National Service - A death trap?* Mohd Rafee Amir from Kuala Selangor is the latest casualty of the National Service [Bernama report here]. His sister said he had called home last Saturday to say he had fever and his legs were swollen after a fall during training. Rafee was 18.
How many deaths since the NS was introduced in 2004 - 19, 20, 21?
Way too many. Those parents did not send their healthy children to NS to die.
* Borrowed from a posting in the Malaysian Medical Resources. To read the article, which predicts that another death would spell the end of the NS program, click here.
Sunday, September 02, 2007
Another NS death
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Most of the parents are terrified when their children are called for this NS thingy.
ReplyDeleteAm sorry to said that Mohd Rafee Amir will not be the last.
Another failed NS program which i would rather call it a NS project.
My heartfelt condolences to the family and friends.
All the YB's and menteri's sons/daughters should be made compulsory to join NS. Yes, everyone of them -- with no exception. No random selection for VVIP's kids. Make it automatic for them.
ReplyDeleteLet one of their kids dies there. Only then, these people in power will probably take this dogging problem more seriously.
whether one, or two or 50 trainees have died -- does that matter?
ReplyDeletecertainly. a death is a death.
it should not happen.
these kids are not being trained to be soldiers.
i think we are not ready for this. i know what they will say -- "there are thousands of trainees... deaths number ONLY 20 (or whatever the figure is)".
Well, tell that to the parents of those kids who died.
some of our national leaders are not worried about their kids in national service. heck, they send their kids to boarding schools abroad.
so, what's good for our kids is not good for theirs.
Shame on you!
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Can we all learn from the Singaporean National Service? I guess we should stop and take a look at best principles and adpot them here so that Malaysia will be better in 50 + 1.
ReplyDeleteI don't care if it's 19, or 20, or 21.
ReplyDeleteIf it's 1, it's 1 too many; period.
If you ask me, the NS is a waste of people's money and time for the youths.
ReplyDeleteWay back during schooldays, many schools enforced extra-curriculum activities; Military cadets, Scouts, Red Crescent; school bands and several others. There's also the clubs and whatnot that increase the thinking level. What the government should have done was to coordinate all these activities so students will learn more than what they do now and before.
But when money and politics come into play, every thing becomes a can do: profits from suppliers to NS goes to certain party coffers! Then there's the chance where the same party can indoctrinate the young with the brand of thinking - brainwashing is another word for it.
Will they ever close the NS? I seriously doubt it - Amir
Rocky, I'm a college student and earlier this year a classmate of mine came back from the NS camp prematurely.
ReplyDeleteHe had complained of pains before and when sent for a checkup the 'doctor' said he was fine. They sent him back to training. A few days later the ordeal became too painful to bear and he demanded to see a private doctor, who diagnosed that one of his organs (i think it was his liver) had ruptured. Only THEN did they send him back home, where he received treatment. I'm sure you've heard of many other cases where trainees first complained of symptoms but the trainers react too slowly (or either don't believe them), leading to the trainee's demise.
The NS camp trainers are probably prejudiced towards trainees because they think everyone is 'faking it' so that they will be sent back home. The mindset of these trainers are passed on to the medical examiners.
It's in my opinion that an independent non-government linked medical team should be present at all NS camps, not some dodgy quack. I won't go into details as of the extra costs this might add, but I'm sure the lives of the youth are important enough to consider this.
Just my two sens.
Salam Rocky.
ReplyDeleteSorry this is unrelated to your story, but bro Cakaaje of Talkonly hand 2 entries which are related to each other and is important.
The links are here.
(1)- http://talkonly.blogspot.com/2007/09/worlds-apart.html
(2)-http://talkonly.blogspot.com/2007/09/worlds-apart-unintended-continuation.html
Sorry again and thank you.
one too many? ask minister chua. percentage of death to particpants is still low and therefore worth the sacrifice for the sake of national unity. demented mind?
ReplyDeletethis time, see whats the excuse. can the chairman of NS and the concerned minister stand up and take responsibility, please.
NS is a pocket filler in exchange for our kids lives.... money is more important than anyone's kid.
ReplyDeleteFor God's sake, when are the people going to decide that enough is enough and that they will not send their children to this Roullete of Death whcih is called National Service but is actually an ingenious plot by well connected people to milk hundreds of millions of dollars a year from the people?
ReplyDeleteIf EVERY parent decide NOT to send their child there won't be enough jails to hold us all or for that matter not enough policemen to arrest every parent.
Malaysians are paying to high a price - even the life of one youth is too much and this mess has taken double digit lives already.
If you want to know how NS should be run,just look at SIngapore's. It's way tougher but there have been very few deaths. I can only find one on the Net - http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/296858/1/.html
Now that's National Service run properly, with the youth taken care of well.
