Trackback from Intelligent Singaporean:

Li Hongyi vs SAF...

You have to wonder what the purpose of repremanding him was? Was it to simply show "We SAF! WE GOT BALLS! NO ONE WILL MESS WITH US! NOT EVEN IF YOU'RE PM LEE'S SON!" or was it because he was a "whistle blower" and this is a mere publicity stunt to show everyone how gracious and what a good leader (and future leader) PM Lee's son will be for our country. You just have to wonder if there is a bigger story behind this story.

This is simply a case of political undercurrents erupting out from the underground. Look: LHL maybe holding financial powers (Finance Minister), BUT whose having the ARMIES in hand? It's not him, but TCH.

So now would LHL be happy about it? Prob not. He'll be thinking: bloody h@ll, I work so damn hard, raise Sg to a level not matched by all my predecessors, like IR, property boom, and everything, but I'm still not given the absolute power of Army!!

So now there's a chance: my son just see someone (prob a white horse also as all of them are gathered together for minimal harm) play punk and beat the system, but nothing was done. Not a serious offence as so many regulars have done that (report late, leave early), and are still doing that. So if I know about it, I sure enCOURAGE him to shoot all the way up one. Let the first man kenna some youthful fires from my son also not bad! Somemore can quote about Cpl so-&-so kenna punished BUT not that LTA...our newspapers sure say my son's a very righteous and just young man! Powderful!

This will certainly burn SAF's no.1 man a little, as well as pave way for my son to be the next successor! Killing two birds with one stone! Smart political move!

Trackback from Musings : What only age can impart to Hongyi:

... Such people may not deserve a third, or even second, chance ... [ but ] I sympathise ... ... The day will probably come when Hongyi makes a bad mistake ... Then, he will better understand, what it means to be unforgiven....

Does Hongyi’s superior know who he is? Assuming that he does (just like almost everyone else), why did he choose to ignore the complaint of the PM’s son and take the side of a much less powerful man? Are there other facts in this incident that are not made known?

i have never served under him, never talk to him or even had any contact with the man, but if what siad to have transpire is true than here and now i declare him a good and just man. an example of a white horse using his status for good reasons. in this world of god-forsaken bureaucracy, he has shown example. to bad he is gona get rapped for it

What 2lt Li Hongyi did was right but how he went about doing it was wrong. In going about carrying out his sworn duty, he actually commit an offence similar to the regular officer. that is breaking regulations that was meant to safeguard the integrity of the SAF.

Any way, i fear that the SAF is going soft. CAN SOMEONE GO TELL THE SAF THAT THEY ARE THE FINAL GUARANTOR OF OUR VERY EXISTENCE AND that officers that treat SAF as a part-time job should be court-martialled.

OK, before anyone reading this comment thinks that i am gahmen, well, i am not. I am writing this letter to voice my support for a young man who did right but due to his age , did it wrong style.

We really need to remind all SAF men to take their job seriously, otherwise how sleep at night peacefully.

Trackback from How to write a complain letter:

Here's a step-by-step guide on how to write an effective complain letter in your organisation....

Trackback from Snap Poll: Do you think it’s fair for PM Lee’s son to be punished?:

Apparently there are various opinions on this issue and it’d be interesting to know what is the general feel of Singaporeans about this issue. Some think that this is pure wayang. Some think that there is injustice in punishing 2Lt Li....

Trackback from An Autopsy on the SAF Email Saga:

So, it is better to provide the information out there than to conceal it, given that new media is a double-edged sword which can go both ways. ...

To those who have seen the email. Is the replicated letter above copied word for word (except for the blanks).

I worry about some of the grammar.

http://family.webshots.com/photo/1520861517082305649zUjRTi

Trackback from Decay On Net:

But some people are MORE equal than others. Break chain of command all the way up to minister and all he got is a warning. No DB or SOL. Not even extra duties. Nothing! Just a verbal warning. Everyone is equal, but some people are more equal....

this is blasphemy!

this is madness!!!

