MINDEF statement says he was injured when gun barrel of howitzer was lowered
Tributes poured in for actor Aloysius Pang last night as news broke of his death 4 days after he was seriously injured in a military exercise in New Zealand last Saturday.
Corporal First Class (NS) Pang, an armament technician from the 268th Battalion Singapore Artillery, was 28. Even before the Ministry of Defence issued a statement last night confirming his death, celebrities on social media had changed their profile pictures to black and white.
Later, when his death was confirmed, fellow actor Shane Pow wrote on Instagram: "It wasn't enough being brothers with you this life. Let's be brothers again next life. I love you my big brother."
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Aloysius Pang is the 8th Singaporean to have died in the past 1.5 years while serving the nation
In just the past one and a half years alone, at least eight young Singaporean men have died while serving their nation. At least five of these cases are accidents during training. None of these eight Singaporeans died on the battle ground:
Sep 15, 2017: 21-year-old 3SG Gavin Chan died in a vehicular mishap at the Shoalwater Bay Training Area in Australia;
Apr 30, 2018: 19-year-old CFC Dave Lee died after being hospitalized for a severe heatstroke he suffered during a fast march while serving his national service;
May 13, 2018: 22-year-old SCDF NSF Corporal Kok Yuen Chin died in a ragging incident;
Jul 28, 2018: An SAF regular serviceman was found hanging from a rope in his bunk in Nee Soon Camp;
Sep 9, 2018: A 23-year-old police NSF died a week after he was found with a gunshot wound to his head;
Sep 28, 2018: An NSF was found hanging from a rope in his office in Sembawang Air Base;
Nov 3, 2018: 22-year-old CFC Liu Kai, 22, died when an armored infantry fighting vehicle reversed into his jeep at the Jalan Murai training grounds;
Jan 23, 2019: 28-year-old CFC (NS) Aloysius Pang succumbed to injuries sustained during an ICT training in New Zealand.
Training deaths have continued to mount despite Defence Minister Dr Ng Eng Hen’s assurances that the Singapore Armed Forces will work to “eliminate” such training deaths by designing and enforcing safety systems
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Deaths during NS
In the last sixteen months alone, another six servicemen have died:
3 November 2018: CFC Liu Kai passed away when an armour reversed into a jeep that he was in. The COI is still investigating.
28 September 2018: An NSF committed suicide in Sembawang Air Base
9 September 2018: A SPF NSF shot himself
28 July 2018: An NSF commited suicide in Nee Soon Camp
31 May 2018: SCDF SAF Kok Yuen Chin died after a ragging event
30 April 2018: CFC Dave Lee passed away after a heat injury during a fast march at Bedok Camp
RIP, Aloysius. Thank you for your service, both for defending Singapore and bringing joy to Singapore
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CFC Aloysius Pan's family cannot sue MINDEF even if they want to
After the unfortunate death of CFC Aloysius Pang during his reservist training in New Zealand, many netizens commented that perhaps his family should sue MINDEF for the death of their son.
Unfortunately, Section 14 of the Government Proceeding Acts grants immunity to MINDEF or any of the SAF commanders or officers who may be involved with any deaths or injuries of NSmen of NSFs against any civil suits.
Case of Private Dominique Sarron Lee - In 2012, Private Dominique Sarron Lee, an NSF, collapsed with breathing difficulties during an exercise where excessive smoke grenades were used. He later died from an acute allergic reaction from inhaling zinc chloride fumes.
His family sued his then-platoon-commander Captain and chief safety officer of the exercise after both were summarily tried and found guilty in military court for negligent performance of lawful order or duty.
In 2016, the High Court dismissed the civil suit. Judicial Commissioner Kannan Ramesh ruled that the two officers qualified for immunity from being sued under Section 14 of the Government Proceedings Act (GPA). The statute states that as long as any deaths or injuries occurred during service, the Government or any SAF officer involved are not liable to be sued.
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A Reader's letter
KENG LUN: The Aloysius Pang training mishap has raised a bigger issue which I’m sure all of us national servicemen are wondering about, which is whether reservist NSmen should be made to do tasks which require specialised skills such as machine repairs. While I have no doubt reservist will always do their best when necessary, there is a limit to the depth of their abilities when it comes to war machines.
We are called “Operationally-Ready”, but the fact is for those who don’t use these skills in our daily lives, those skills become rusty and forgotten. We are talking about specialised machines which are complex to operate, not simple tools like bicycles or semi-automatic rifles. Would you trust the repair of a multi-million-dollar F-35 jet plane to a NSman whose day job is selling insurance, or whatever else occupation that doesn’t involve fixing planes.
A once-a-year brief refresher course is not going to make anyone an expert. As it is stands, some reservist even need time to figure out how to use a SAR-21. Skills to operate or repair complex machines should naturally involve experts who can be relied on to intuitively devise solutions when things go wrong, and fix things taking with thorough understanding of how the machines work.
Jan 23, 2019: CFC (NS) Aloysius Pang, died from injuries sustained during a training accident, which happened during an SAF training exercise in New Zealand.
Nov 3, 2018: Corporal First Class Liu Kai, 22, died at the Jalan Murai training grounds when an armored infantry fighting vehicle reversed onto his jeep.
Sep 28, 2018: An NSF was found hanging from a rope in his office in Sembawang Air Base.
Sep 9, 2018: A 23-year-old police NSF died a week after he was found with a gunshot wound to his head. His service revolver was found beside him. No foul play is suspected.
Jul 28, 2018: An off-duty SAF regular servicemen was found hanging from a rope in his bunk in Nee Soon Camp.
May 13, 2018: Corporal Kok Yuen Chin, 22, died in a hazing ritual gone tragically wrong. He was pushed into a 12m-deep pump well at Tuas View Fire Station by his squadmates to celebrate the end of his two-year service. He never resurfaced.
Apr 30, 2018: Corporal First Class Dave Lee, 19, succumbed to his injuries after being hospitalized for heatstroke. He had collapsed from heat injury after completing an 8km fast march at Bedok Camp.
Sep 15, 2017: Third Sergeant Gavin Chan, 21, died in Australia during an overseas training exercise. He had been guiding an armored infantry vehicle out of difficult terrain when it landed on its side. He was found unconscious next to it, and succumbed to his injuries.
2016 - Army boy in SAF died from grenade smoke due to negligence by SAF superior - ordering 6 grenades instead of 2 allowed. “
The impending Committee of Inquiry COI should be questioned on why such repairs & maintenance of highly specialised equipments & vehicles are carried out by our part-time National Service NS guys? These are full-time tasks which should be done by specially-trained full-time technicians.
On the same note, can Singpore Airlines SIA engage part-timers to repair or service their latest Boeing 787 Dreamliners?
The impending Committee of Inquiry COI should be questioned on why such repairs & maintenance of highly specialised equipments & vehicles are carried out by our part-time National Service NS guys? These are full-time tasks which should be done by specially-trained full-time technicians.
On the same note, can Singpore Airlines SIA engage part-timers to repair or service their latest Boeing 787 Dreamliners?
