SINGAPORE, March 25 — A man born in Singapore but granted Indonesian citizenship as a child has been convicted of dodging national service (NS), after a court ruled he could not “cherry-pick” which laws to follow, CNA reported.
Edmond Yao Zhi Hai, 47, was found guilty of failing to report for enlistment in January 1997, despite long-standing arguments that serving would have cost him his Indonesian citizenship.
The case turns on a decades-long dispute over nationality and obligation, with Yao maintaining that Indonesian law barred him from foreign military service — and that he believed he did not need to serve in Singapore.
His defence argued that he had been led to believe his Singapore citizenship would lapse, and that authorities had effectively treated him as Indonesian by allowing him to travel on an Indonesian passport for years.
But prosecutors rejected that claim, arguing Yao — who was educated entirely in Singapore — had knowingly tried to sidestep his obligations, saying he could not pick laws “at his convenience”.
The court agreed in a judgment released on Monday.
According to the Singapore-based media organisation, district Judge James Elisha Lee found that Singapore authorities had made it “manifestly clear” that Yao remained liable for NS as a citizen by birth, regardless of his Indonesian status.
“The accused knew that although he holds Indonesian citizenship, he is also a Singapore citizen,” the judge said.
He rejected claims that Yao acted under any genuine misunderstanding, ruling that the defence’s argument of a “legitimate expectation” did not apply — especially given the importance of national service to Singapore’s security.
“The magnitude and importance of the role of NS to Singapore’s national security and survival” outweighed such claims, the judge said.
The court also dismissed the argument that Indonesian law compelled Yao’s actions.
“The Indonesian Citizenship Law merely prescribes that a person will lose his Indonesian citizenship if he serves in the military of another country. It neither commands nor empowers anyone to act,” the judge said.
Instead, the court found that Yao had simply chosen to avoid the consequences of losing his Indonesian citizenship.
Judge Lee added that Yao could not “by any stretch” be said to have acted in good faith, noting he had been informed of his NS obligations as early as 1997.
Yao failed to enlist and later pursued studies overseas, before attempting to renounce his Singapore citizenship — a move authorities did not support.
He was eventually arrested in 2021 when he tried to extend a short-term visit pass.
The offence is one of strict liability, meaning prosecutors only needed to prove he did not report for enlistment, not that he intended to evade it.
Sentencing has been adjourned to April. Yao faces up to three years’ jail, a fine of up to S$5,000 (RM15,400), or both.