THIS IS SAF!!!!!!!!!!!!

i will also die for li hongyi in battle

Trackback from Reuters credit bloggers:

Li’s letter — totaling 2,000 words according to the Today newspaper — has been posted online by several Singapore blogs, which have emerged as an alternative source of information...

Trackback from lukcy tan - As a Citizen, I have a right to DEMAND..!:

I'm a citizen of Singapore, I live in a nation led by extraordinary leaders whose integrity, ability and commitment to its citizens can make leadership in many 1st world nations look mediocre. ... I'm sure a few basic demands is not beyond them....

Finally!@ THE DARK SECRETS OF SAF is OUT! By Who? SOn OF PM! SAF Officers really stupid lar.... cant They Get It? or PM son being an Officer got reason de..... He is there to be 007~
SAF is a really "dark" organization.... once ur condemned by them.... UR DEAD~ a small mistake u go DB.... but if u can lick the correct boots.... den U sure safe de.... ~ Anything ya CC (If u watch the movie "Just follow law" U know wat CC means).
Its a good thing that such issues r being brought out! n COme ON lar! He did nt leak out any secrets of wat New War Tank? War Planes War tactics SG is going to deploy.... He juz send out a complain letter what..... Now OUr PM is going to TEKAN the SAF ppl.... The NEW COA is going to DIE real bad! lol! So unlucky!

Trackback from Chain-of-Command a necessary evil?:

There need to be structural changes in SAF - especially in the way superiors deal with with their subordinates. ...

One and only big mistake he made is to send his email to many parties unrelated to the issue, which inadvertently get into the public blogs. There are classified materials embedded in the email that can put Singapore at risk in time of war.

In order to be well run, MINDEF should have, among other things, well defined channel and protection for whistle blowers.

To add some more info.
In the army enlisted men (cpl/sgt) are often disciplined impartially with punishments severely as a sign of discipline.However this line is blurred when this involves regular (professional?) soldiers , they are given a slap on the wrist (informal punishment extra duties/confinement).Why? because this will affect their career while NSF will do their two years and f@@@ off.These punishments may not be served by offenders as regulars help regular code of ethics are in place. U help me i help u network.
Those NSF servicemen officers are often ranked below regulars (same for enlisted men), thus they will often feel disgruntled as different standards applies.
I felt that Li Hongyi opened a can of worms when he crossed path with LTA X ( Mr Tua Si lang),swapping his duties with somebody.
LTA X should sell his duties to others, which is prevalent in SAF (under table swap for favours/money) to NSF servicemen but not to white horses like Li HongYi.
The supervising OC(Bo tao nao) covered for LTA X should be impartial and get him to do extra duty immediately for 3-5 days so to show others what u will get for running off from duty.But he did not.
I approve and Mr Li Hongyi for opening this can of worms for us to see that SAF has not changed at all so much for increased pay,benefits for Mindef personnel or civil servants, still has double standards for regulars and nsf servicemen , do the same job get different pay, different punishment(informal for regulars,formal for nsf servicemen),different offdays (no off for nsf even u are going to ORD,planned offdays for regular,unofficial MC,see mother to hospital,etc etc).
Why is this so? because nobody blows the whistle on them (the regular i help u u help me network.

very good for 2lt li hongyi

Luther Blissett*,

Thought you did not serve NS, being charged in SAF is for minor offences like in this case and would mostly not goto DB. Only court martial may send you to DB.

oooh.. here comes the running dogs.

Trackback from Talk Rock - Rockson :

This LTA X also stupid one. Want to tua also don't tua the son of the Dragon Prince Prime Minister lah. Never use his cheebye brain. Now Hong Kan by Hong Yi liao lor!...

Trackback from Copy of the orginal letter of complaint:

I am about to disrupt my national service to pursue further studies, and this will likely be my last email sent out for the next half a decade. Unlike the common “ORD letters” that you read, this letter unfortunately cannot be as cheerful....

