Singapore legislation
Section 201E
Section 201E
Serviceman to act on Minister’s authorisation or superior order
(1)
A serviceman may exercise any power under section 201B(3) or (4) or 201C(9), or give an order to exercise that power, only —
in accordance with any authorisation or order by the Minister to do so; or
under, or under the authority of, an order of a superior (called in this section a superior order) to do so.
(2)
For the purposes of subsection (1)(a), any authorisation by the Minister includes written authorisation given in advance specifying the powers which are exercisable under the circumstances specified in the authorisation.
(3)
The Minister must not authorise or order the taking of measures involving the use of lethal force against any person, vehicle, aircraft, vessel or facility unless the Minister is satisfied that those measures are reasonable and necessary in the circumstances, and in so doing, the Minister must have regard to Singapore’s international obligations.
(4)
Subsection (1)(b) applies only if —
the serviceman is under a legal obligation to obey the superior order;
the superior order is not manifestly unlawful;
the serviceman has no reason to believe that circumstances have changed in a material way since the superior order was given;
the serviceman has no reason to believe that the superior order was based on a mistake as to a material fact; and
the serviceman exercises the power or gives the order to exercise the power in a manner reasonable and necessary to give effect to the superior order.
(5)
In this section, “superior” means the Chief of Defence Force, an officer, a warrant officer, a military expert of or above the rank of ME3 or such other serviceman as the Minister may specify in an authorisation or order.