[ST28May2010]: 'Info could have come sooner: Mindef '

May 28, 2010
Info could have come sooner: Mindef
Ministry says needs of injured soldiers shot in Thailand were priority, but it should have informed media at that time.

News that Pte Raj had also been injured emerged only this week, after a Straits Times report on the incident in which his comrade was accidentally shot during a training exercise in March. -- TNP FILE PHOTO
THE Defence Ministry has said it should have been quicker to make public details of a shooting incident that injured two servicemen in Thailand.
Criticism of the ministry arose after The Straits Times reported on Tuesday that First Sergeant Woo Teng Hai had been accidentally shot by a farmer, while on a training exercise in Thailand in March.
The next day, a woman who read the report came forward to say that someone in her family had also been hurt in the same incident.
Private J. Pritheevy Raj, 19, has a pellet lodged in his right cheekbone and another in his right shoulder.
Both servicemen - 1st Sgt Woo is a regular, and Pte Raj a full-time national serviceman - are now on medical leave.
After The Straits Times reported on Wednesday what had happened to Pte Raj, questions about why the ministry had withheld details on the second victim arose in this newspaper's Forum page and elsewhere.
In a response yesterday, Mindef said its immediate priority in the event of a training incident is to attend to the needs of the affected servicemen and to inform their families.
But in his letter, ministry spokesman Darius Lim added that, given the nature of the incident, 'Mindef should have issued a media statement when it occurred'.
He said the public is informed 'whenever there is a serious incident, or where the incident is likely to be of public interest'.
1st Sgt Woo and Pte Raj were accidentally shot at about 1am on March 13 by a Thai farmer who was out hunting in a training area in Kanchanaburi province, west of Bangkok.
Colonel Lim said the pair were given immediate medical attention and flown back to Singapore the same day for further treatment.
'The families of the servicemen were immediately notified and provided regular updates.'
Col Lim added: 'Whatever information that is available is provided to the servicemen and their families as soon as possible.'
When contacted, Mr Michael Palmer, who chairs the Government Parliamentary Committee for Defence and Foreign Affairs, said yesterday that news of the shooting in Thailand was a shock.
He agreed that Mindef 'could have been faster off the mark in issuing a statement to the general public'.
However, he added, the primary duty of the Singapore Armed Forces and the Defence Ministry was to the injured servicemen and their families, and that they had not failed in this regard.
'Information to the general public must come second,' he added.
http://www.straitstimes.com/PrimeNews/Story/STIStory_532344.html
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SG forums:
25May2010: Injury Medical Leave: 1 NSF & 1 Regular Commando @ Thailand
SBoy forum:
28May2010: Mindeaf Justifies Hiding NSF Kena Shot. Acceptable? What are you defending?