He might be a great officer for all I care, but if you're wearing the rank, act the part. No excuse can justify AWOL. No excuse can justify him trying to bribe LHY. He is a Regular Officer who is expected to lead, and I will expect him to show that he is one.

Is Li really a "whistle blower"? Officers skipping out of camp during duties is common during my time. Nothing surprising. SAF's motto is "do anything but dont get caught". Li is no hero or do-gooder, so don't be fooled by the 154th media who will soon exploit this episode into another propaganda and cult-ish piece to praise the qualities of the special familee.

Using Li's logic that a regular should be held to greater scrutiny, Li should himself face an even heavier punishment for his misdeed. Li is after all the son of the Prime Minister and Minister Mentor! For someone from such a privileged background, Li's actions have far heavier consequences than an average nobody joe blow citizen. By bypassing the chain of command he has effectively undermined the SAF and its command structure, making a mockery of the system. The larger picture is that reputation of SAF has suffered greatly compared to two instances of AWOL by a nobody officer.

What we have here is elitism at play. It is not some do-gooder engaged in "whistle-blowing ".

You are spot on. What he has done is unthinkable for one without privileged background. Very unfortunate that this young raw soldier is challenging the chain of command. I wonder what all the generals will say.

After reading the email, I thought that he did the right thing by whistleblowing. I find it unfortunate and unfair that people has shot him because of his background. Nobody has a choice to decide who his family is, and that includes him as well. We should judge him by what he write and what he do and not who his father is. Although his intentions are commendable, he did violate the chain of command. The issue is that he should have gone to the CO rather than taking the whole thing all the way up. The current outcome seems to be the optimal one for him. Of course, the mainstream media, who realized that "paper cannot cover fire", moved first to publish the news.

Trackback from Punished for blowing the whistle:

I guess Li Hongyi is still young, brash and idealistic, but he’s much better than Wee Shu-min, who, in my opinion, was totally obnoxious in what she wrote some time back....

well its true MINDEF sucks and is very badly managed. Friend was told to go back to reservist and was told on the day he reported he didn't have to go in, because he was the wrong training for it. After his company had hired a replacement for the month he had been away and all. Very very inept. Most people don't wanna hire those idiots who come out of MINDEF and they get dumped to various gahmen agencies.

To 2LT Li,

Sir, I salute you!

Apparently you can be stripped of your rank for insubordination

Trackback from MINDEF takes PM Lee's to task:

The Defence Ministry has formally charged and reprimanded a full-time National Service officer after he contravened orders by broadcasting a letter of complaint to other servicemen. ...

After reading this on some forums, man i finally get to see the actual email he sent it out. all i can say is "wow" he sure got guts to write a pretty long email and sent it to so many high officials. but i have to agree with him, it is time someone came clean on the real SAF. it is really that bad. they seriously need improvements if they want to be a whole lot better.

While he may sound self righteous and all, I do agree with his actions. What happens when the chain of command fails and the immediate superiors fail to take action. Sometimes you have no choice but to bypass the chain of command and in the process take a personal risk (though the risk for him is much less). I do not know him personally but if he is truly a righteous officer who leads by example (and not one of those incompetent regulars we see all the time), he actually has my respect for having the guts to bypass the COC and recognizing the unfairness of the system towards regular men. Actually what we see happening is not uncommon, see it plenty of times when I was in NS, but leaving camp while you are the DO is really pretty serious. (its not like u are the duty clerk). IN any case, I sorta share the kind of attitude towards some regulars. In NS, my Sergeant-Major was a real twat, demanding unreasonable stuff from us when he himself was an overweight good for nothing. He even cheated on his IPPT test in order to get a SILVER, maybe I should have bypassed the COC...but then who would beleive me, I am not LHL's son. LOL

Trackback from Simply Me: PM Lee’s son reprimanded by SAF for misconduct:

This will inevitably bring out topics like the White Horse (WH) System, the “buddy-buddiness” amongst the people in the higher management, or the fate of complaints through the much mentioned SAF Hotline....

