Say hello to Lim Ching Hwang, the Former Malaysian national swimmer that will be residing in Singapore’s jail cell for eight weeks. And his crime? Defaulting National Service (NS), which was a dumb move.
Everyone knows that you don’t mess around with NS.
However, this isn’t your standard defaulter who just took off. Nope, this is a guy who used every opportunity he got in Singapore to better himself then ran off into the sunset and is trying squeal his way back in.
According to Today, in 2014, Lim was granted permanent residency and subsidies for his education under the Foreign Sports Talent Scheme. And weirdly he was still swimming and competing for Malaysia instead of Singapore, which is confusing as hell, to be honest.
Mixed loyalties aside, how would that work? You cross the causeway for training then come back at dinner?
At the age of 18, he turned tail to pursue higher education in the United States on a scholarship even though he was not granted deferment. He couldn’t get what he wanted so like a spoiled kid, Lim decided to pack up his toys and go home.
Deferment is usually not granted for University studies, and due to this, Lim had voiced to his family about renounce his permanent residency…just because he had to do NS first. Good lord…the level of entitlement on this one.
After three years of doing what he set out to do, Lim finally returned to Singapore in 2018, enlisted in 2019 and completed his NS in 2021.
Now that he has a new job all lined up for him here, he wants to face the consequences of his actions. If that wasn’t hilarious enough, he also wants to swim competitively for Singapore and gain citizenship in the future.
And the sentencing he got for evading NS? Eight weeks only! What the hell?
The maximum sentencing could have been three years or fined up to S$10,000, or punished with both, for leaving Singapore without an exit permit under the Enlistment Act.
But he got a light tap on his damn wrist?
So Mr Leech can get away with it since he completed NS after evading it? How is that far for the rest of us who had to give up doing higher education to suffer in NS for 2 YEARS first then pray that there’s a slot for us in the education system somewhere?
Where’s the fairness in this?
I’m glad to see that other netizens are capable of seeing through this bullshit and that he’s nothing but a leech who technically contributed nothing back to Singapore.
Some are calling for him to be deported, and frankly, I agree with it. What’s the point of keeping someone around that changes his mind about residency like they were shirts?
I’m surprised and disappointed at the sentencing he got. Lim Ching Hwang should have gotten much, more more.
It was pathetic as hell and unfair.
I’m glad to see that at least one person in court, DPP Arvindren, had the balls to pinpoint the unfair advantage that NS defaulters have over their law-abiding peers, even if they complete their service eventually.
We don’t need any leeches here.