Rather than point the finger ...

Rather than point the finger ...

Thursday • April 2, 2009

Letter from Tan Hau Teck

My sympathies go out to the family of Captain (Dr) Allan Ooi.

However, I totally disagree with some of the comments about how Mindef is to blame for his death.

Now, it could be that Dr Ooi’s job in the Singapore Armed Forces was a rather stressful one. He probably wasn’t happy, and he didn’t want to be bonded. However, he was the one who signed on the dotted line. He knew what he was getting into when he signed the Local Study Award. And his extension of bond came about because he went for further specialist training — training which he consented to.

If he did not want to be bonded, why did he go for further training?

Some argue that he was too young to bond his life away like that. Well, that is a slippery slope argument.

If he’s too young to sign a bond, then how old must one be? And perhaps then we should increase the age for young men to serve National Service or to get married, as they are probably too young to hold a rifle or to have a family too, right?

I can’t believe that his family is asking for an inquiry into his death. Who will pay for this inquiry? Why should tax payers shoulder the “blame” for his death?

If anything, the family should examine how, if Dr Ooi was as unhappy as they say, no one picked up the signs that he was going absent without official leave (Awol), and subsequently committed suicide.

He had written in to HQ Military Corp in July, and he only went Awol in October. What did his family and friends do in that three months? And why didn’t anyone fly over to Australia in the three months he was Awol?

There are many questions to be answered in this case, and unfortunately, not all of them can be answered by Mindef.

Instead of always pointing the finger ... perhaps it’s time we look around us and see what we can do for the people near us.

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