Not following procedure might be wrong, but the concerns he has highlighted are definitely legitimate. And on top of that, following procedure is just simply one sure way for things to be covered up.

I think he has done the right thing by giving the subject a public airing.

- The Janitor

Trackback from The Legal Janitor:

It takes someone who is immune to the inherent oppressiveness of that system to be able to stand up, point out the problems and go against the herd of sheep. I support Li Hongyi....

he has formally charged and reprimanded..

lets see whether he will go to DB..

Somehow Lee Hong Yi's email and complains reminds me of Lee Wei Ling's debate with Phillip Yeo over A*Star research directions...

Anyway I feel that, Lee Hong Yi's complains are nothing new. It sounds like most NSF have similar complains. The difference is just the level of circulation and degree of censorship. What he reveal is just a tip of an iceberg. Sadly.

Bravo, 2LT Li!!!

He is a man I will die for in battle!

To give everyone more insight, i actually received a forwarded copy of the email that Li Hong Yi sent out on the SAF intranet OA Mail network. Within an hour of receiving it, the mail simply mysteriously disappeared on my inbox. Turned out that others who have received it found theirs missing too. The mail was mass recalled and "confiscated" by the system adminstrators. i think this just shows how Singapore is like. The efforts that are made to cover up certain things are just second to none.

Despite the attempt by the establishment to 'withdraw' the email, there are printed copies...

well little li does sound very self-righteous, spewing all the right words about values and high standards. But is he naive or what? Or a tat hypocritical even. Why does he not take a look at what is going on in Sg politics? Why does he not ask his daddy and grand-daddy the kind of standards and third-world behaviour they show towards their political opponents? Downright despicable and dirty tactics.. wat say u little li?

In the email it sounds like he wants to be the one running the show, imposing his way or his will, instead of his superiors'! He sure is bossy!

Well it is always nice to bring up Durai. This name sure to get people's attention. But that's nothing lah, just ask Mrs peanuts!

Trackback from Balderdash:

Going up the Chain Of Command is useless. Your superiors don't care, and they are all friends, so complaining about one to his superior may not do much good, and may bring retribution...

Why did he sign off Li Hongyi if he is PM Lee's son leh? Shouldn't he then be Lee Hongyi?

Pinyin.

Same way, Lim Hng Kiang's son's surname is Lin.

Original Email message. Names and Units deleted

From: 2LT Li Hongyi, _____ PC, _____
Sent: Thursday, 28 June 2007 9:36 AM

To: ___ ____ ____, Minister, MHQ; MG ______ ____, CDF, CDF Office; BG -___ ____ ____, COA,
COAOFF; COL _______, CSO, _______; zz All in ____, _________

Cc: zz All in ________, _____; zz ALL IN ____, _____; zz All in _____, _____; zz All in ______, ______
Subject: A complaint about the quality control of SAF officers
Dear Sirs and alI,

I am about to disrupt my national service to pursue further studies, and this will likely be my last email sent out for the next half a decade. Unlike the common "ORD letters" that you read, this letter unfortunately cannot be as cheerful. I am using this last opportunity to issue a letter of complaint against the quality control of officers in the SAF, more specifically against LTA X. During my time as his subordinate, LTA X was AWOL on at least 2 counts, attempted bribery, and lied to his subordinates and his superior officer. The battalion HQ has effectively given no punishment, and has not even made these infractions known to the rest of the battalion.

Let me first give you some background. I am the ____ ____ platoon commander from __________. In order to maintain operational readiness my duties are performed at _____ camp where our ops bus and servers are instead of at stagmont camp where our battalion is. The company is structured like so

OC
|
Centre Head
|
PC

The duties are therefore shared between the PC's, PS', and the Centre Head. LTA X is the centre head of the __________.

