned
above on. In short, everything mentioned above would
have for the next 15 days be an integrated part of me.


Every night at about 12.30 am, I was asked to take the
entire Platoon's boots into 6 duffel bags (aka Ali
Baba bags) and was made to run carrying the entire
load for 6 rounds about the soccer field. There were
moments when I fell and asked to be let off, but I was
besides being verbally abused, was pushed, kicked and
punched/slapped by the instructors and made to carry
on. After 6 rounds of dragging, I would be very tired.
The entire 6 rounds took about 1½ hours. It would be
about 2am then. I would then be asked to take my
helmet (including everything mentioned above) and
kneel down in front of the instructors. I would be
forced to eat 14 nightsnack cakes and drink 6 litres
of water. As we all know that it was not humanely
possible to consume all, I promptly vomited after a
couple of cakes and water. I was forced to vomit into
my helmet and drink back my own vomit and I would then
vomit again but this went on and on until I finished
up all my vomit and the cakes and water. After which I
would be asked to carry everything mentioned above
again and run around the soccer field for 10 rounds.
After the run, I would be asked to kneel in front of
an instructor again but this time, I had to carry my
field pack (30kg) overhead with my arms fully
outstretched for 1 hour and listen to the instructor
tell stories and talk nonsense. If my arms at anytime
so much as bend my arms under the weight, which would
be normal, I was pushed punched or kicked by the
instructor(s) again. I would have fallen onto the
ground, but had to promptly get up and continue with
arms fully outstretched again, promptly.

All these would usually stop at 5.30am. Every night at
this time for the 15 days, I would be asked to
complete a 3 foolscap paper long report on the
platoon's morale and I had to have 10 duplicates and
that makes it some 30 pages in ½ hour which was quite
impossible. I would most of the time be so tired by
then that I would be drawing illegible patterns on the
papers. Having constantly failed at some thing which
could never be completed in the limited time, I would
then face further punishment like pushups or ranger
jumps. All these again in full battle order. (field
pack on)

At about 6.20am – 6.30 am, I would then be made to
join the rest for the normal training which included
5km run. The rest did their runs in T-shirts and
shorts, but I was made to do it with everything on.
Rifle, webbing and field pack included. It did tax my
physical limits then but I had to not finish last
because if I did, I would be in for more punishment.
Some tried to run slowly to help me, but that didn't
help much as I was already very tired. And it became
more painful as the days went on by.

Everyday, before lunch, at about 12pm, I would be
whisked off to the SOC (standard obstacle course)
ground/area and was made to clear the obstacle course
3 times with everything on. This is absurd because it
was already quite difficult then to do it in just
T-shirts and shorts, so imagine this. I fell many
times from about 5 – 6 metres (it was an obstacle that
resembled a high ramp ) but I was promptly kicked and
beaten again and forced to complete it. If I looked
like I was going to faint, I would be assigned 4 men
to follow me through, but I was never given any rest.
I still had to complete it.

During these 15 days, I did try to request to see a
doctor, but I was denied medical treatment. They said
that I was not really injured and that I wanted to
skive. Being always watched over by one instructor at
least round the clock, there was no way to secretly
see a doctor then. All this while, I was suffering the
physical attacks with cuts bruises and at times
bleeding, but was never allowed to see a doctor in
Pulau Tekong.

Sometimes, I wondered how much longer I could have
held on. I was then only a recruit with only 2 months
in the army.

Before every meal, without fail, I had to do either
(my choice) 150 pushups or 150 jumping jacks/ranger
jumps all in full battle order with helmet, boots,
uniform, webbing, rifle, field pack and boots.plus
some rocks and stones added to make my entire load
heavier.

Upon finishing, I would have my food poured on to the
ground, sometimes, it landed in the sand/mud and I was
made to lie down on my front and eat up the food like
a dog without using my hands, just my mouth. All these
went on for 15 days and not once in these 15 days was
I humanely treated. There were occasional times when I
was deprived of water and the thirst got pretty
unbearable. (This didn't happen very often though.)

Once, I was made to strip off all my clothes leaving
myself stark naked and I had to make myself wet (spray
water on myself ) and roll in the sand till I was
covered all with sand. Then I had to leopard crawl
600m to and fro down the 300m rifle range (like a worm
crawl with every bit of the body in contact with the
grass and thorns) while I was constantly subjected to
kicks either in the head, face, ribs or given blows by
a helmet on various parts of the body. Again I was
denied medical treatment.

