1.    The Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) Medal for Distinguished Act or the Pingat Jasa Perwira (Tentera) is a State award approved by the President of the Republic of Singapore and gazetted on 25 Jun 97. The SAF Medal for Distinguished Act is conferred on any individual who has performed an act or a series of acts of courage without regard for his personal safety.

2.    The SAF Medal for Distinguished Act had previously been awarded to five SAF personnel and one serviceman from the New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF):

a. Lieutenant-Colonel (LTC) Toh Boh Kwee, First Warrant Officer Mohinder Singh, First Sergeant Teo Boon Hong and Lieutenant Leroy Forrester from the NZDF for risking their lives to help injured soldiers immediately after an in-bore explosion of a 155mm artillery round in the barrel of an FH2000 gun-howitzer occurred during a live firing exercise in New Zealand in 1997.

b. LTC Lo Yong Po for remaining behind in an area that was overrun by insurgents to see to the safe extrication of UN officials after extensive fighting broke out during his participation in the United Nations Special Mission in Afghanistan (UNSMA) in 1998.

c. Captain (NS) Kok Yin Khong for administering first aid, while exposed to hostile fire, to a UN military observer who was shot by an unidentified gunman in a fire fight, when he was serving in the United Nations Iraq-Kuwait Observation Mission (UNIKOM) in 1998.

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