LTA X, was originally supposed to be on duty at _____ Camp as the duty commander for the _______ on the 20th and 22nd of April, a Friday and Sunday respectively. I was on duty on the 21st of April that Saturday, to minimize the changing over, I contacted him and asked if he would like to swap duties for the Saturday and Sunday. To this he agreed, and thus he was to be on duty on the 20th and 21st of April.

On the Friday however, LTA X called to inform me that he was busy during the day, and if I could cover for him until the evening. To this I agreed to do so. At about 1600 hours, I received a call from LTA X, informing me that he was on the way and that I could leave first, thought this would result in a time where there would be no duty commander in camp, he informed me that this had already be cleared with our OC. I therefore left camp.

On Sunday the 22nd of April I arrived back in camp to take over duty from LTA X. After he had left camp the men informed me that he had not arrived in camp on Friday at all, and that he only arrived in camp at 1800 hours on Saturday the 21st of April. On Saturday they had tried to contact him to ask his whereabouts, to which he told them that he was in fact in _____ in ______ camp getting some work done. The men contacted their counterparts in ______ camp to verify this, however no one in______ camp had seen LTA X. 1 further confirmed with the ______ duty personnel on Saturday that none of them had seen LTA X, this was also with confirmed with that day's BDO.

This news obviously was very distressing, I confronted LTA X regarding this information to which he confirmed that he only arrived in camp on Saturday at 1800 hours, but that he was at _____ for a while then left later to run some errands. Upon learning that I was to bring this information to our OC, LTA X then made an offer to do some of my duties for me to which I declined, his words were "You know if you need me to help you do some of your duties.."

On Wednesday after I had completed my personal investigation and confirmed that these events had indeed transpired, I informed our OC of these offences. Our OC spoke to LTA X regarding these issues, and let him off with a warning.

I would like the story to end here, however LTA RX was again on duty at ____ Camp for _________ on the following Saturday the 28th of April. At 0030 hours on Sunday the 29th of April I received a message from the duty personnel. The duty personnel of the platoon had just spotted LTA X's car, a white Mitsubishi lancer driving out of camp. I responded by telling them to check all the car parks and look for LTA X in camp. I received a call at about 0115 hours, the duty personnel informed me that they had checked the whole camp, and that LTA X's car was no where to be found. They also informed me that LTA X was no where to be found, not in any of the bunks nor any of the offices.

On Monday the 20th of April when I arrived back in ______ Camp for work, I confirmed with both the guard commander and the duty officer for Saturday the 28th of April, that at white Mitsubishi lancer had indeed driven out of camp at about 0030 hours on the 29th of April. This latest information was told to our OC.

When confronted by our OC, LTA X told him that indeed it was his car driving out of camp, he claimed however, that it was not him driving the car but that he had lent it to friend to drive out of camp. After checking with the person in question this was established to be untrue. Finally, LTA X admitted that he had lied, and that is was he who had left camp.

I have been informed that LTA X was to be given 10 extra duties, though this may be considered an extremely light punishment there is a further problem. To date, which is to say, 2 months from the incidents, none of the duties have been published in the battalion RO, in addition, LTA X has not served any of the extra duties he was supposedly awarded. In addition, this system of leniency is not consistent throughout the battalion, or even the company. The following was published in the RO on 1 1th of June 2007:

SXXXXXXXX CPL _____ ________ Non-compliance with a lawful duty or order. stoppage of Leave for 7 days

This was the punishment for CPL ______ for leaving camp an hour before he was supposed to. This was published less than a week after his infringement. If you were to calculate the time AWOL alone, LTA X was missing for a minimum of over 20 hours. This does not take into the account the fact that he repeated the crime less than a week after being reprimanded the first time. This does not take into account the lying to his superior officer. This does not take into account the fact that he is an officer, and thus should be even more liable than corporal.