Ours is a cess pool of neglect, abuse and ill treatment.
Parents, please come together for the sake of your sons and daughters.
I agree - we should suspend the stupid NS. Despite what the silly Lee Lam Thye said, things have not improved. This death proves it and more will come. Have we learnt anything? I doubt it. And I most certainly agree with all who said to send the children of ministers to these camps. Whassammatter? Are they too good for NS camps? Bloddy hell. I think if enough pressure is created by opinion-makers like yourself and your esteemed band of bloggers, maybe a change can be effected. And in so doing save some precious lives. Like the good blogger Nuraina has said, we are not training our kids to be soldiers for heaven's sake. Can't the authorities get it through their thick skull? Personally, I like Lam Thye quite a lot. Now looking at how he brushes aside issues on deaths at NS camps makes me want to puke. He even has the cheek to shed a tear once and said he was sad whenever a kid dies at NS. I wonder why he didn't put a stop to all these nonsense. Need more die? Does he want to be remembered as someone responsible for deaths of innocent kids so that he can further his political career?
ReplyDeleteNS was started as a money spinner for UMNO cronies and of course the good Minister-in-charge.
ReplyDeleteThese UMNO scums do not even send their children to our public schools for their education. Their kids are bundled off to Australia and Singapore for their primary education.
Even for simple medical treatment/check ups they prefer to go to foreign countries.
Will the BN Minister who has sent his children for NS, please stand up.
National Service
ReplyDeleteTo bring young people in unity
Learn the ropes of sharing and discipline
Going out in groups line of inter-action
Stay focus build character
In pursuit of the future
So ordered the BN government
Thinking this is the way to build young people
For tomorrow has to start somewhere
Now young adults died mysteriously
Hardly affirmative explanation given
National Service must go on
Involving hundreds millions to run these programs
In the corridors of parental woes
How to fight the laws of National Service program?
The young adults are sent to die unknown causes
Something must be wrong somewhere
Sad to hear about the incident
Sickness nobody really cares
Many deaths then the government wakes up
By then the horses have run
Why don’t they do it in schools?
Like my days in the scout movement
Teach them in upper secondary schools
Spread it out through the school holidays
In this way parents won’t object
Outdoor activities
Take it on the weekends
Select trails let them go
With proper guidelines and compass
The government too can ask
The parents to participate in these activities
In this way family connection boom
Every parent I am sure want to go
See what they can learn to discipline at home
Too many deaths people won’t go
They will say it is end service
A bad luck to join
The results won’t worth a life loss
Are we malaysians going to let Mohd Rafee die in vain?
ReplyDeleteIs the government going to just appoint committee to investigate; the same tactic to cover past deaths?
Is the Chairman of Ns going to give more excuses?
Is the DPM going to ignore the reasons for this tragedy as in the previous death cases?
Rocky I am mad about this happening, again and again. What is the purpose of the National Service Training. If it is for national integration then the present military training is not the way to instill unity among the young. Military training is to create man/woman to be ready to kill in time of war. The police training is to defend themselves when in time of need. But why must we put our fine young man and woman under that tough training. It served no purpose at all. Military training are to make soldier out of man/woman. It is not soldier that we want to create. We want to create citizen that are honest and hard working, that would do work not because he/she is under an order like in the military but because he/she love the job and do it with their hearts. In a word good citizenship.
ReplyDeleteI have train thousand of young people when I was in the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport and we never train them is a stressful manner. We organized Summer Camp, leadership course, Seminar and it works very well in instilling good citizenship among the youth. So why the need to introduce this National Service when we have no intention of turning them into Soldiers. If it is for the sake of national unity the Summer Camp programs is the best way to do that. Moreover it would cost less and the result is excellent. Just ask all those youth who have gone through the integration program organized by the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports especially the Summer Camp. I am confident that the answer would be it benefit them and made them good citizen. Unity among the participants of all races became so good that at the end of the program they cried. Later on they continue to be friends. Is this not what the country need.
So I would suggest that this National Service program be scrap immediately before another of our find young man/woman die and instead introduce more Summer Camp program with that kind of money they are spending on the present NS program. Thanks.
Dear Rocky,
ReplyDeleteMy son has completed the NS and and he and me would say it is a load of rubbish.All those crap mentioned by the people concerned of the goodness of the NS is pure shit.Smoking is rampant among the boys,food served is of third class rate,they need to be up at 5am daily not for singing the national
anthem but que up for their baths.I had the "pleasure" to visit the camp and came away nauseated.Imagine chunks of cut fish left lying along a drain that runs nearby the cooking area!
Lee Lam Thye is doing a disservice to his glorious reputation by assosciating with this National Death Camp !
