Less well-off national servicemen who receive financial aid from the Singapore Armed Forces may continue to receive help even after they have completed their full-time stints.
Under a proposal by a feedback body to the Government on defence matters, these servicemen will not have to re-apply for financial assistance after their mandatory stints. Instead, they will be automatically referred to the Ministry of Social and Family Development, which will likely to pick up the tab to help them.
This is one of the 18 proposals submitted by the Advisory Council for Community Relations in Defence (Accord) to the Defence Ministry on Wednesday.
They include partnering women’s groups to organise small group information sharing sessions to improve the understanding of defence issues among women; notifying employers and firms earlier when their staff are called up for in-camp training; and grooming ambassadors to promote the SAF Volunteer Corps and encouraging more people to sign-up as volunteers.
The proposals come six months after Accord, formed in 1984 to help shape the efforts of Mindef in getting the buy-in for defence and NS, was restructured into three separate councils to strengthen broader community support for defence and NS.
Accord member Claire Chiang, who sits on the Family and Community Council, said the panel wanted to address the “life-cycle needs” of less well-off national servicemen who might face hardship after NS and might need financial help.
Source: www.straitstimes.com
