The Singapore public has been repeatedly reassured that the recent death of a full-time national serviceman (NSF) will be looked into and investigated thoroughly.

It has been reported multiple times that an independent Committee of Inquiry (COI) will be convened by the Armed Forces Council to investigate the circumstances surrounding the incident and it is mandatory to do so in the event of a death in the forces.

Moreover, coverage of the recent NSF death has restated this same point over and over again:

The COI has full powers and access to information and personnel to investigate fully the circumstances leading to death, to determine the contributory factors and make recommendations to rectify lapses, if any.

Not all COI findings made public

However, what is lesser known to the public is that findings derived from COIs are only made public on a discretionary basis.

In other words, in most cases, COI findings are not revealed to the public.

How do we know this for sure?

The Straits Times, in a May 3, 2018 article, reported about this uncertainty:

A medical specialist from the Government will also be a member of the committee, the Ministry of Defence (Mindef) said in a statement yesterday. The statement did not provide any more details, such as whether the committee's findings will be made public.

Under what circumstances are COI findings made public?

Selected COI findings were revealed publicly in November 2012 -- but under somewhat special circumstances.

This was following intense public scrutiny of two high-profile fatalities in National Service that year, as a result of a lack of adherence to safety standards that tarnished the reputation of the Singapore Armed Forces.

Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen revealed in a ministerial statement to Parliament at that time on the details of the COI into the deaths of Private (Pte) Lee Rui Feng Dominique Sarron, 21, on April 17, and Third Sergeant (3SG) Tan Mou Sheng, 20, on May 11.

These details included the degree of culpability of those charged, the unique circumstances of the incidents, and the assessment that the accidents could spill over to the civil court following police investigations.

Calls to make all COI findings public

In the same Parliament seating in 2012, MP Alex Yam had asked the SAF to consider making its COI findings public, saying that the SAF is "largely a citizen's army, not a professional army".

This implies that the public was called to serve, and therefore, had the right to know.

Yam noted that there were no accidents or deaths reported in the SAF in 2010, while there were three in 2011 and five fatalities in 2012.

Minister Ng assured Parliament then that "cases where there are public interest and significance" will be shared.

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Minister Ng also said to Parliament then that "the SAF will learn from this and put things right and after all is said and done... that will give confidence to the men."

"And we want to assure public that we give safety top priority, that their sons, husbands and brothers will return to them safely after NS training."

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