By Prof Dr. Mohd Tajuddin Mohd Rasdi

In this article I would like Malaysians to seriously reject the National Service modules and think of a better alternative to bring the idea of unity and harmony between our young and instilling a sense of pride in the nation through a narrative of a shared history and future.

Recently, Brigadier General Arshad of the Patriots wrote against the continuation of PLKN, and I agree with him on this matter.

However, I do not agree with him when he says the issue of nation-building must go back to the school and the ministry of education.

I think in the past 40 years our public school system is no longer the agent for social change towards creating a new citizenry of harmonious cultures accepting differences in faiths and lifestyle. I estimate 80% of the teaching force is from one racial group and the head teachers have no ideas or care about nation-building except for statistical numbers in SPM results.

When PLKN was first enforced, my eldest child was selected as the first batch. From her experiences, I had written many articles in MalaysiaKini about the many deaths and negligence as well as unprofessional conducts of the PLKN.

There was no parent group allowed to check the facilities and camps for basic safety, and there was no quality assessment from an independent entity to evaluate the effectiveness of the pedagogy and the objectives targeted.

I personally have asked several PLKN graduates a simple question: how many national service candidates not of your culture and religion do you know, and are in contact with them after the camp experience?

My daughter herself has never mentioned any non-Malay friends she made and there was none also that she contacted after so many years as a sign of 'brotherhood' of Malaysians.

I have therefore concluded that the national service has failed to bring about the objectives of shared values among the young, and that it is also a death trap for our children in terms of its quality on safety.

Until today I have kept a detailed news media accounts of 20 deaths of our children that to my analysis was pure negligence and irresponsible attitude of the camp management.

The government has always maintained that the deaths were a result of unforeseen accidents and weaknesses of the candidates due to their inherent existing health conditions.

As a parent, I would not recommend any parent to allow our children to be entrusted to any of these camps at all.

I, therefore, vehemently oppose the reinstatement of the national service program for reasons of safety, failure to achieve nation-building objectives and the unnecessary cost incurred to the public purse.

I propose a one-month summer camp program to bring in a racially balanced group of Malaysians of selected youngsters to live, work and play together for 30 days. This program can occur during school holidays at the end of the year, when thousands of schools and hostels are available without incurring rental cost.

All national service trainers, who are mostly military personnel, must be retrained properly as real youth camp teachers and not army-style boot camp officers. Our children are not soldiers and should not be treated as such.

The summer camps should have lectures and discussions on our shared history, social responsibilities and spiritual values. Visitations to mosques, temples, churches, gurdwaras are a must to reforge the bond of society.

Students can also be sent for community programs to PPRT neighborhood as well as other community-based projects.

Military-style training should be kept to a bare minimum. Sports and games like basketball or volleyball can replace the physical team-building objective.

The candidates should also be made to visit state assemblies or Parliament while in session, or the state assembly buildings and meet politicians running the country.

Our children must be made to feel that they are the owners of this nation and it is their job to keep the nation running smoothly and in a direction that benefits all, not just one group.

Finally, each candidate must be made to visit the graveyards of the May 13 incident to meditate on this place and event so that the scar of the nation shall never be forgotten or its wound reopened.

I would like to call this new idea as National Camp for Young Citizens. It is the place where the young have a chance to contribute directly to nation-building by learning to accord dignity to all races, engage with leaders, help the needy, and give new ideas to build a better future for this country.

(Professor Dr. Mohd Tajuddin Mohd Rasdi is Professor at a local university.)