Kevin Kwan, 44, the author of best selling novel ‘Crazy Rich Asians’, which inspired the film of the same title, is wanted in his home country of Singapore.
The country's Ministry of Defence has claimed that Kwan had failed to register for national service in 1990, despite notices and letters sent to his overseas address. It also accused him of having remained overseas without a valid exit permit.
"Mr Kwan is therefore wanted for defaulting on his NS obligations," the ministry said in a statement to Singapore newspaper the Strait Times just a day after the premiere in Singapore.
Kwan would be liable to a fine of up to SGD 10,000 (USD 7,275) and up to three years prison term upon conviction.
Singapore has a strict law on national service for all male citizens over the age of 18. It is illegal for men to give up citizenship without having completed military service, which is about two years, in the armed forces, the police or the civil defence force.
The national service requirements were instituted in 1967, shortly after Singapore went independence from Malaysia, to build up the small nation’s military force.
Young Singaporean men are supposed to register when they are 16 and half year old. Those who go abroad as teenagers are required to apply for exit permits. For longer stays abroad, young men must also post a bond worth at least USD 55,000 to ensure they return to complete the service.
The best moved to the United States with his family at 11. In interviews, he had said that he became a US citizen when he was 18.
Kwan’s 1994 application to renounce his Singapore citizenship and a subsequent appeal had been rejected, the ministry said.
The author, who did not attend the Singapore premiere, has not yet commented about this.
Source: The Guardian, The New York Times