Few days back, I received this email.

This message was forwarded to you from Straits Times Interactive (http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg) by havearead@email.com

Comments from sender:
Care to comment on this on your blog?

Dec 6, 2005
Uproar over NS defaulter reflects badly on society



I am saddened and dismayed to learn that pianist Melvyn Tan has decided to cancel his concert and will not judge a national piano and violin competition.

However, I understand his decision and I am embarrassed by the behaviour of my fellow Singaporeans.

Economically, we may be a First World nation, but culturally, we are still in the dark ages. There are some of us who appreciate Mr Tan's desire to contribute to the growth of the local arts scene.

I am touched by his willingness to risk a jail term to see his parents, as filial piety has become somewhat of a rare commodity in our modern society.

I myself have lived abroad for many years, and I will be returning to Singapore next year. The recent events have caused me a great deal of distress, as it reflects badly on the kind of society we have become.

I apologise for the anguish that this furor must have caused Mr. Tan and his family. I am, however, optimistic that we will eventually become a more gracious society.

If and when that day comes, I hope Mr. Tan will be able to leave this unfortunate turn of events behind him and return to give a recital. I look forward to attending his concert someday.

Ben Leong
IP Address:18.250.5.116

This email was sent to 3 persons. Mr Miyagi, Xiaxue and me. Wow! This fellow puts me with Miyagi and Xiaxue together! Haha! That alone is blog worthy. :P

But the person did not put his own email. I tried to email to him asking to know more about him before deciding whether I want to accede to his request. Maybe I am paranoid, but when someone out of the blue ask u to comment on a new article, it sounds dubious to me. :P Anyway, I got bounced mail telling me it's an invalid email address. The only thing I know about this person is his name is Ben Leong and he uses a MIT IP address.

I waited a few days to see if Miyagi and Xiaxue post anything. They didn't either. I was going to ignore this email when I thought, but it's the 1st time I got a request from someone, so I thought must give face...

Update: Miyagi never got the mail though the email address is correct. It could have been marked as spam and thrashed.

Personally I think paying $5000 for skipping NS is a very small price to pay. So small that it's a joke. There are a lot of people out there willing to pay $5000 just to skip 1 reservist. But then, I think again. If this Melvin Tan is my friend, I would probably just give him a friendly slap on the back and congratulate him and say "You lucky bastard". But the majority of Singaporean men don't know him. And they felt it's an injustice. He got a good deal. The rest of us are going green face calling for his blood.

My friend Kelvin got a lot to say about this. I shall list some of his arguments here.

On the whole issue in general:

Every year we spend 3 weeks of our lives giving the image to the world that SAF is a competent fighting force tat will hurt enemies if they decide to attack us. We weren't even asked. Just allocated. But we take it on the chin and do it. We don't beg to be released, grovel for more allowance. We don't even ask why others get off while we don't. This Melvin guy took a chance and made is own decision to pursue his dreams at the expense of others, and now he comes back. Government say he has suffered enough because separated from family after so long, is punishment is enough. But it was his own choice to abandon his family

On what he feels is wrong about this issue

I never blame him la. I blame more the reaction that he only deserved 5k. Even def minister says he should have been jailed for a while. Now because of some fancy music he plays, some ardent fans that love classical music, he deserves a light release? Where does the love of classical music live in the bigger scheme of things?

Basket, some people nearly die just in training man. These people need to start coming out to serve national service.

On why the hooha

Those who believe that a the very least, the image of citizenship parity should be maintained, were indignant. We are not talking about lifestyle choices, we never opted to do NS, found it unfavorable, then regret and curse big time when we found out others who didn't opt were better off.

On what’s wrong again

We were told that it was a necessary job and it was critical to the nation's and family's survival, that’s why we had to do it. Had to. Not a choice. Nowhere were we told that actually, 5 thousand dollars would be the equivalent value of our 2.5year + 3 weeks per year of our lives, away from our family and the things that we love. But this guy had the good fortune to make his own choice and get away with it.

This is my favorite

i love classical music. But if you tell me to trade Chopin's existence wit my 2.5 years of NS, I will wish Chopin died in infancy

On his indignation

Now our whole point of spending so much time of a nation's youth is less important that a group of people's love for classical music. My resentment is to people who would defend Melvin tan's situation.

We went on to talk about what would happen if Melvin is jailed when he comes back. Kelvin feels that with his fan base in to right places, there'll be such a big media backlash and negative publicity that it will make the Nguyen seems like children squabbling. That's probably 1 of the reasons the authority let him off lightly. But I disagree. We seldom bow to outside pressure on how to run our country. Moreover, I don't think Melvin's fans would go to the efforts because we got the moral high chair here. For Nguyen's case, not every country has the death penalty. But every country will jail defectors. At least that's what I feel.

So in conclusion, I think Melvin got a very good deal out of this. Good for him. But you can't really blame the public for feeling indignant about this.2.5 yrs + 3 weeks a year is a big thing. To think that $5ooo can buy all that out is simply infuriating.