PART 13
MISCELLANEOUS
Exemption of servicemen from certain laws
202.  Any serviceman acting in good faith and in the serviceman’s official capacity is exempt from all written laws providing for the carriage and storage of arms.
Reduction in rank for inefficiency
203.  When a serviceman by reason of unsuitability or inefficiency of a nature which does not warrant disciplinary action is nevertheless undeserving to retain the serviceman’s rank, the Armed Forces Council may, after giving the serviceman 3 months’ notice in writing to that effect, reduce him or her to a rank appropriate to his or her abilities.
Mode of complaint by servicemen
204.—(1)  If any serviceman (A) thinks himself or herself wronged in any matter by another serviceman (B) superior to A in rank, A may complain to B’s commander, but if A is an officer or a senior military expert who is equivalent or superior in rank to the commander A may complain to an officer or a senior military expert next senior in rank to the commander.
[28/2009]
(2)  Every officer or senior military expert to whom a complaint is made under this section must cause the complaint to be enquired into and must, if on inquiry he or she is satisfied of the justice of the complaint so made, take such steps as may be necessary for giving full redress to the complainant in respect of the matter complained of.
[28/2009]
(3)  If A is not satisfied that his or her complaint has been redressed A may complain to the Armed Forces Council and the Armed Forces Council must examine the complaint and do justice in the matter.
Regulations
205.  The Armed Forces Council may make regulations in respect of all or any of the following matters:
(a)the government, administration and organisation of the Singapore Armed Forces;
(b)ranks of servicemen in the uniformed services (including the military domain experts service);
(c)service grades of regular servicemen in the non-uniformed service, including the designation of grades as officer grades;
(d)powers of commanders;
(e)powers of disciplinary officers;
(f)procedure and practice in summary trials;
(g)powers and duties of military policemen;
(h)arrests and searches and investigation of offences;
(i)payments, deductions, forfeitures, pensions, gratuities and other allowances;
(j)terms and conditions of service of servicemen including classes or categories of serviceman and periods of service;
(k)terms and conditions of service of the president of the Military Court of Appeal and the registrar thereof;
(l)committees of inquiry appointed under section 8C;
(m)boards of inquiry;
(n)military decorations;
(o)military funerals and burials at sea;
(p)military prisons, disciplinary barracks and detention barracks;
(q)the committal of persons under military sentences of imprisonment, special detention or detention to military prisons, disciplinary barracks or detention barracks (as the case may be), their removal from one place to another or from one form of custody to another and their release when their terms of imprisonment, special detention or detention have ended;
(r)the provision, classification, regulation and management of military prisons, disciplinary barracks and detention barracks;
(s)the classification, treatment, employment, discipline and control of persons serving military sentences of imprisonment, special detention or detention or in military custody;
(t)the temporary release on compassionate grounds of persons serving such sentences in military prisons, disciplinary barracks or detention barracks, the cases in which, periods for which and conditions subject to which they may be allowed out of any of those places and the remission of part of any such sentence for good conduct and industry;
(u)the appointment, powers and duties of inspectors, visitors and members of the staff of military prisons, disciplinary barracks and detention barracks;
(v)the establishment, maintenance and application of a fund to be known as the Singapore Armed Forces Central Welfare Fund;
(w)the appointment, release, discharge and terms and conditions of service of volunteers;
(x)the exclusion or variation of the operation of the provisions of this Act in relation to non-uniformed servicemen;
(y)in relation to any rank referred to in any provision of the Act, the designation of a corresponding service grade in the non-uniformed service for the purpose of that provision; and
(z)all other matters which the Armed Forces Council considers necessary or expedient for the purposes of this Act.
