National Service, another BTN?

So much has been said and commented on the nature of the Biro Tatanegara (BTN) courses which said to promote hate among the races in this country. Some are demanding BTN courses to be scrapped while the Cabinet agreed to revamp it. On the other side there are also those who supported and defended these courses.

While the heat is still on the BTN, another type of course run by the government risks moving towards the direction of the BTN.  The National Service Training Program (NS) was started in 2003 when current Prime Minister Najib Razak was the minister in charge as the Defence Minister then. The NS is attended dutifully by hundreds of thousands of 17 and 18 year olds annually since 2004. The trainees for NS are selected through a computer generated system based on racial breakdown and geographical distribution.

One of the modules of the NS, Nation Building module ( Kenegaraan ) was managed by the people from BTN. The director-general of BTN then, Dr. Nordin Kardi was the chairman of the Sub-committee for the drafting of the module. The training program for NS trainers for the nation-building was facilitated by BTN officers.

Even if the contents of the nation building module for the NS trainees might be the usual stuff that can be found in local history books and civic courses, the intepretation and comments during the lectures can be subjected to the discretion of the trainers. If a trainer is an individual with bigoted and racial leaning, it will not be surprising if those stories about the BTN will also be heard soon regarding the NS.

If the government do not monitor closely the teaching methods and contents intepretation of the thousands of NS trainers, the furore over the BTN related courses will be repeated itself in the NS. - Loka

National Service : Suspend, Review and Improve

As one who had been involved in the National Service Training Program(NS), initially as a member of the Curriculum Sub-Committee, then as a trainer for the Nation Building module for the first batch of trainees in 2004, I was very supportive of the programs objectives and implementation. I also initiated the arrangement for the NS trainees of Buddhist faith from camps all over the country to attend religious sessions in local temples during the weekend .

During the first year of implementation, as many had read in the newspapers that time, there were many challenges and problems affecting the NS. Either on trainees transportation or payments for the bus drivers, condition of the camps or disciplinary problems, it was headlines for many weeks.

After all the camps were based in sites with facilities for classrooms, ground, highlands and water-based trainings, NS was not on the main radar of the press and public anymore other than the usual open days weekend for parents.

But then from time to time, cases of NS trainees drowned, seriously sick and died during and after attending the training was the news of the day. The NS Training Department will respond with relevant actions each time cases arises. To be fair, the NS training Department, lead by no less than three Director Generals since its inception had been very concern and took actions to address these problems.

And the foremost, the hands-on NS Council Chairman Lee Lam Thye had put in a lot of hard work and commitment to ensure the NS proceed smoothly with as little problem as possible. But then things do happens and when it does, fingers will be pointing everywhere but particularly the NS Training Department and specifically on Lee Lam Thye as he has been "the face" of the NS for the last four years.

The most recent incident affecting NS was when a trainee at the Geo Kosmo camp in Kuala Kubu Bahru, Too Hui Min died after complaining of abdominal pain. The blame game begins again and it seems that Lee Lam Thye got "whacked" by many people because of this incident. It would be unfair to make Lee Lam Thye the punching bag as the NS is the country's official program adopted by an Act of Parliament for the those in the 18-35 age group but something need be to done. It need more than just another statement or two from the NS department or even the Deputy PM and Health Minister.

What is required is a comprehensive review of the whole NS, from the policy on intake of trainees and trainers to the syllabus and modules and the medical standard operating procedure. To enable the review process to be more holistic, all stake holders are to be involved including current and former NS trainees and trainers, camps sites operators, affected parents, NGOs, relevant government departments and etc. The last time a public review and feedback session was carried out on the NS was in mid 2004. Its time to have another one.

While planning for the review and to avoid further unwanted incident and a loving youth sent home to their parents in a body bag, I hope the government will suspend the NS until the review is done and to produce recommendations to further enhance the program to minimalize the "risks" in NS.