Whatever the reasons the parents decided to register their sons for Singapore citizenship, there should be some rules to be fair to the son.
Reality is that a Singaporean male is not allowed to renounce Singapore citizenship till age 21. And Singaporean males are asked to register for NS at age 16.
This penalizes the son for a decision made on his behalf by the father which he cannot undo because the rules forbid renunciation before age 21 assuming that someone below the age of 21 cannot make a good mature decision about citizenship. But when it comes to forcing son to serve NS as a kid it is ok?
There should be exceptions. And rules that allow for the son to not serve NS before renouncing SG citizenship at age 21. Or allow kids to renounce citizenship before the age of 21. Rules should include that son has not received any benefits of being a Singaporean after a certain age eg no education in SG never hold SG passport after a certain age etc.
You will not find such a program displayed by MINDEF anywhere on official sites for good reasons.
Personally I think they should allow kids below the age of 21 to renounce SG citizenship.
A family that has migrated to another country and is living there for good. Both parents have renounced SG citizenship. It has been 10 years since they left SG. But kids were born in SG before leaving to migrate with parents. Hence still SG citizens. Grew up in the new country. They have citizenship in new country for 5 years. But must wait till 21 to renounce SG citizenship? And during these years SG Medishield Life still want to collect premiums for the kids! Parents no need cos already no longer SG citizens. But kids still need.
Yes there is program to suspend Medishield Life premiums but for males they will say oh you need letter from MINDEF saying you do not have to serve NS before can suspend.
Thats a bit too much. Really jiak lui only. One moment say dowan you enjoy any SG programs then can let you not serve NS but require you to pay for Medishield Life and "enjoy" that benefit but MINDEF says that one not counted as enjoying benefits of being Singaporean so ok to pay for the premiums.
Too many contradictions.
In the end I agree with
@Papsmearer best to just forget about Singapore. Dont go there anymore. And whatever track you find that helps achieve your aims keep it quiet because clearly the authorities do not want Singaporeans to know about it for good reasons.