Mr Leong Mun Wai: To ask the Minister for Defence since 2000, how many new citizens have male children below the age of 18 when the Singapore permanent residency or citizenships are obtained and these children subsequently did not serve national service when they reach 18 years of age or older.

Minister for Defence, Dr Ng Eng Hen:

From 2000 to 2021, there were about 60,000 new citizens granted Singapore Citizenship who sponsored their children for Singapore Citizenship or Permanent Residency in the same period. Among the male children who were below 18 at the point they were sponsored and have since reached 18 years old or older, around 3% were exempted from National Service (NS) for reasons such as being medically unfit for NS, mirroring the overall exemption rates for each enlistment cohort.