Whenever the entire 240 men marched from one place to
another (usually an average distance of 4 – 6 km in
twos, a line of about 100m, imagine the length) I
would have to, in full battle order, run around the
entire 100m of marching men from end to front and back
to end again. This denoted once. I was then allowed to
march for 1 minute (rest) and then I had to do it all
over again. I estimated I had to run some 58 times on
average around the men before we reached our
destination. If I fell due to my muscles giving up, I
would be beaten again and forced to carry on. Whenever
the men rested upon reaching the destination, I was
made to kneel on the sand with my field pack overhead
arms outstretched again. I might have probably knelt
for hours in a row.

Whenever I had to urinate, I would never be allowed to
go to the toilet and I was told to piss in my own
pants. Imagine wearing a pissed stained slacks for 15
days. I was not given a chance to bathe or change
whatsoever same everything from Day 1 all through to
Day 15. Well, I was allowed to go to the toilet to
shit though, but how often could I say that I wanted
to shit?

I was also once tied up in various stress positions,
blindfolded and left in one corner of the field where
there were many "lion head ants" as we call them the
kind that had real big pincers with heads larger than
their bodies and was bitten all over. Mind you, this
is not part of the Commando training. It happened only
to me. Recruits are not subjected to such torture.

It seems that all this time, they were punishing me
for my repeated smoking and they claimed that I was
encouraging the men to smoke, destroying the
discipline.

The trainers played psychological games to the
extreme. Knowing that I was mentally and physically
weakened to the extreme, add that to the point that I
was not a trained soldier but a recruit with 2 months
in the army, they constantly and consistently
challenged me to end my life if I couldn't take the
torture/stress. They suggested that I could jump from
the 4th storey, or I could try to drown myself at the
sea, or even easier when we were having life firing
and our rifles were loaded with life rounds, I could
always shoot myself to end it all there and then. They
pointed to a hole above one training shed in Tekong
and said that another recruit some years back had shot
himself committing suicide then in the exact shed. I
was told that I could do the same. It was through
sheer determination that I held on. Sometimes I would
never know and like all the rest of the men, they
never knew what made me hold on. But had I shot myself
then, I would have died and no one might have known
the truth because recruits do not dare complain. If
they told the truth, the trainers might just say that
the cause of death was due to me not being able to
take training stress but the truth being more than
that.

On another occasion, I was standing in full battle
order in front of 2SG Tan Puay Kim when he jumped off
his bench and gave me a flying kick to the chest
throwing me off my feet. This, was committed in the
presence of my entire platoon.

At another time, I was in full battle order and had a
pretty heavy "broad jump mat" added over my shoulders
and had my hands tied, and was told to hold on to a
toggle rope attached to a Land Rover. The vehicle
moved slowly and I was ordered to run following the
vehicle. When I fell and let go of the rope, I was
forcefully dragged along the ground by instructors for
some distances before they let me go.

Even after the 15 days when we returned to mainland
Singapore, back in 1st Commando Battalion, I was not
spared. For a couple of days, 2LT Tan Puay Teck would
have me awaken every 2 hours starting at 11pm and was
told to go to the toilet and drench myself in water
and stand facing the wall in "attention" position and
listen to him blabber more unrelated bullshit and
small talk for about an hour, before I was allowed to
go back to sleep all wet. 2 hours later, the entire
harrasment episode would be repeated till the next
morning.

Another point I would like to bring up is that I was
confined in camp for 4 entire months! They always
seemed to find a way to get me confined and I was not
allowed to go out, to make calls or to even see the
outside world for 4 whole months! Through out that
period, I had only 2 book outs. My BMT 1st book out
and the Chinese New Year book out. Respite the
confinements, I never did sign any official punishment
or extra duty books or whatsoever to state that I was
punished. It was all verbal instructions and being a
recruit, I did not dare to question the orders any
further. Was it to prevent me from complaining or to
prevent people from seeing my injuries?

Both my parents did not even know I signed on till
sometime later. Moreover both my parents are divorced
and I have a very free rein on my own life. That is
why no one queried when I did not return home for
months in a row. And I guess the instructors were
aware of this point.

Therefore, I would like to bring the incident to the
attention to my superiors and the related authorities
and hope that a full investigation would be carried
out to authenticate my report. The above was written
to the best of my knowledge.

Benjamin Lou Hsiao Wuen