NS 3.0 must improve on previous versions

THE National Service Training Programme (NS) is back.

It was first introduced in 2004 under the Barisan Nasional administration, halted in 2015 due to cost-cutting measures, and reintroduced the following year.

The Pakatan Harapan government scrapped it in 2018, with a minister saying at the time that there were concerns about racial indoctrination.

But perhaps the biggest objection everyone had was the death of trainees – there were several fatalities, reportedly from drowning and health issues such as viral infections.

Even a single death is one too many when we entrust our children to the government. These were not army recruits expected to one day face threats to their lives in service to their nation.

These were teenagers attending the Malaysian version of American summer camps. Who expects children to die in such situations?

Parents complained of a lack of qualified medical support, of dirty tents and environs that made their kids sick. There were fights among the teens and – the ultimate betrayal – sexual assaults by trainers.

Some parents were also uneasy about the racial mix – or rather, the lack of it, as there was a large number of kids of one race. This was one of the reasons the programme was shut down in 2018.

The irony of that burns because NS was originally conceived to teach our youth about nation-building, but how can you do that if racial silos are not broken down?

The revived programme will be different, according to Defence Minister Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan. The Defence Ministry is involved because this time, NS will actually involve basic army training; specifically, 45 days at army reserve boot camps. That’s in phase two, while the first phase will involve training with school uniform bodies.

“Some 90% at the camps will be more of army training while 10% will be on nation-building,” he told Parliament on Monday.

Then there is the cost. Critics of the previous programme said it wasted time and resources. Over 14 years, it was reported that the government spent RM8.43bil on NS.

This round will cost less, according to the Defence Minister: RM100mil a year compared with RM500mil previously.

There is no time frame yet for reintroducing NS, which is just as well because if this version is to improve on previous iterations, we need to know the nitty-gritty of the proposal put forward by the committee set up to look into reviving this programme.

How safe will our youth be? What exactly is involved in the 10% on nation-building? How will trainees be chosen, and will they represent a mix of races?

Let’s have transparency this time to ensure the best for our teens.