[28/2009]
SAVER and Premium Plans
205A.—(1)  The Armed Forces Council may also make regulations for the establishment of 2 savings and employee retirement plans (called in this Act the SAVER Plan and the Premium Plan, respectively) for the payment of —
(a)any gratuity, allowance, superannuation or other like benefit to such servicemen or classes of servicemen as may be prescribed, or to their legal personal representatives or dependants, on the death or the retirement or resignation from the Singapore Armed Forces of such servicemen;
(b)any pension, allowance, gratuity, compensation or other benefit in respect of the death of or injuries received by any such servicemen in and which are attributable to service;
(c)any subsidy, rebate or other benefit in respect of medical services rendered to such servicemen;
(d)any allowance, subsidy or other benefit to such former servicemen after their retirement from the Singapore Armed Forces; and
(e)any loan or other benefit to such servicemen or classes of servicemen as may be prescribed.
(1A)  The regulations made under subsection (1) may provide that any of the following may be determined by the Armed Forces Council in a General Order made under section 208(1):
(a)the rate of contribution by the Government under the SAVER Plan or the Premium Plan;
(b)the conditions under which a contribution by the Government is payable under the SAVER Plan or the Premium Plan to the SAVER-Premium Fund;
(c)the conditions under which a superannuation benefit is payable to a serviceman (including to his or her legal personal representatives or dependants if the serviceman is deceased).
[Act 24 of 2022 wef 28/10/2022]
(2)  The following provisions apply to the SAVER Plan and the Premium Plan established under this section:
(a)no payments, allowance or other benefit payable under the SAVER Plan or the Premium Plan (whether on death, retirement or resignation of a serviceman or otherwise), and no contribution by the Government made under the SAVER Plan or the Premium Plan and no interest thereon is assignable or transferable, or liable to be garnished, attached, sequestered or levied upon for or in respect of any debt or claim, other than —
(i)a debt due to the Government; or
(ii)an order of court for the payment of periodical sums of money towards the maintenance of the wife or former wife or minor child (whether legitimate or not) of the serviceman to whom the payment, allowance or other benefit has been granted;
(b)no contribution by the Government made under the SAVER Plan or the Premium Plan and no interest thereon shall be subject to the debts of a serviceman, nor shall such contributions and interest pass to the Official Assignee on the bankruptcy of the serviceman, but if the serviceman is adjudicated a bankrupt or is declared insolvent by a court of law, such contribution and interest are deemed excluded from the property of the bankrupt for the purposes of the Insolvency, Restructuring and Dissolution Act 2018; and
(c)subject to the provisions of any regulations made under this section, all moneys paid or payable under the SAVER Plan or the Premium Plan on the death of a serviceman are deemed to be subject to a trust in favour of the persons entitled thereto under the will or intestacy of the deceased serviceman and are not to be deemed to form part of his or her estate or be subject to the payment of his or her debts but are deemed to be property passing on his or her death for the purposes of the Estate Duty Act 1929.
[40/2018]
(3)  The Armed Forces Council must, in making any regulations under this section, provide —
(a)for officers who, immediately before 1 January 1998, are eligible for any pension, gratuity or other allowance under any regulations made under section 205 to opt to join the SAVER Plan and for the terms and conditions of that option;
(b)for soldiers who, immediately before 1 January 2000, are eligible for any pension, gratuity or other allowance under any regulations made under section 205 to opt to join the Premium Plan and for the terms and conditions of that option; and
(c)that any such officer who opts to join the SAVER Plan or any such soldier who opts to join the Premium Plan, remains eligible to benefits not less in value than the amount of any pension, gratuity or other allowance for which he or she would have been granted under the regulations made under section 205 if he or she retired or ceased contract service on medical grounds not due to causes within his or her control on the date immediately prior to his or her joining the SAVER Plan or the Premium Plan, as the case may be.
(4)  Any option exercised by any officer before 1 April 1998 to join or not to join the SAVER Plan and any option exercised by any soldier before 31 March 2000 to join or not to join the Premium Plan, is deemed to be exercised in accordance with the regulations made under subsection (3).
SAVER‑Premium Fund
205B.—(1)  A fund called the Savings and Employee Retirement and Premium Fund (called in this Act the SAVER‑Premium Fund) is established, which must be held, managed and administered as a Government fund separate from other Government funds.