Absence without leave
22. -(1) Every person subject to military law who is absent without leave from service in the Singapore Armed Forces or from the place where he is lawfully required for the time being to be shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction by a subordinate military court to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 2 years or any less punishment authorised by this Act.
(2) It shall be a defence for any person charged under this section to prove that his absence was a result of circumstances over which he had no control.

this is where the report ends and the editorial begins. LTA X's continued service in the SAF is an embarrassment the entire officer corps. In the SAF we are constantly being told that we have very high standards expected from our officers. As an officer cadet any one of these actions would have you put immediately out of course. Here you have a person who lied to his subordinates, went AWOL, attempted to bribe a civil servant, went AWOL again not even a week after being reprimanded, then lied to cover himself, and tried to implicate another person in these lies. He discarded his second chance just days after being given it because he thought he could get away with it. I how ask you what exactly are these high standard that we speak of? I am realistically asking you how much worse than this can an officer really go? Does a person have to commit armed robbery or murder before he fails these supposedly "high" standards of officers in the SAF? I simply fail to understand how someone who would undeniably fail the standards expected of a cadet or even a private can continue to be an officer.

The decisions of the battalion HQ are equally saddening. How can a lower standard of discipline be expected of officers than of men? In the our society, when a police officer commits a crime he is held to an even higher standard, and given even greater punishment than a normal citizen, this is because he has betrayed the very values it is his duty to uphold.

I was told that one of the reasons this was so was that they did not wish to ruin his career with a summary trial. However the SAF is not a charity organisation and does not owe anyone a career. I feel that as a regular his status as an officer and his career should be under even closer scrutiny than that of an NSF, to intentionally withhold such information is effectively tricking the SAF into continuing to pay someone whom if all is known, has no place in the organisation.

Another reason told to me for LTA X's lighter punishment was that it is in light of the work he has done for the battalion, I feel this is unacceptable for several reasons. Firstly in our country we do not mitigate punishments based on past achievements, Durai was not excused despite the amount of money he helped NKF raise, and a doctor would not be excused from molestation no matter how many lives he has helped save. Secondly such mitigation is nothing more than justified corruption and no different from a criminal paying off the police to escape arrest, the very thing we fight so hard to keep out of our society, Finally even if the previous two points are conceded, what LTA X did was not a mistake, mistakes are done by accident. What he has demonstrated is a systematic failure of character and unacceptable as an officer.

Even if you attribute the lack of punishment to extreme leniency, the decision to not inform the battalion is even more suspicious. Especially in a _____ unit such as _________ where the importance of being on duty cannot be over emphasized, to not even inform the battalion of the occurrence is to send a signal that there is nothing wrong with his actions. If it was unintentional it shows gross negligence for something which is clearly an important matter, and if intentional shows a level of corruption that I need not elaborate on.

While some might say this is just a small matter, a story of a single bad officer, the fact that it was not dealt with more severely is indicative of a bigger problem. It shows the lack of quality control being practiced for the leaders of the SAF. The following quote was taken from the army's own intranet homepage:

"In the 3rd Generation SAF, the quality and commitment of our people will continue to be the most important determinant for advancement" - Member of Parliament Ms Indranee Rajah

We can take criticism about having second hand equipment, outdated training methods, and even questionable relevance to modern day operations. But one thing that cannot be tolerated is a reputation for having bad leaders. Such a reputation would compromise Singapore's defence credibility far more than using refurbished tanks or old training manuals.

While I may only be a 2nd lieutenant, I am a citizen of this country. And as a citizen I have the right to demand high standards from the leaders of the SAF While it is true that high standards are hard to come by and even harder to enforce, for such events to come to light and yet nothing be done about it is to say the very least, unacceptable and disappointing.

Yours Sincerely,
2LT Li Hongyi -
___________ Commander

And be very very afraid of who our future PM might be one day...