Yesterday, the Singapore Armed Forces wrote a public note on their Facebook page, recounting the key findings from the tragic death of Dominique Sarron Lee. 

His family, however, were not done with the case yet — they still needed further clarifications about an explanation offered by the Ministry of Defence. On the Facebook page made in Dominique’s memory, they posted an open letter that sought to clarify their position and address other misconceptions that emerged throughout the saga. 

You can read their whole letter here — listed below are just some facts that may not have been known to the public. 

Concentration, not just mere exposure

Dominique had actually taken part in a similar military exercise involving smoke grenades before when only two of the grenades were used. The training that led to his death saw the usage of six grenades — a breach of the maximum two as stipulated by the Training Safety Regulation. 

“This to us, suggests that the fatal allergic reaction occurred due to concentration, rather than mere exposure to zinc chloride fumes”, they wrote. 

Dominique’s death prompted immediate improvements to safety

The zinc chloride-discharging smoke grenades that led to Dominique’s fatal allergic reaction were switched to the new N452 grenades following the tragic accident. 

A Safety and Systems Review Directorate was set up; the Respiratory Medicine Specialist Advisory Board reviewed the medical classification of asthma; more safety officers were deployed on the ground as full-time Unit Safety Officers. 

“We wish all these safety measures had been in place sooner so that it would not have taken a death, Dominique’s death, for the SAF to realize their lapses in ensuring the safety of all National Service men.”

No apologies

According to the post, MINDEF and SAF had not issued any official apology for the death of Dominique — that is, until yesterday. More than three years since his death. 

“We had previously requested that the Minister for Defence offer the apology directly to Dominique’s mum as acknowledgement of the negligence on their part, and of the grief she has suffered, but we were rebuffed. We were told by the MINDEF representative, in no uncertain terms, that the Minister will never apologise for the incident, nor will any senior official from MINDEF/SAF.” 

MINDEF refused to pay for Dominique’s tomb

“Instead of the personal apology, we requested for MINDEF to pay for Dom’s tomb as a symbolic gesture, but this was again rejected. Legal constraints were cited as the reason for the rejection.”

One of the penalized officers recently got promoted

“…MINDEF/SAF has thus far, refused to show us how the justice has been done. All we know for sure from recent Facebook postings by netizens, is that one of the officers was promoted in July 2014. To our layman understanding, this seems to be a contradiction of the assurances by MINDEF/SAF that the negligent officers have been duly dealt with, that justice has been done.”

“Could MINDEF kindly clarify their statement in the Facebook posting, that ‘administrative and disciplinary action against the two officers’ have been taken? Please inform the public how the two officers have been ‘punished according to military law’ so that the public can see for themselves that the justice has been served, and not just know it to have been served.”

SDP’s Dr Chee Soon Juan was their last avenue for help

“We had initiated the meeting with Dr Chee as we are at our wit’s end. We do not intend nor wish for this to be a political issue. We had, over the past 3 years, approached no less than 4 PAP MPs, including an anchor Minister and a GPC Chairman for their assistance. We had even written to the Prime Minister several times, pleading for help in getting answers. All they did was to direct our questions to MINDEF for their reply. Such help is as useful to us, as a comb is to Michael Jordan. We are not siding with any political party; we are just seeking answers to get some closure. We only seek accountability from MINDEF and SAF. “