The National Patriots Association (Patriots) said this was partly because the NS programme was handled by inexperienced personnel.
“All these institutions try to do military-related things, but they don’t have the experience.
“With due respect, NS has failed to instil (patriotism) in our youth. When we talk about patriotism, it is the love for our country. Aren’t you embarrassed when you travel and people keep asking you what is happening in your country?” Patriots member Major (Rtd) Ismail Jr Feisol said to FMT.
Speaking on the sidelines of a press conference here, Ismail added that as military personnel, they were even willing to die for the country.
“Our love for the country is so deep that we are willing to give up our lives for it.
“But these projects like NS, from the looks of it, aren’t done by people who love the country but who only have love for money. That is not going to work.
“What are they going to do with the kids that are sent to NS? They are not fit to be used as army front liners,” he added, comparing the programme to a holiday camp.
Fellow Patriots member Lieutenant Colonel Mohamad Sani agreed, saying NS trainees are not even fit to be categorised as paramilitary.
“Our neighbour (Singapore) trains their NS trainees for two years, and they are as good as front liners.
“We have spent billions, and yet these trainees cannot be placed as front liners. They are nowhere near the other countries that also have NS training programmes,” he said.
Aside from Singapore, South Korea also requires male citizens between the ages of 18 and 35 to perform two years of compulsory military service.
Malaysia’s NS programme was launched in December 2003. From 2004 to 2008, 339,186 youths underwent NS training.
As of 2011, the government had spent RM4.7 billion on the NS programme.
In 2015, Prime Minister Najib Razak announced that the programme would be suspended as part of cost-cutting measures.
Two years later, the government introduced a revamped NS training programme (PLKN 2.0) in which participants are selected on a voluntary basis.
The revamped programme consists of two phases. The first, which lasts for eight weeks, focuses on life skills and promoting unity. The second phase is optional, where trainees can obtain technical skills and on-the-job training with allowances.
Maintaining that the NS programme had failed to instil a sense of patriotism in youth, the Patriots group said it would propose a Patriot Youth Leadership and Patriotism workshop to be held together with the government.
Patriots president Brigadier-General (Rtd) Mohamed Arshad Raji said the primary aim was to help inculcate a sense of patriotism, national unity and leadership among the youth.
“The secondary aim is to help encourage our youth to enlist in the security forces.
“We hope to get three ministries involved in this project: defence, youth and sports, and education,” he added.
When asked if the workshop would clash with the NS training programme, Ismail said no.
“We are experts and specialists. Even though we are old, we were instructors of extreme activities such as extreme sports, and we plan to translate these activities into lessons of patriotism,” he said.
Captain Dr Wong Ang Peng meanwhile warned that the country’s social problems would worsen if people did not wake up now and do the right thing.
“Our youth are the country’s future, and it is our duty to educate them. We need to instil unity among our youth. We need to stay united, there are no two ways about it,” he said.
http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2011/10/12/rm4-7-billion-spent-on-national-service/
http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/opinion/2013/09/26/time-to-admit-ns-is-a-failure/