Me thinks the right people to undergo this type of training should be the all conquering Rela personnel.
What happens to the kids who have completed the NS ??????
It has been more than a year since my son completed this programme.....and when the massive floods took a grip over the folks of Johor (Jan 2007)...I was hoping that he would be summoned for relief works......but sad to say...he was not contacted at all.And we live in JB.So, what is all this fuss about NS.
Please stop this nonsense (NS)....lets enhance the Bulan Sabit,Scout movement,Police Cadet,Girls Guide activities in our schools to prepare our kids to become better citizens.Down with NS !
The govt will never scrap the NS because doing so is admitting that it is a failure and NS is a bad decision. It is better for another trainee to die than for our beloved leaders to lose face
ReplyDeleteI agree with all the above and more to come who are opposed to NS. can someone set up a petition online to have our King step in and call this vain exercise to be suspended before more lives of innocent young men and women are lost? Young men and women whose parents' hope are pinned one and about to be dashed by a stroke of misfortune and misguided philosophy of the people who introduced this in the first place? Pak is right - we dont need military training to teach our kids to get along with all races. We need politicians to stop harping racial issues and to continually remind us of the black spot that is May 13. People on the grassroot level are colour-blind. It is the politicians who keep fanning the fires of racial tension. QED
ReplyDeleteWhat? Scrap NS? No way! There is good money to be make for that N*jib's dogs. Everything can be profitable from supplying first-aid to NS uniform to transport. How else do they know how to make profit from a business beside knowing who whom in UMNO?
ReplyDeleteIf the dogs are not happy how can that N*jib climb another notch higher to replace that Shepherd from Penang who has two goats and 10 kids?
NS is a failure. It should be discontinued.
ReplyDeleteNS for national intergration? As long as the BN parties busy politicking communal issues, you think NS going to help national intergration? One end we have youth being 'trained' not teached or shown but 'trained like animals' and at the other end, communal politics are being played out at full vicious volume at annual gathering, will it helps?
ReplyDeleteWhat a load of crap. Only a few selective benefits from it and it is pure greed.
I wish....badly needed here in Malaysia.
ReplyDeletehttp://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6974216.stm
Dear Rocky,
ReplyDeletesad to say the gomen will never scrap the NS program cos the stupid umnoputras, the cronies of the ... will stand to loose A LOT OF MONEY, they being the owner/running the camps with unskilled/untrained personnel paid a pittance compared to the owners who make millions each training session.
Scrap the NS? A snowball has a better chance in hell. That it is a cash cow for many will ensure that it continues on the same blissfull, unconcerned, uncaring way that this country is being run. As long as there is money to be made by crooked politicians and cronies the rakyat can be damned.These people have lost all sense of shame in their greed for money and power.
ReplyDeleteScrap the NS? For them it is better that innocent children continue to die than to kill the goose that has laid them the golden egg.
They should stop until the rakyat have a chance to see for themselves the actual conditions in those camps.
ReplyDeleteOne of the things to look into is how they filter who is fit or unfit, given how shoddy is the medical system around.
Not a shot fired and already two scores have died.
A govt that can't even run a simple rakanmuda program wants to do a national service program? Only death escapes their greedy clutches, it seems.
It should only be continued if every cabinet member and every political party central council and committee sends his/her son or daughter as well. Otherwise they should close down animal farm.
It's turning out to be another abbatoir.
all thsese allegations about money printing from NS, you expect the PM to defend like hell. For giving you the benefit of doubt MR DPM, please provide to all and sundry who are the main contractors including food supplier for this beautiful NS program. Dont be surprise, you will find loads of RM2.00 company or newly incorporated companies as the major beneficiaries.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, can the Chairman of NS stand up please. Do you want more people to drop dead before owing up for the shoddy leadership you have shown thus far. Or the nice suits you are wearing counts more than innocent youths being sent to hell now under the NS program.
Saya rasa, kesemua "pengusaha" atau kontraktor yang dianugerahkan dengan kontrak untuk mengendalikan projek PLKN ini perlu terlebih dahulu dihantar untuk menghadiri kursus PLKN dan merasai pahit maung bagaimana sekiranya mereka demam dan tidak ada tindakan diambil untuk membantu/memberi rawatan kepada mereka.
ReplyDeleteMereka juga perlu melihat rancangan Akademi Fantasia di mana apabila ada pelajar-pelajar yang demam, mereka dihantar ke hospital untuk rawatan dan bukannya dibiarkan "sembuh dengan sendiri" atau "mati bersendirian".
Saya amat berharap sesuatu dilakukan dengan segera untuk mengembalikan keyakinan masyarakat terhadap program ini.
