Pianist paid fine and returns home after 28 years
-
Only fine and no jail term! WTF! Unfair man! What if the person is not a famous pianist but a normal sinkapoorean eg: hawker, taxi driver, delivery man etc etc. -
some people are more equal than others. Too bad. The govt wants him back. Unfair or not, thats the way it is.
-
the pianist is from SAF?
-
like i said in the other post. I bet Mozart, Bach n Chopin never had to serve in the military or go for ICT every year. U want culture, u gotta compromise some.
-
Pianist pays NS dues - 28 years later
He is fined for defaulting on his NS after he decides to return, as his aged parents are finding it difficult to visit him in
By Kristina Tom
Nov 20, 2005
The Straits Times
AFTER staying away from Singapore for nearly 30 years because he defaulted on his national service, pianist Melvyn Tan has finally paid his dues.
The 49-year-old, who has lived in the United Kingdom for the last 37 years, has paid a fine for not fulfilling his national service duty and will be performing at the Esplanade next month.
In an interview with The Sunday Times, a visibly relieved Mr Tan said that he is glad to have put the past behind him.
He has not stepped onto Singapore soil all these years because he had feared that he would be arrested and thrown into jail.
But his 86-year-old father and 80-year-old mother are getting too old to make the regular trips to London to visit him at his home in Notting Hill, London.
So he decided to take a 'risk'. After informing the authorities of his intention to return, he came home in April for a court hearing.
The hearing lasted 30 minutes but he had never been so nervous in his life. 'It was very, very nerve-wracking,' he said.
To his relief, he was asked only to pay a fine.
He claims that he cannot remember the amount.
Under the Enlistment Act, those who evade national service can be fined up to $5,000 or sent to jail for up to three years, or both.
Although Mr Tan became a British citizen in 1978, he was still a Singapore citizen when he failed to fulfil his NS duties, making him answerable for the offence in a Singapore court.
In 1994, The Straits Times quoted a lawyer who said that one of his clients, a 39-year-old French citizen, was arrested at the airport on arrival, fined and made to complete nine months of training.
Mr Tan, who has an elder sister, was studying at Anglo-Chinese School when he left Singapore to study at the Yehudi Menuhin School in Sussex. He was then 12 years old.
After he finished his course, he stayed on in England to study at the Royal College of Music instead of coming home to serve national service in 1977.
He said: 'When I was at the Royal College and I got my final call-up, I was just on the brink of starting a career. I thought about it and thought about it and realised that I was not going to get this chance again.
'So I made that very difficult decision to not return. It meant I could never come back.'
Mr Tan first made his mark in the classical world with his performances on the 19th-century fortepiano, the precursor to the modern concert grand.
In the 1980s and 1990s, he produced a series of recordings that popularised the early music movement, regarded as a slightly eccentric niche within the music world.
He has about 30 recordings to his name and a regular touring schedule in Europe.
Along with Seow Yit Kin and Margaret Leng Tan, he has helped Singapore to gain recognition on the global piano scene.
The pianist is wasting no time in reconnecting with the Singapore music scene.
He goes back to England tomorrow, but will return early next month to sit on the jury of the National Arts Council's biennial National Piano and Violin Competition, which starts Dec 7 and ends Dec 18.
He said that he is getting to know Singapore, which he describes as 'unrecognisable', all over again. And, of course, he has been feasting on his favourite foods such as popiah.
But the best part about being able to come home as a free man was showing up at his mother's 80th birthday party on Thursday.
His parents still live in his childhood home in Lengkok Angsa, off Paterson Road. 'There were a few tears,' he said. 'She was just delighted. It was the best birthday present she's ever had.' -
1stly, he's 49 liao. How petty u people want to be?
2ndly,
"After he finished his course, he stayed on in England to study at the Royal College of Music instead of coming home to serve national service in 1977.
