Instead of launching into a quick judgment of Mr Brandon Smith's stance, it is imperative that we take a step back and evaluate the issue from his point of view ("Singapore-born New Zealand teenager faces fine, jail as he seeks to avoid national service call-up"; ST Online, Jan 24).

I was born in the United States and am a dual-citizenship holder who completed my national service a little more than a year ago.

It was surreal and perplexing to receive a letter on my 21st birthday requesting that I choose my citizenship before my next birthday.

As a 21-year-old who has just commenced college, I am two years behind in exploring what I want to do in the future.

It, therefore, would come as no surprise that I am faced with multiple dilemmas at once. I have yet to decide on my field of interests and my career aspirations, and I now have the added conundrum of deciding where I would want to live.

Hence, I urge the Singapore Government to rethink its policy of requesting male dual-citizenship holders (who have served NS) and female dual-citizenship holders to renounce one of their citizenships at age 21 and 18, respectively.

It would be beneficial and fair to require renunciation only upon the completion of our college education, when we have developed a better understanding of what we would like to do in the future.

It would be a waste if many young people like me were to recklessly make uninformed decisions with regard to their citizenship.

Ho Weng Shian