(2)  Except as otherwise provided by section 206(1), all payments and other benefits payable to servicemen under the SAVER Plan or the Premium Plan, and all expenses incurred in the administration of the SAVER Plan or the Premium Plan and the investment of moneys in the SAVER‑Premium Fund shall be charged on and paid out of the SAVER‑Premium Fund, and other moneys must not be withdrawn from the SAVER‑Premium Fund unless authorised to be withdrawn under this Act.
[43/2004]
(3)  There must be paid into the SAVER‑Premium Fund —
(a)such sums appropriated from time to time from the Consolidated Fund and authorised to be paid in the SAVER‑Premium Fund by any written law to enable the SAVER‑Premium Fund to meet its liabilities;
(b)all revenues of Singapore allocated by any written law to the SAVER‑Premium Fund; and
(c)the net income from investments of moneys in the SAVER‑Premium Fund authorised to be made by this Act or any other written law.
(4)  There must also be paid into the SAVER‑Premium Fund such sum from the Pension Fund established by the Pension Fund Act 1995 as the Minister for Finance may determine as the value of that part of the Pension Fund relating to all those servicemen exercising an option in favour of joining the SAVER Plan or the Premium Plan in accordance with the regulations made under section 205A.
(5)  The moneys referred to in subsection (3)(a) and (b) and subsection (4) must be paid into the SAVER‑Premium Fund as capital money, and must not be used to meet payments of dividends under the SAVER Plan or the Premium Plan.
(6)  The income from the investment of capital moneys of the SAVER‑Premium Fund must be paid into an account for the Fund to be called the SAVER‑Premium Income Account.
(7)  Except as otherwise expressly provided in this Act, the Financial Procedure Act 1966 and the regulations made under that Act apply to the SAVER‑Premium Fund.
Administration of SAVER-Premium Fund
205C.—(1)  The SAVER‑Premium Fund is, subject to the direction and control of the Armed Forces Council, to be managed and administered by a Board of Trustees consisting of not more than 13 members, all of whom must be appointed by the Armed Forces Council.
(2)  The moneys in the SAVER‑Premium Fund may be invested in —
(a)any investments authorised under section 7 of the Financial Procedure Act 1966; and
(b)any other investments that the Board of Trustees thinks fit, not being any stock, bond, fund or security issued by the Government.
(3)  The Armed Forces Council may authorise the transfer to the Consolidated Fund any moneys in the SAVER‑Premium Fund which, in the opinion of the Minister and the Minister for Finance, are not required to meet the liabilities of the SAVER‑Premium Fund.
(4)  The Armed Forces Council must cause to be kept proper accounts and records of all transactions and affairs relating to the SAVER‑Premium Fund and must ensure that payments out of the Fund are correctly made and properly authorised and that adequate control is maintained over the assets and receipts of the Fund.
(5)  The accounts and annual financial statements of the SAVER‑Premium Fund must be audited by the Auditor‑General or such other auditor as may be appointed annually by the Minister in consultation with the Auditor‑General.
[17/2004]
(6)  A person does not qualify for appointment as an auditor under subsection (5) unless the person is a public accountant as defined in the Companies Act 1967.
[17/2004]
(7)  The remuneration of the auditor must be paid out of the SAVER‑Premium Fund.
[17/2004]
(8)  The auditor must submit such periodic and special reports to the Minister as may appear to the auditor to be necessary or as the Minister may require.
[17/2004]
(9)  As soon as the accounts of the SAVER‑Premium Fund and the financial statements have been audited in accordance with this Act, a copy of the audited financial statements, together with a copy of any report made by the auditor, must be submitted to the Minister.
[17/2004]
(10)  Where the Auditor-General is not the auditor of the SAVER‑Premium Fund, a copy of the audited financial statements and any report made by the auditor must be forwarded to the Auditor‑General at the same time they are submitted to the Minister.
[17/2004]
(11)  The Minister must cause a copy of the audited financial statements of the SAVER‑Premium Fund and the auditor’s report to be presented to Parliament.
