The punishment of a National Serviceman for recording a video of ‘dog abuse’ and then releasing it to the public has ignited controversy.
In the 21-second clip, a dog is firmly secured in an army camp toilet cubicle with a rope tied around its neck, giving it little room to move around. The footage was sent by the NSF who took it, to the Animal Lovers League (ALL), who made it public on their Facebook page.
The NSF was later charged by the Ministry of Defence (MINDEF) with unauthorised videography and disclosure of information to a third party.
Simon Spencer, father of the unnamed NSF, gave a detailed account of the events leading up to and surrounding his son’s actions in a Facebook post.
In his version of the story, the ‘dog abuse’ fiasco started with a warrant officer throwing a truncheon at the dogs to chase them away for biting an admin staff. The incident escalated into a lieutenant colonel brutally hitting another dog in the presence of nine NSFs, as a demonstration of “how it is done”. The witnesses were then threatened with being charged if they disclosed the act.
Spencer went on to say that MINDEF called the ALL member, Cathy, who had the video to ascertain the identity of the NSF who shared it with her. Though MINDEF gave her the impression that it was “purely for investigation purposes” and “no charges would be pressed”, the outcome ran contrary to “their word”.
An animal lover, Spencer expressed resentment at the alleged mistreatment of the animals and the way MINDEF handled the matter. His post was followed by comments sympathising and agreeing with him.
One Facebook user said, “I’m very surprised that the LTC got away with no punishment at all. He is regardless responsible for the actions of his men.”
Another said, “Looks like some boys don’t make the transition to real manhood and use their ranks to conceal their true character deficiencies.”
One user’s comment sums up the crowd’s overall sentiment succinctly: “Since when is it OK to abuse people who try to prevent animal abuse?”
MINDEF, after concluding investigations on the matter, stated on Facebook that the accusations made “against these commanders were untrue and unfounded”, and that the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) doesn’t condone animal cruelty.
In a more recent statement, they said the stray dogs that had entered Pasir Ris camp were “aggressive”, “unpredictable” and were a “persistent danger to personnel”, using a photograph of dog bites on a female employee as emphasis.
In the midst of the tirade against the SAF, one Facebook user is sitting on the fence: “Let’s be fair. The fact is, we cannot fully understand the situation nor appreciate why the soldiers tied the dog that way (we were not there).”
Photo: The Singapore Army Facebook page
