No records of Kevin Kwan entering Singapore since 2000: MHA

We refer to the letters by Mr Liew Yeng Chee and Mr Sean Lim Wei Xin (Is Kwan still a Singapore citizen?; and How did Kevin Kwan succeed in giving the authorities the slip?; both published on Aug 25).

Singapore does not allow dual citizenship. It is important that our citizens have a firm commitment to build a future here together. Allowing dual citizenship would dilute this commitment.

Hence, under the Singapore Constitution, the Government may deprive a person of his Singapore citizenship if he has acquired the citizenship of another country.

As Mr Kevin Kwan has not discharged his national service (NS) duties, his previous attempts to renounce his Singapore citizenship were rejected, and the Government has not deprived Mr Kwan of his citizenship.

Mr Kwan remains a Singapore citizen who is wanted for defaulting on his NS obligations, and will be arrested if he enters Singapore.

As far as we can ascertain, there are no records of him having entered Singapore since 2000.

As travel records prior to 2000 have been archived on microfilm, it would require a massive manual search through voluminous records to ascertain if he had entered Singapore before 2000.

Sunny Lee

Director, Media Relations

Ministry of Home Affairs

This article was first published in The Straits Times. Permission required for reproduction.