SINGAPORE, May 27 — A Singapore court has handed a record three-year jail sentence to a 47-year-old dual Singaporean-Indonesian citizen for evading mandatory National Service (NS) obligations for more than two decades, in what prosecutors described as one of the most serious cases of enlistment default to date.

According to CNA, Edmond Yao Zhi Hai was sentenced yesterday after the court found that he had failed to fulfil both his full-time NS duties and subsequent reservist obligations for 21 years and nine months.

District Judge James Elisha Lee said Yao’s conduct fell within “the worst category of NS defaulters”, noting that he had effectively avoided the entirety of his military obligations.

The sentence is the longest jail term imposed so far in Singapore for an NS defaulting case.

Yao was also fined S$3,000 (RM9,300) for immigration-related offences after failing to present his Singapore passport to immigration officers upon entering the country.

The court rejected the defence’s argument that Yao had believed Indonesian law prevented him from serving in a foreign military, with Judge Lee ruling that he could not “by any stretch” be considered to have acted in good faith.

The Singapore-based media organisation reported that the judge also dismissed claims of delayed prosecution, saying Yao himself had “clearly contributed to his non-apprehension” by travelling on an Indonesian passport for years.

Born in Singapore in 1978 to a Singaporean mother and Indonesian father, Yao attended local schools including Raffles Institution and Raffles Junior College before failing to report for enlistment in 1997 despite notices from Singapore’s Central Manpower Base (CMPB).

He later studied overseas and attempted to renounce his Singapore citizenship in 2003, though Singapore authorities did not approve the move.

Yao continued travelling in and out of Singapore until his arrest in September 2021 while attempting to extend his short-term visit pass.

He has indicated that he intends to appeal both his conviction and sentence.

CNA reported that Yao remains out on bail pending the appeal.