PART 1 AMENDMENT OF
SINGAPORE ARMED FORCES ACT 1972 |
2. Section 2 of the Singapore Armed Forces Act 1972 (called in this Part the SAF Act) is amended —| (a) | by deleting the words “or the Chief of Navy” in the definition of “Service Chief” in subsection (1) and substituting the words “, the Chief of Navy or the Chief of Digital and Intelligence Service”; and | | (b) | by deleting the words “or air force” in subsection (2)(c) and substituting the words “, air force, or digital and intelligence service”. |
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| 3. Section 7(1) of the SAF Act is amended by deleting the words “and navy” and substituting the words “, navy, and digital and intelligence service”. |
4. Section 8(1) of the SAF Act is amended by deleting the word “and” at the end of paragraph (f), and by inserting immediately thereafter the following paragraph:| “(fa) | the Chief of Digital and Intelligence Service; and”. |
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| 5. Section 8B(2) of the SAF Act is amended by deleting the words “or Navy” in paragraph (c) and substituting the words “, Navy, or Digital and Intelligence Service”. |
6. Section 10A of the SAF Act is amended —| (a) | by deleting the words “and a Chief of Navy” in subsection (1) and substituting the words “, a Chief of Navy and a Chief of Digital and Intelligence Service”; | | (b) | by deleting the words “or the Chief of Navy” in subsections (3) and (4) and substituting in each case the words “, the Chief of Navy or the Chief of Digital and Intelligence Service”; and | | (c) | by deleting the section heading and substituting the following section heading:| “Appointment of Chief of Defence Force and Service Chiefs”. |
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7. Section 19 of the SAF Act is amended by deleting subsection (1) and substituting the following subsections:“(1) Every person subject to military law shall be guilty of an offence if the person —| (a) | strikes or otherwise uses violence to, or offers violence to, a person superior in rank or appointment; or | | (b) | uses threatening or insubordinate language or gestures to, or behaves with contempt to, a person superior in rank or appointment. |
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(1A) A person who is guilty of an offence under subsection (1)(a) shall be liable on conviction by a subordinate military court to —| (a) | if the offence is committed during active service — imprisonment for a term not exceeding 7 years or any less punishment authorised by this Act; and | | (b) | in any other case — imprisonment for a term not exceeding 4 years or any less punishment authorised by this Act. |
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(1B) A person who is guilty of an offence under subsection (1)(b) shall be liable on conviction by a subordinate military court to —| (a) | if the offence is committed during active service — imprisonment for a term not exceeding 5 years or any less punishment authorised by this Act; and | | (b) | in any other case — imprisonment for a term not exceeding 2 years or any less punishment authorised by this Act.”. |
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| Amendment of heading to Part 4 |
| 8. Part 4 of the SAF Act is amended by inserting, immediately after the words “DISCIPLINARY OFFICERS” in the Part heading, the words “AND COMPOSITION OF MILITARY OFFENCES”. |
9. Section 60 of the SAF Act is amended —| (a) | by inserting, immediately before the definition of “detachment”, the following definition:| “ “authorised composition officer” means a serviceman authorised to compound offences under section 79A(1);”; and |
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| | (b) | by deleting the words “and air force” in the definitions of “formation” and “unit” and substituting in each case the words “, air force or digital and intelligence service,”. |
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10. Section 62 of the SAF Act is amended by deleting subsection (1) and substituting the following subsection:“(1) Before an allegation against any person subject to military law (called in this Act the accused) that the person has committed an offence under this Act is further proceeded with, the allegation must —| (a) | be reported in the form of a charge to a disciplinary officer and dealt with in accordance with the provisions of this Part; or | | (b) | be referred to an authorised composition officer for composition of the offence under section 79A.”. |
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11. Section 66 of the SAF Act is amended —| (a) | by inserting, immediately after subsection (1), the following subsection:| “(1A) A disciplinary officer must dismiss a charge if the charge relates to an offence that has been compounded under section 79A.”; and |
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| | (b) | by deleting the section heading and substituting the following section heading: |
