Check on NS, it’s time to fix the weak links

EVERY year, thousands of youngsters, fresh from completing their Form 5, head to camps nationwide to fulfil their National Service duty.

The programme, which began in December 2003 with a pioneer batch of 84,000 trainees, is still not compulsory, which is why potential trainees and their parents wait with bated breath each year to see if their names will be on the list.

Despite the initial trepidation in the early years, especially among urban children who shudder at the thought of venturing out of their comfort zones, the NS has become part and parcel of the national agenda.

Few will fault the programme for its noble objectives to develop and enhance the spirit of patriotism amongst youths; to encourage national integration and racial unity; to build character through imparting core moral values; to instil a spirit of volunteerism; and to develop a young generation that is resilient, healthy and confident.

And the verdict is still not in yet as to whether these objectives are actually fulfilled, and if the hundreds of thousands of NS trainees who graduate from the programme can use their three-month experience at camp to make a real difference in society.

When the lists are published each year, there will be a flurry of activity, which the NS secretariat is all too familiar with – ranging from requests for exemptions due to medical reasons to seeking permission for delayed callups because the children are heading overseas to study.

But for families who have to surrender their children to the programme, the real issue is about safety. Which is why, by word of mouth, many are now aware which are the best camps on the programme, and will do their utmost to have their children transferred to these camps.

The anxiety is for real when you consider the myriad of issues that have cropped up with regards to safety and sanitation, and how training is conducted.

More ominous are reported incidents of teenage pregnancy, racial disputes and now, the latest incident in a camp in Pahang in which Muhamad Suhaimi Norhamidi was apparently bludgeoned to death over a food dispute.

In the past 10 years, 23 of our children about to step out into adulthood, have died at NS camps. Among them was one trainee who died due to leptospirosis, a rat-borne disease, and another who had breathing difficulties.

These incidents may appear isolated and statistically negligible but try telling that to the parents who have lost their children under such circumstances.

A recent report about a camp in Balik Pulau painted in graphic detail the deplorable conditions at the camp where trainees had to sleep on broken beds with filthy pillows and maggots found in the food served.

The NS authorities cannot afford to be lax on the quality of the camps and the standard of their management. They must understand that most of the teenagers, who willingly come under their charge, hail from a variety of backgrounds and have lived under different conditions. Some may not even be able to handle 10 push-ups without feeling exhausted.

Some come from such rough-andtumble neighbourhoods that to queue up for food is not automatic.

And even the minds think differently, which is why careless words spoken can also lead to problems.

It has been 10 years, and the time has come for the NS to fully re-evalute the programme and fix all the weak links. It has to be proactive rather than reactive. Every death in the NS camp, whatever the circumstances that led to it, is one death too many.