He said: 'When I was at the Royal College and I got my final call-up, I was just on the brink of starting a career. I thought about it and thought about it and realised that I was not going to get this chance again."
this is true. perhaps for u people aiming for a 'normal' career, u can afford to start a few years later. but for a career such as this, this sort of chances don't come twice. even a break in practicing can mean ruin. U can say he can explain to the people and put it on hold etc, but the fact is the world doesn't wait for u just because u are singaporean. I personally am very glad he choose to follow music instead of coming back and ending up as some small-fry musician in singapore for the rest of his life. If we want singaporeans to achieve great things, then some of them must be given leeway.
In any case, u can make noise u can say not fair, fine. Understandable considering u all have served etc, but u should stand in his shoes n try to understand the sort of choice he had to make back then. -
that's double standard.
just because his carreer is unique does not mean he deserves to be given special treatment. -
well ok. throw him in DB then. and kill of whatever tiny culture we're so desperately trying to build.Originally posted by dragg:that's double standard.
just because his carreer is unique does not mean he deserves to be given special treatment.
Like i said, mozart, chopin n bach never had to serve in NS or deal with bullShit like reservist. maybe thats why we have nothing to be really proud of in the cultural world. Melvin's only curse is that he's born in a society that sees creativity-destruction as the right thing to do. -
well, too bad i am not in the position to decide.Originally posted by HENG@:well ok. throw him in DB then. and kill of whatever tiny culture we're so desperately trying to build.
Like i said, mozart, chopin n bach never had to serve in NS or deal with bullshit like reservist. maybe thats why we have nothing to be really proud of in the cultural world.
he obviously got away with it.
-
I am glad he did. It shows someone is thinking more with their hearts n minds than thinking with the book.Originally posted by dragg:well, too bad i am not in the position to decide.
he obviously got away with it.
N perhaps this shows that the artistic culture in singapore that the govt is trying to nuture might, have a chance afterall. -
All I can say is
Life is Unfair. If life is fair, we all be millionare by now.
-
Originally posted by iveco:
for Fuck??? ORD and ROD together? kum lan
[b]Pianist pays NS dues - 28 years later
In 1994, The Straits Times quoted a lawyer who said that one of his clients, a 39-year-old French citizen, was arrested at the airport on arrival, fined and made to complete nine months of training.
[/b] -
It's only human to want to rise to a position where people cannot afford to jail you on a whim, no matter how legal it is. -
haha. SAF should have send MPs to catch him back to serve his NS back in 1977, when he's still a singapore citizen.
-
send 007 to UK to catch him ah?Originally posted by Gordonator:haha. SAF should have send MPs to catch him back to serve his NS back in 1977, when he's still a singapore citizen.
we're not quite totally as bastard as the Mossad leh. -
Mossad is a real bastard indeed. They kidnapped Vanunu from Italy and brought him back to face an 18-year jail term for revealing Israel's nuclear ambitions.Originally posted by HENG@:send 007 to UK to catch him ah?
we're not quite totally as bastard as the Mossad leh. -
They still have the victim syndrome. They think that just becos they suffered the holocaust they can use that as an excuse to be a menance and use strong-arm tatics.Originally posted by iveco:Mossad is a real bastard indeed. They kidnapped Vanunu from Italy and brought him back to face an 18-year jail term for revealing Israel's nuclear ambitions. -
Which is why we have to be careful not to adopt too much of Israeli mentality.Originally posted by HENG@:They still have the victim syndrome. They think that just becos they suffered the holocaust they can use that as an excuse to be a menance and use strong-arm tatics. -
to those who rant on his side, what do you think?
he was a singapore citizen who committed an offense before he became a UK citizen..
now, if he became a UK citizen before NS, there would not be an issue...
however, he committed the offense knowingly..
it IS a matter of sovereignty... i don't think you singapore bashers would even think about that..
so, are you saying that the crimes people have committed cannot be pursued by the country where the crime was commited because the perp is an alien?