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12. Section 68 of the SAF Act is amended —| (a) | by deleting “$1,000” in paragraph (b)(i) and substituting “$2,000”; and | | (b) | by deleting “$300” in paragraph (b)(ii) and substituting “$600”. |
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13. Section 69(1) of the SAF Act is amended —| (a) | by deleting “$1,500” in paragraph (d)(i) and substituting “$3,000”; and | | (b) | by deleting “$500” in paragraph (d)(ii) and substituting “$1,000”. |
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14. Section 70(1) of the SAF Act is amended —| (a) | by deleting “$3,000” in paragraph (b)(i) and substituting “$6,000”; and | | (b) | by deleting “$2,000” in paragraph (b)(ii) and substituting “$4,000”. |
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| 15. Section 70A(1) of the SAF Act is amended by deleting “$6,000” in paragraph (b) and substituting “$10,000”. |
| 16. Section 70B(1) of the SAF Act is amended by deleting “$6,000” in paragraph (b) and substituting “$10,000”. |
17. Section 72 of the SAF Act is amended —| (a) | by inserting, immediately after the words “senior military expert of” in subsection (1), the words “or above”; and | | (b) | by deleting “$10,000” in subsection (6)(b)(ii) and substituting “$30,000”. |
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18. The SAF Act is amended by inserting, immediately after section 79 in Part 4, the following section:| “Composition of offences under this Part |
79A.—(1) Subject to subsection (2), any serviceman authorised by the Armed Forces Council to compound offences may compound any offence specified in the Schedule that is prescribed as a compoundable offence (called in this section a prescribed offence) by collecting from an accused reasonably suspected of having committed the offence a sum not exceeding the lower of the following:| (a) | either —| (i) | one half of the amount of the maximum fine that is prescribed for the offence; or | | (ii) | one half of the amount of the maximum fine that is authorised to be imposed by a disciplinary officer on the accused for the offence at a summary trial, if lower than the amount in sub‑paragraph (i) or if no maximum fine is prescribed; |
| | (b) | $5,000. |
| (2) An authorised composition officer must not compound a prescribed offence reasonably suspected to have been committed by an accused who is in the same chain of command as the authorised composition officer. |
| (3) For the purposes of subsection (2), an authorised composition officer is not in the same chain of command as an accused by reason only of being in the same formation as the accused. |
| (4) On payment of the sum of money under subsection (1), no further proceedings are to be taken against the accused in respect of the prescribed offence. |
| (5) All sums collected for the composition of an offence under subsection (1) must be paid into the Consolidated Fund.”. |
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19. Section 111 of the SAF Act is amended —| (a) | by deleting the word “later” in subsection (1) and substituting the word “latest”; | | (b) | by deleting the full‑stop at the end of paragraph (b) of subsection (1) and substituting a semi‑colon, and by inserting immediately thereafter the following paragraphs:| “(c) | where any police investigation relating to a related civil offence has commenced before the expiry of the default limitation period —| (i) | the date on which the investigation ends; or | | (ii) | if proceedings are instituted in a civil court as a result of that investigation — the applicable date under paragraph (d); |
| | (d) | where proceedings are instituted in a civil court in respect of a related civil offence before the expiry of the default limitation period —| (i) | if the related civil offence was not alleged to have been committed by the person or the person is not sentenced to imprisonment, detention or reformative training — the date on which those proceedings end; or | | (ii) | if the person is sentenced to imprisonment, detention or reformative training — the date on which the person completes the sentence of imprisonment, detention or reformative training; |
| | (e) | where the person is sentenced to imprisonment, detention or reformative training for any civil offence before the expiry of the default limitation period — the date on which the person completes the sentence of imprisonment, detention or reformative training; | | (f) | where a warrant for the arrest of the person is issued under section 169 before the expiry of the default limitation period but could not be executed within the default limitation period despite all reasonable efforts to do so due to the whereabouts of the accused being unknown — the date the person is arrested.”; and |
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| | (c) | by inserting, immediately after subsection (5), the following subsection:“(6) In this section —| “default limitation period” means the period of 3 years after the later of the dates mentioned in subsection (1)(a) and (b); |
