Government should apologise to Dominique Lee’s family: SDP
Photo: Then Chih Wey/Xinhua
The Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) is calling for the government to apologise to the family of the late serviceman Dominique Sarron Lee.
The government must also remove Section 14 of the Government Proceedings Act (GPA) as it makes “no moral sense”, the SDP said in a statement on Wednesday (9 March).
The family of Lee, who died in 2012 during a military training exercise, had filed a suit against the Singapore Armed Forces and officers Najib Hanuk Muhamad Jalal and Chia Thye Siong for negligence.
On 3 March, the High Court struck out the suit, citing Section 14 which states, “Nothing done or omitted to be done by a member of the forces while on duty as such shall subject either him or the Government to liability in tort for causing the death of another person, or for causing personal injury to another person, in so far as the death or personal injury is due to anything suffered by that other person while he is a member of the forces…”
Lee’s family was also ordered to pay the defendants’ legal costs, which amounted to some $22,0000. But Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen subsequently said that his Ministry should waive the legal costs, as there was no need to “add to the pain and anguish of the family”.
According to media reports, the Defence Ministry and Captain Najib Hanuk Bin Muhamad Jalal, two of the defendants, have waived the costs totaling $16,000. The family still has to pay Major Chia Thye Siong, the other defendant who has yet to indicate if he will waive the $6,000 cost due to him.
The SDP said that Section 14 “unfairly protects the government from being held accountable” and creates “moral hazard”. Having met with Lee’s mother Felicia Seah, it said that the family was seeking “moral restitution”.
“Now that this law has come to the public’s attention, which parent would not be nervous about entrusting their sons to the Ministry of Defence knowing that if an incident similar to the one that robbed Dominique from his family were to occur, the PAP would invoke the GPA and not take responsibility? Which NS man will not feel aggrieved that the government is taking such an unjustified stance when he is called to risk his life in defence of this nation?”
The statement added, “Dominique’s family cannot get him back no matter what it says and does. His mother has live to with her pain for the rest of her life like only a mother will. Is sorry such a hard word for the PAP to say to her?”
In response to queries from Yahoo Singapore, Singapore Management University law don Eugene Tan noted that Section 14 of the GPA seeks to ensure that public officials can carry out their duties effectively without fear of civil liability.
“The consequences of removing Section 14 would be untenable: We’re going to have public servants who will be watching their backs more often than doing the right and proper thing,” said Tan. He added that Section 14 does not provide “blanket immunity”, and rash acts and abuses of power will be punished.
Asked if the punishments against the two officers involved should be disclosed, Tan noted that there is a need to recognise the confidentiality and rights of the officers. But he also noted, “One can understand where the family is coming from. They are in a deep state of grieving and loss and feel that justice can only be done if the officers are appropriately punished. But are they in a position to decide what an appropriate punishment is?”
