SINGAPORE — The winner of the Singapore auditions for popular Chinese singing competition The Voice of China has been allowed to enlist in National Service (NS) at a later date, just in time to make it to the competition in China.

Originally scheduled to enlist next month, Mr Jeremy Teng (picture), 20, had applied for deferment but his appeal was turned down, jeopardising his chances of taking part in the global singing programme in Shanghai.

He then applied to delay his enlistment, writing to his Member of Parliament, Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam (Jurong GRC), for help. He also wrote to Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen and Minister for Manpower Tan Chuan-Jin, in hopes of expediting his request.

Speaking to TODAY, Mr Teng said he made his appeal on the basis that he was going to be representing Singapore and requested to reschedule his enlistment date to the last intake available in the year.

“I received the confirmation email yesterday, telling me that my request has been considered and that my enlistment date has been moved to later this year, which allows me to have sufficient time to compete in the competition,” he said on Friday.

He is scheduled to fly to Shanghai to participate in The Voice of China today.

Currently, those who are liable for NS but due to complete their GCE A-Levels, polytechnic diploma or an equivalent level may be granted deferment before enlistment. Deferment for university studies has been disallowed since the end of 2005.

Deferments are also granted for exceptional talents in fields such as the arts and sports, when the individual can achieve national pride for Singapore, provided they can show that the deferment is necessary and they have the potential to attain outstanding results in top competitions.

Last year, swimmer Joseph Schooling became the first athlete to be granted long-term deferment from NS so that he could prepare for the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro, where he hopes to win an Olympic medal. The 19-year-old was due to enlist this year, but has been granted a two-year deferment until Aug 31, 2016.

Others who have previously been granted deferment include violinist Lim Chun and pianist Lim Yan.

Between 1999 and 2009, the Ministry of Defence granted deferments for limited periods on “less than 10 occasions”, said Dr Ng — then the Second Minister for Defence — in a 2009 parliamentary speech.

In 2010, national long jumper Matthew Goh, who broke the national record of 7.62m in the 2009 SEA games, was denied a three-month deferment to represent Singapore in the Asian Junior Championships and World Junior Championships.