| “related civil offence”, in relation to a person alleged to have committed an offence triable under this Act, means an alleged civil offence, whether alleged to have been committed by that person or another person, arising from the same factual matrix as the alleged offence triable under this Act, which, if tried in a civil court, may result in a finding by the civil court that has a material relevance to a finding at a trial by a subordinate military court of that person for the alleged offence triable under this Act.”. |
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20. Section 112 of the SAF Act is amended by deleting subsection (1) and substituting the following subsection:“(1) Subject to subsection (2), every person subject to military law who commits any offence which when committed in Singapore or elsewhere is punishable by any written law of Singapore shall, if charged under this section with any such offence, be liable to be tried by a subordinate military court and on conviction to be punished with either —| (a) | any punishment that may be awarded to the person under this Act in respect of an act, conduct or neglect to the prejudice of good order or discipline; or | | (b) | any punishment that may be awarded for the offence under that written law, had the person been convicted by a civil court for the offence and, in addition to or in lieu of such punishment, one or more of the punishments specified in section 118(1)(c), (d), (e), (f), (g), (h), (j), (k) and (l), and any punishment which may be imposed under section 118(10), (11), (13) and (14), which is or are not prescribed by the written law for the offence.”. |
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21. Section 118 of the SAF Act is amended —| (a) | by deleting “$10,000” in subsection (7)(a) and substituting “$30,000”; | | (b) | by deleting “$5,000” in subsection (7)(b) and substituting “$15,000”; and | | (c) | by inserting, immediately after subsection (16), the following subsection:| “(16A) Where a subordinate military court sentences a person to caning under section 112(1), that sentence must not be carried into effect unless confirmed by the Armed Forces Council.”. |
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| 22. Section 125(1) of the SAF Act is amended by inserting, immediately after the word “awarded”, the words “under section 112(1) or”. |
23. Section 129 of the SAF Act is amended —| (a) | by inserting, immediately after the words “an address” in subsection (4), the words “, a fax number or an electronic mail address”; and | | (b) | by deleting subsection (5) and substituting the following subsection:“(5) When a notice of appeal has been lodged, the registrar of the Military Court of Appeal must cause a copy of the grounds of decision in the case signed by the president of the subordinate military court and a copy of the record of proceedings (called in this subsection the appeal documents) to be served on the appellant or the appellant’s counsel —| (a) | by delivering the appeal documents at the address mentioned in the notice of appeal to —| (i) | the appellant; | | (ii) | where the appellant is not present at the address and the address is a business address — the appellant’s counsel or any other adult person present at the address; or | | (iii) | where the appellant is not present at the address and the address is a residential address — an adult person who is a member of the appellant’s family; |
| | (b) | by posting the appeal documents by registered post addressed to the appellant or the appellant’s counsel (as the case may be) at the address mentioned in the notice of appeal; | | (c) | by addressing the appeal documents to the appellant or the appellant’s counsel (as the case may be), and transmitting the documents by fax to the fax number mentioned in the notice of appeal; | | (d) | by addressing the appeal documents to the appellant or the appellant’s counsel (as the case may be), and transmitting the documents to the electronic mail address mentioned in the notice of appeal; or | | (e) | by any other prescribed method.”. |
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| 24. Section 167(3) of the SAF Act is amended by inserting, immediately after the words “must be”, the words “released or”. |
| Amendment of section 205A |
25. Section 205A of the SAF Act is amended by inserting, immediately after subsection (1), the following subsection:“(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).”. |
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| Amendment of section 205C |
26. Section 205C of the SAF Act is amended —| (a) | by deleting subsection (12); and | | (b) | by deleting the words “, auditing and periodic examination” in subsection (13)(c) and substituting the words “and auditing”. |
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