National service (NS) or PLKN is probably the one of the most ill conceive and weirdest idea the ruling government of Malaysia has ever come up with. Yes I know its been around for 5 years now buts lets face it, its not necessary and bleeding the economy of Malaysia dry.

Let me begin with the definition of National service it is define as a common name for mandatory or voluntary government service programs (most often focusing on military service) also usually as a means of providing the necessary man power in the face of a country in the times of conflict.

So where does Malaysia fit into this? We have no enemies that want to take over the country or are involve in any conflict within or abroad. And lets face it Malaysia under no circumstances and ill hatred for Singapore is not ever gonna attack it! Military operations by Malaysia is ONLY limited to border patrols, civil protection and LIMITED peacekeeping operations under the banner of the UN. Hence having an NS program akin to conscription is a total waste of time.

NS is by no means a cheap escapade with millions of ringgit spent in building, maintaining, hiring equipment,trainer and catering to the hundreds of camps across the nation which by the way they are doing a very crappy job about it.

Yes I know that there are many 'Happy' reports about how NS have change the lives of the trainees by making them more independent, confident, new friends and fun (which by the way can also be obtain more cheaply aka FREE somewhere else). But lets face it NS in a purely economic perspective its useless and bleeding the country dry. The money use to fund NS comes from the taxpayers money aka your parents hard earn
money. Seriously the money is better spent on improving the appalling state of the various public commodities that as a whole the nation can benefit from. New equipment and more beds is needed for hospitals facing overcrowded conditions, help raise the wages of the police force,teachers, fireman, doctors etc. to ensure that they provide better services, improving and public transport, building more schools, providing amenities to rural ares such as CLEAN water and electricity, better housing for the poor or even protecting our rain forest. All of this endeavors will help serve Malaysia better then some cheap camping trip they shamefully call 'National Service'.

With the economy of Malaysia and the world in bad shape with more jobs being outsource to overseas countries particularly China and India, its about time the government did something right by dismantling this program and start investing in economic fields that are vital to the country economy so it won't be a sick economy. Investment by the government should be focus to seriously upgrade the country economy from cheap manufacturing country to a service oriented and resource driven one. After with countries like China taking up all the manufacturing jobs its gonna be rough trying to fight for the jobs. Just imagine the millions saved from NS and being invested to ensure the economic survivability of a nation can bring! Any Prime Minister that does that will be hero to its own people.

Back closer to home the statistics of people dying, getting sick and being rape while during NS is shocking. To date Malaysia has to be the only country that had not fired it Minister of Defense for a death of a trainee. In other countries the people will demand the head of the minister responsible even for a single death. Despite assurances that the security and safety will be upgraded by the government, it has so far failed. The security and cleanliness at most camps are very poor. In the more rural camps, communal bathing in murky ponds is practiced. The atrocious living conditions are speculated to be lower than announced cost of constructing the camp by the government. Sick trainees are generally not allowed to leave their camp even for treatment, due to the presence of on-site paramedics. This has been the cause of some trainees' death or illness.

Above and beyond that the lame and flimsy excuse use by some quarters saying that NS can improve the ethnic relations of the various races to utopian harmony like level, well sorry to burst your bubble but a period of little more than 3 months ain't gonna do anything. Racial harmony can only be achieved through years of interaction, socializing and in an atmosphere of acceptance and no discrimination! The only sure fire way to do that just had to be pealing away the policies of favoritism of one race over the other. Something the pea brain politicians have refuse to accept.

So all in all NS has always and will be a stupid a idea that has unfortunately came to reality. All it takes now is some one with common sense to ban the stupid program. In the mean time we just have to face the fact that we are heading to a recession and the children of the politicians are studying overseas and are not ever going to be selected for National Service!