Is SGD bond such as United Singapore Bond Fund or East Spring Select Bond recommended for risk averse investor with 5 years time horizon?

These two funds returned an average of 2-3% p.a. over the last couple of years. Better returns than the projected returns of cash management instruments. In the current climate with interest rates on lending at a low, I don't expect very good returns from money market instruments though.

In fact, if you take "risk" to be defined as the likelihood of losing money permanently on your investment, the risk of bonds in the current climate may be higher than usual.

If you are risk averse, consider how much return you actually want to achieve. Above a certain amount of returns, it may not be possible to achieve it without taking on some volatility.