what i would say is that he got of easily.. but looking at the circumstances, how else would you want to "punish" the man?
let it be..
as for the Mossad.. "victim mentality" or not, they do things that i would support... in a world where a slip would see them annihilated, would you, as an Israeli, sleep better with them on the prowl? -
"They kidnapped Vanunu from Italy and brought him back to face an 18-year jail term for revealing Israel's nuclear ambitions."Originally posted by the Bear:to those who rant on his side, what do you think?
he was a singapore citizen who committed an offense before he became a UK citizen..
now, if he became a UK citizen before NS, there would not be an issue...
however, he committed the offense knowingly..
it IS a matter of sovereignty... i don't think you singapore bashers would even think about that..
so, are you saying that the crimes people have committed cannot be pursued by the country where the crime was commited because the perp is an alien?
what i would say is that he got of easily.. but looking at the circumstances, how else would you want to "punish" the man?
let it be..
as for the Mossad.. "victim mentality" or not, they do things that i would support... in a world where a slip would see them annihilated, would you, as an Israeli, sleep better with them on the prowl?
subsitute Israeli with Iraq or Iran, and Vanunu with some Iranian or Iraqi scientist, and u will get people thinking it isn't right of their country to drag them back for trying to save the rest of the world from their country's ambitions.
as for the man, hey, he didn't escape the law did he? the law says, jail or fine. he got the fine. fair play. so no reason why there should be a fuss. not like he got off scot free anyways. all's fair. If we really want fair, the list would never end. So toodle doo, its done, its done. -
nuclear secrets.. think about it..
i'd say any country, can deal with their own people who are guilty of treason..
seriously... -
as a random funny thought i just had. Spare the middle east. move israel to switzerland. Switzerland never really paid for sort of colluding with Nazi Germany anyways, and nobody in Switzerland is really Swiss anyway. They're either French, German or Italian, so we can relocate them to those countries.
Who wants a patch of hot desert sand anyways when u can have the nice Swiss Alps? -
yea. but that never takes into account the absoluteness of how the world benefits as a whole does it?Originally posted by the Bear:nuclear secrets.. think about it..
i'd say any country, can deal with their own people who are guilty of treason..
seriously...
Better we know about their nuclear ambitions, than to have them suddenly lob one at us one day, without us even knowing they have nukes.
Or more unpleasantly, lets not have the events of Tom Clancy's Sum of All Fears happen to us. -
You cannot become an UK citizen before the age of 18.By the time you are 18, the SAF act has already been in force over you.It's a no-win situation.Anyway, case is closed and the long term future of Singapore in the nurturing of culture and the arts takes precedence over punitive punishment.Originally posted by the Bear:to those who rant on his side, what do you think?
he was a singapore citizen who committed an offense before he became a UK citizen..
now, if he became a UK citizen before NS, there would not be an issue...
however, he committed the offense knowingly..
it IS a matter of sovereignty... i don't think you singapore bashers would even think about that..
so, are you saying that the crimes people have committed cannot be pursued by the country where the crime was commited because the perp is an alien?
what i would say is that he got of easily.. but looking at the circumstances, how else would you want to "punish" the man?
let it be..
as for the Mossad.. "victim mentality" or not, they do things that i would support... in a world where a slip would see them annihilated, would you, as an Israeli, sleep better with them on the prowl?
This is a larger interest of the State, and jailing him or sending him to DB will just send the wrong signals out there.Fining him is good enough.It's a symbolic slap on the wrists.We cannot always act in a vacuum. -
Sometimes international interests have to take precedence over narrowminded national interest.That is the basis of a global civil society movement.Originally posted by HENG@:yea. but that never takes into account the absoluteness of how the world benefits as a whole does it?
Better we know about their nuclear ambitions, than to have them suddenly lob one at us one day, without us even knowing they have nukes.
Or more unpleasantly, lets not have the events of Tom Clancy's Sum of All Fears happen to us.