(12)  [Deleted by Act 24 of 2022 wef 28/10/2022]
(13)  The Armed Forces Council may make regulations for the proper control and management of the SAVER‑Premium Fund and, in particular, regulations —
(a)providing for the appointment of the members of the Board of Trustees, including their tenure and remuneration;
(b)prescribing the procedure to be followed by the Board of Trustees in the exercise of its functions; and
(c)relating to the accounting, reporting and auditing of the SAVER‑Premium Fund.
[Act 24 of 2022 wef 28/10/2022]
Military domain experts service
205D.—(1)  The Armed Forces Council may, in making any regulations under section 205, provide for the rank of a serviceman to be changed upon his or her transfer from the military domain experts service to any other uniformed service, or vice versa.
[28/2009]
(2)  A change in the rank of a serviceman upon his or her transfer from the military domain experts service to any other uniformed service, or vice versa, is not to be treated as a reduction in the rank of the serviceman.
[28/2009]
(3)  The Armed Forces Council may, in making any regulations under section 205 or 205A, provide for —
(a)any regular serviceman who opts to transfer to the military domain experts service to opt for the provident fund scheme applicable to non-pensionable employees of the Government under the Central Provident Fund Act 1953; and
(b)the terms and conditions of that option.
[28/2009]
Pension Fund
206.—(1)  There is charged on and paid out of the Pension Fund established by the Pension Fund Act 1995 —
(a)all such sums of money as may from time to time be granted by way of pension, gratuity or other allowance in accordance with any regulations made under section 205; and
(b)such payments and benefits as may from time to time be payable in accordance with any regulations made under section 205A to servicemen under the SAVER Plan or the Premium Plan —
(i)in respect of the death of or injuries received by such servicemen in and which are attributable to service;
(ii)in respect of any allowance, subsidy, rebate or other benefit in respect of medical services rendered to such servicemen or to such former servicemen after their retirement from the Singapore Armed Forces; or
(iii)in respect of any initial lump-sum contributions to such servicemen.
[43/2004]
(2)  A pension, gratuity or other allowance granted in accordance with any regulations made under section 205 is not assignable or transferable or liable to be garnished, attached, sequestered or levied upon for or in respect of a debt or claim, except for the purpose of satisfying —
(a)a debt due to the Government; or
(b)an order of a court for the payment of periodical sums of money towards the maintenance of the wife or former wife or minor child, whether legitimate or not, of the serviceman to whom the pension, gratuity or other allowance has been granted.
Pension, etc., not of right
206A.—(1)  No serviceman has an absolute right to compensation for past services or to any pension, gratuity, allowance or other benefit under any regulations made under section 205 or 205A, nor does anything in this Act or any regulations made under this Act limit the right of the Armed Forces Council to dismiss any serviceman without compensation.
(2)  Where it is established to the satisfaction of the Armed Forces Council that a serviceman has been guilty of negligence, irregularity or misconduct, it is lawful for the Armed Forces Council to reduce or altogether withhold the pension, gratuity, allowance or other benefit for which the serviceman would but for this section have become eligible under any regulations made under section 205 or 205A.
Regulations to be presented to Parliament
207.  All regulations made under this Act must be presented to Parliament as soon as possible after publication in the Gazette.
Amendment of Second Schedule
207A.—(1)  The Armed Forces Council may, by order in the Gazette, amend the Second Schedule.
(2)  All orders made under subsection (1) must be presented to Parliament as soon as possible after publication in the Gazette.
[Act 25 of 2023 wef 01/12/2023]
General Orders of Ministry of Defence
208.—(1)  The Armed Forces Council may make such orders not inconsistent with the provisions of this Act and any regulations made under this Act to be called “General Orders of the Ministry of Defence” as the Council may consider necessary or expedient.
(2)  Without limiting subsection (1), the Armed Forces Council may make orders relating to —
(a)conduct and discipline and the regulation and carrying out of punishment;
(b)classification and promotion;
(c)instructions and examinations;
(d)inspection, drill, parades, training and exercises;
(e)the institution and maintenance of common rooms and canteens; and
(f)the manner and form of reports, correspondence and other records.
(3)  General Orders of the Ministry of Defence need not be published in the Gazette.