YOURSAY | No point having National Service when we have racial politics

 

YOURSAY | 'For patriotism to be instilled, a sincere govt should treat all its people equally…'

Ismail Sabri: Govt to propose bringing back National Service

National Service cost could fund scholarships instead - Syed Saddiq

Anon25: Defence Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob, please abandon the idea of bringing back the National Service programme. Patriotism and a sense of being a Malaysian will only emerge with the correct government policies - through sports, through children playing and eating together.

Most importantly, they should be taught that they are all Malaysians. And their MyKad should identify them as only Malaysians. Sure, say you are Malay, Chinese or Indian but not in your identification documents.

Also, be like Singapore. In addition to Malay as the national language, develop a neutral and universally useful language which is English. They will be able to communicate with the world.

Ismail, you are practical and sensible, so please scrap National Service.

Good Old Days: Ismail, before you open your mouth, you should do a survey on whether Malaysians agree with the revival of the National Service. The programme was a total disaster previously, with deaths, substandard food and living quarters, corruption, etc.

So, please think twice before you implement it again. Patriotism begins at school, not after school. And for patriotism to be instilled, a sincere government should treat all its people equally and not otherwise.

Meow: Yes, there’s a simpler solution - consider all as Malaysians and remove certain privileges based on race and religion in all sectors, be it in government or private sector.

It will save billions of ringgit and avoid the problem of brain-drain. As long as some privileges remain for a certain group, it's not going to be fruitful to force anyone to "love the country".

PurpleJaguar0553: The National Service is just another money-making scheme for caterers, trainers, suppliers of bedding, clothing and equipment, etc. Children can be taught patriotism in school.

But most importantly, if the politicians from PAS, Bersatu and Umno continuously harp on race and religion, and opportunities and funding are always based on race and religion, neither this National Service nor any other programme is going to instil even a little patriotism.

It is difficult to be patriotic in a country where the government of the day, after 63 years of Independence, continues to practise a system similar to what you would find in a country practising apartheid.

WhiteRaven7644: I agree. This National Service is similar to the Special Affairs Department’s (Jasa’s) propaganda, wasting millions while some pockets are being filled. I vote no to National Service.

Whatever the government wants to instil, do it while the students are in school, not when they are out. Education Ministry, please wake up as this type of programme must come under your portfolio as part of the curriculum.

Pokokelapa: "Defence Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob said this was because the programme had boosted the patriotic spirit among the teenagers who participated in it after leaving school.”

If you cannot build unity and patriotic spirit during school days, that means the education system has failed. The teenagers who participated in National Service had no choice. Forcibly instilling patriotism is just useless.

Ultimately, it is all aimed at making big bucks by the very people who have creative ideas on how to milk the nation’s coffers.

Vijay47: As usual, critics of this noble proposal are unable or refuse to see the bigger picture.

The National Service would be a programme designed to unify the nation and in particular, lead the youth along the right path towards showing respect to the monarchy, the Federal Constitution and the Jalur Gemilang. What is shocking is that there actually are Malaysians hell-bent against this nationalistic objective.

People should realise that the goal of National Service is to mould the youth into being good citizens. Heaven knows that there are already challenges and distractions that lead our youth into sinful and criminal ways, like drug addiction, snatch theft, mat rempitomania and the discarding of newborn babies; some have even fallen into consuming beer and other devilish beverages.

This proposal promises much. There are so many elements within the National Service programme that can be harnessed to stimulate the economy. The generous contracts that arise can be given to deserving political leaders who can be relied upon to put national interests beyond anything else.

The first seeds in this direction have already been laid in the approval granted to Kanger International in the securing of the Covid-19 vaccine from China. We can be sure that Johor Umno deputy president Nur Jazlan Mohamed, in his patriotic fervour, will never let the country down.

Yes, National Service 2020 must march on – it is the best cure for Covid-19.

GreenKiwi9482: Tell me, Vijay47, what has the past National Service achieved? It only enriched the coffers of the powers-that-be and the cronies. Are you that naive?

Sure, if the programme is conducted properly and it has value for every participant, and after undergoing such training/service, Malaysians of every colour are treated without prejudices, I can say it has achieved its purpose.

Immediately after our independence, there was more unity among us than now – so, may I know why? Those up there think of ways to milk the system so they can laugh all the way to the bank.

Mano: @GreenKiwi9482, I’m guessing you are new to the comments of Vijay47?

You have to read between the lines and see what you cannot see (but you will, if you will) to understand the well-placed comments of Vijay47.

I, for one, will not miss reading Vijay47 comments.

Headhunter: I totally agree with Muar MP Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman, who objected to the revival of the National Service programme, saying that the funding could be better used.

He said the previous Pakatan Harapan-led administration had terminated the programme because its cost of RM700 million per year was excessive, and its directly negotiated contracts benefited the Umno leadership.

Their cronies must be dreaming of the good old days when money flowed like wine.

Instead of thinking out of the box of creating businesses that can generate returns that could ease our financial burden and create employment, they can only think of non-profitable expenses where a few rich cronies can get richer while the country gets poorer. They are treating the nation’s Treasury like their own.

SHGC: Yes, Syed Saddiq, please bring this up and oppose this National Service programme. There are many ways to instil a spirit of patriotism.

The question is, has it been conclusively shown that the absence of this programme has resulted in the deterioration of the spirit of patriotism? Is there any study to prove it?

Even if there is deterioration, there are many factors that can contribute to it. How can one be sure it is due to the lack of National Service?

Conversely, there are many other ways to instil a spirit of patriotism. Furthermore, how do you measure the level of patriotism? Is supporting BN/Perikatan Nasional/Umno patriotism?

And then, we have so many cases of death in National Service camps. Young people have died because of various infectious outbreaks in those camps, such as leptospirosis as mentioned in the article. And in this Covid-19 era, the camps will surely be one of the clusters.

Lastly, the camps have been shown to sow seeds of hatred in one race with another, sow propaganda of BN and at the same time, greatly enrich the pockets of the cronies. - Mkini