Amid the furore over footballer Ben Davis and his quest to defer his National Service (NS), the irony of it all is this: if the 17-year-old had excelled in his studies rather than in sports, it would not even be an issue.

Current and former Public Service Commission (PSC) scholars told Yahoo News Singapore that they are typically granted an automatic disruption from NS after they have completed a three-month Basic Military Training stint. This applies for both overseas and local scholars. The remainder of their NS obligations can also count towards fulfilling their bond.

Students who have obtained places in certain local universities and served at least a year of NS and medical students pursuing their courses in Singapore are also eligible for disruption.

By comparison, only three Singapore athletes have met the Ministry of Defence’s (Mindef) criteria for deferment – which is not the same as disruption – in the last 15 years. “In sports, deferments are granted only to those who represent Singapore in international competitions like the Olympic Games and are potential medal winners for Singapore,” said Mindef in a recent statement. By this standard, Fulham signee Davis does not “meet the criteria for long-term deferment”, it added.

A former scholar who served out the full length of his bond said, “This double standard imparts the value judgment that civil servants are a class above sportsmen.”

Mindef declined to respond to Yahoo News Singapore‘s queries on why this policy on automatic disruptions for scholars is in place, why academic achievements are seemingly favoured over sporting ones and whether it would consider revising the deferment criteria for sportsmen. But Mindef did reveal that some 114 scholars were granted disruptions between 2012 and 2017.

In 2006, then Second Minister for Defence Ng Eng Hen also told Parliament that among scholarship holders, only PSC scholars are given “special consideration” for disruption after serving six to 10 months of NS to pursue tertiary studies, before returning to complete the remainder of their NS. He also revealed that, at the time, about 30 scholars were granted such early disruptions annually.

“Such special consideration is only given to PSC scholarship holders as it is an important conduit for bringing key talent into the Public Service,” said Ng.

A double standard?

View photos The Football Association of Singapore has said that it ‘strongly supports’ Ben Davis’ NS deferment. PHOTO: Jose Raymond/SPIN More

So why not have a similar disruption arrangement for Davis, the first Singaporean to be taken on professionally by a top-flight English football club, and other promising athletes like him? This query also went unanswered by Mindef.

According to the PSC website, the PSC Scholarship is the “premier government scholarship”, awarded on the basis of merit to outstanding young men and women who have chosen a career in the Public Service. In return for sponsored study, they serve a bond of up to six years in various government agencies.

So why do PSC scholars deserve “special consideration” but outstanding young sportsmen do not? Perhaps it is all down to the national fixation with academic achievements and quantifiable results, not to mention a risk-averse approach to all things. After all, the career of an athlete is shorter than most, with no guarantee of medals or honours.

But it is clear that many of the arguments made against Davis – there is no guarantee that he will make it as a professional footballer, he is pursuing personal and not national interests, it would be unfair to other servicemen – can also be applied to scholars.

Over the years, there have been well-documented cases of scholars breaking their bonds. In 1998, then Economic Development Board chairman Philip Yeo even made the controversial decision to publicly name the agency’s bond-breakers (though they were not PSC scholars).

Even President’s Scholars are not immune to falling by the wayside – while this reporter was serving NS, one was stripped of his scholarship for misbehaving while studying overseas.