Saya sebagai bapa tidak lagi mempunyai keyakinan terhadap program ini dan anak sulung saya bakal menyertai program ini dalam masa 6 tahun lagi.
Kepada Ketua Pengarah PLKN, yakinkanlah saya dengan program ini.
http://c-bok.blogspot.com
the govt very smart. 1st they create tension amongst races then with this they start a project to instill "muhibbah" and plunder the nation and happy cronies smiled all the way to the bank.
ReplyDeleteI am sick of the excuse that the death rate is at 'normal' rate. Normal my ass. Death rate of otherwise healthy 18 odd years old kids are so high? Who are these idiots kidding?
ReplyDeleteDon't forget that 'unhealthy' kids are excluded from this clowning. Road accident deaths don't count because these kids did not go through mat-rempit training!
Stop the bullshiting and take responsibility.
Rocky,
ReplyDeleteTake away NS you will prematurely
terminate the contract hundreds of cronies. Supplying uniforms, boots, laundry, equipments, jobless trainers who sexually abuse female trainees, canteen operators etc etc.
NS creates new job opportunities and at the same time ( just a few lives ) take away some lives of innocents young healthy kids who are suppossed to lead our country.
Pure Load of Rubbish. The PLKN / NS stuff can be intergrated inside the school curriculum and spread out through-out the year.
Everytime when there is death - " Kita akan menjalankan Siasatan Yang Terperinci." Apa lu mau siasat - pelatih dah jadi mayat. Kena batang hidung anak sendiri baru tau rasa.
Lepas ni...bagi duit pampasan la pada ibu bapa mangsa dengan harapan boleh tutup mulut & senyap sikit. Otak hang!
Takziah pada ibu-bapa mangsa.
Alfatihah.
John Labu.
I couldnt believe it reading in the mainstream papers that he was provided adequate treatment. let me say this in utter disgust. you murderers, just stop lying. a young man just wont drop dead from fever, cough and flu after proper treatment has been given and that after 5 days when he was first reported sick. when will you guys own up of the inadequacies of the whole NS structure which is set-up more to skim money from the government's purse. when will you guys shut down this NS money skimming scheme before more young people dies at your blood tainted hands. Can you guys, in particular the Chairman, sleep a nite knowing full well that innocent young men are being sent to this russian roulette NS program.
ReplyDeleteMalaysia, a caring society??? Already more than ten deaths and more than 10 investigations. Do they really care? The advisor and chairman of the programe, Lee Lam Thye should advise the PM and DPM to terminate the programe immediately. This is death and not a cut, a bruise or a sprain. The whole cabinet is responsible for the death of all these young people who died in the programe. If not for this cursed programe they would be alive.
ReplyDeletecopy&paste.
ReplyDeletesay it again man.
Let one of their kids dies there. Only then, these people in power will probably take this dogging problem more seriously.
SAD to say the gomen will never scrap the NS program cos the blodystupid umnoputras, the cronies of the ... will stand to loose A LOT LOT OF MONEY, they being the owner/running the camps with unskilled/untrained personnel paid a pittance compared to the owners who make millions each training session.
YALAH LIKE THE BABI CASE IN MELAKA.IF THEY THROW PETROL BOMB WHY NOT YOU PEOPLE THROW BACK HAND GRENADE!!!!
I read with disgust the comment by Datuk Sri Najib Razak on the death of the trainee in this morning's NST. The deputy prime minister said "Those found negligent would be transferred out of the NS." He also denied that 20 trainees had died since the start of the programme. "This is a matter of perception. The truth is there have been only 14 deaths and not all of them in the camps" What is he saying? He admits there have been 14 deaths and he takes the matter so lightly. This man has no conscience and he teats people's children like chattel, to be used for his purpose. All parents who have children below 17 should petition the PM to stop the programme immediately. You send your children to the NS programme at your own risk and there is no guarantee that your children will come back well and alive.
ReplyDeleteThe NS system is a disaster. People must begin to resist it for it to end!
ReplyDeleteWould you be willing to spread the word about www.draftresistance.org? It's a site dedicated to shattering the myths surrounding the selective slavery system and building mass civil disobedience to stop the draft before it starts!
Our banner on a website, printing and posting the anti-draft flyer or just telling friends would help.
Thanks!
Scott Kohlhaas
PS. When it comes to conscription, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure!
I read with disgust the comment by Datuk Sri Najib Razak on the death of the trainee in this morning's NST.
ReplyDeleteread it on paper,not only disgust,yerkh.feel like womitting,smell like pig to N.S.I JUST HOPE TO CLOSE MY EYES AND HEARS ON THIS THING.NOT COMMENT FROM THE 'TOP'.IT MUST BE DONE.earlier.