We want accountability from MINDEF: Family of Dominique Lee

Nicholas Yong
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The late Dominique Sarron Lee. Photo courtesy of MINDEF.

The family of the late Dominique Sarron Lee has written an open letter in response to the Singapore Armed Forces’ (SAF) statement on the national serviceman’s untimely demise, saying that it was still seeking clear answers from the Ministry of Defence.

In a note on the Facebook page In memory of Dominique Sarron Lee, the family said that the lawsuit it filed against the SAF was not about money, but about getting answers to their questions. “We would not have taken the legal route had MINDEF been fully ‘committed to assisting and providing’ us with the answers we seek,” they wrote.

Pte Lee, 21, died in 2012 following an allergic reaction during a training exercise that involved the use of smoke grenades. His mother, Felicia Seah, filed a suit last year against the SAF, platoon commander Captain Najib Hanuk Muhamad Jalal and Captain Chia Thye Siong, for negligence.

On 3 March, the suit was struck out on grounds that there was no reasonable cause of action that led to Pte Lee’s death, and Seah ordered to pay the defendants’ legal costs of $22,000. But yesterday (7 Mar), Defence Minister Dr Ng Eng Hen said his ministry should waive the costs, as there was no need to “add to the pain and anguish of the family”.

Hours before Dr Ng’s statement, Brigadier General Chan Wing Kai, Commander Army Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC), said that while no criminal charges were brought against the two officers, administrative and disciplinary actions have been taken against them. The SAF has also extended support to Pte Lee’s family by disbursing welfare grants. It also made an offer of compensation.

BG Chan added, “SAF personnel can be charged and punished in the criminal courts for Penal Code offences of committing rash and negligent acts, even during the course of their military duties. The Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC), not the SAF, decides if the evidence warrants this course of action.”

But Pte Lee’s family sought clarification on several points in BG Chan’s statement, including:

  • What administrative and disciplinary actions were taken against the two officers? The family noted recent Facebook postings that suggested one of the officers was promoted in July 2014, adding that this seemed to be a contradiction of SAF’s assurances the officers had been duly dealt with.

  • The Minister for Defence said in his Parliamentary Statement of November 2012, that a Commission of Inquiry had concluded the two officers were negligent. But BG Chan stated that the COI “did not find that the two officers were directly responsible for PTE Lee’s death”.

The family added that neither SAF nor MINDEF has fomally apologised to them for the incident that resulted in Pte Lee’s death, despite requesting that Ng apologise directly to his mother. The family claimed, “We were told by the MINDEF representative, in no uncertain terms, that the Minister will never apologise for the incident, nor will any senior official from MINDEF/SAF.”

As an alternative, the family requested that MINDEF pay for the cost of Pte Lee’s tomb as a symbolic gesture, but this was also rejected due to “legal constraints".

The family concluded by noting that it had met with Singapore Democratic Party chief Chee Soon Juan as it was at its “wit’s end”, and not because it was trying to politicise the issue. Over the past three years, it has approached four MPs and even written to Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong for help.

“All they did was to direct our questions to MINDEF for their reply. Such help is as useful to us, as a comb is to Michael Jordan,” said the family. “How can we continue to trust the government when we now know that they have set lower standards of accountability for themselves in law, when In fact they should set higher standards for themselves?”

They added, “We do not think that Dominique’s death is in any way a matter of national security that requires secrecy. While you are at it, kindly, with our permission, reveal to the public the compensation that you had intended to offer the family, so that all Singaporeans will know how much the life of a promising young man is worth to MINDEF.”