Malaysiakini: NS to line pockets or instill patrotism?

IAF SG

Eric Mudasi
4:13pm Mon Jun 16th, 2003

So the national service is to be implemented come February 2004 - the cost, a staggering RM500 million. Is there some sinister agenda behind this? Why the secrecy? Is it really about instilling patriotism, sense of unity and loyalty in our children?

I as a non-Muslim parent would like to ask pertinent questions regarding the implementation of this 'rushed through project'. If it is to instil loyalty by serving in an uniformed body, I after serving 26 years in an elite fighting unit - having risked life and limb for this country - do not have feelings of loyalty towards this country.

Why? I have been used and discriminated against. Loyalty, I had, but that was snuffed out of me, leaving me with lingering resentment. Most non-Muslim parents do not know much about the military service, and on their behalf, I would like to raise valid and legitimate questions, after all, it is our tax money.

Does the national service organisation have professional and impartial instructors? I doubt it. Why? Take for instance, General (Rtd) Zaini Mohamed Said, who gave a directive not allowing non-Muslim soldiers to pray in camps. Please refer to my letter to malaysiakini, "Soldiers not allowed to pray" in February 2002.

This directive was issued after a discussion with his disgraced boss General (Rtd) Md Noh Che Arshad, who was then chief of army (disgraced - asked to leave the service for taking kick backs). All these generals are from the Royal Malay Regiment the largest infantry organisation in the Malaysian military and the most polarised, as all are Malays, only Malays serve in these regiment.

The majority of instructors in the military training establishments are from this unit. They would not have an inkling about religious and racial tolerance, it will even be worse down the ranks. If you have bigots at the highest levels of the military, my question is how on earth are they going to provide 'non-racist' instructors for our precious impressionable young teens.

Soldiers of whatever religious persuasions whilst on parades are forced to raise their hands like Muslims during the saying of the grace (doa selamat). They do not have a choice or they are marked men, but then they serve by choice. The pathetic excuse given is that it is for uniformity.

What about our children? To me the children will have a choice, as they have been conscripted (by decree), they do not have to raise their hands come what may, unless they have a joint saying of grace like in the US or the Indian Army. I would feel very offended if my child was forced to raise her or his hands. I will not allow it nor stand for it.

Is there any thought or effort going to be made for the religious needs of the non-Muslims - Sundays for Christians, Tuesdays or Fridays for Hindus and for people of other religious beliefs. Will the training programme cater for this need? For the Muslim conscript, this will be catered for as seen from the training programme for the Malaysian Military Academy, or Atma. If you notice here you do not see a semblance of anything to cater for the non-Muslims.

This is the moment to make big bucks too. The army insists that all officers wear and use a certain brand of belts from the UK, meaning the Sam Browne belt - each costs something in the region of RM300-plus. Only that is allowed, all others are not. The poor officers cry when paying for them. RM300 might be a paltry sum for some, but paltry too is the pay.

The same applies to shoes. The list goes on and that is only the tip of the iceberg. Probably Umno needs to raise funds for the soon-to-be called general election. What better way than through the RM500 million?

I believe at the end of the day if all these unequal treatments are not addressed, the conscripts will come out feeling like second-class citizens. Not only that, it multiplies the ill-feelings of the parents too towards the country. Parents are unforgiving, if the above is not addressed seriously, the by-products for these will be not loyal patriots. Is anybody out there listening?

Stevenson101 SG

Number 1:
This should be posted in a Malaysian political forum rather than here.

Number 2:
Frankly i find the Malaysians hilarious. They want to keep power exclusively to the Malays yet they want the economic strength of the Chinese and the Indians.
This has results in Malaysian Malays being extremely lazy and take the comfort they have for granted. They probably think why work hard when you can get the Chinese and the Indians to bring in the monnie and use the laws that was set to be favorable to them to get some shares?

Where is the farsight in implementing such a policy? Yes, the Malaysian Malays get rich and comfortable but what happens when the Chinese and Indians decide they had enough and migrate elsewhere? Eat themselves?

laser51088 SG

According to my SS teacher, not sure whether valid or not. . .

UMNO does not believe in Malay superiority

on the contrary, they believe that malays start out slower than others, and therefore need help. these laws and favouritism is meant to only level the playing field for malays and not to make them superior. that was the basic policy of umno when it first started anyway.

Atobe SG

For a better understanding of what UMNO stand for, you may wish to visit their English Website at:

http://www.umno.net.my/english_section/

The following is extracted from this web page, and seem to show the objective of UMNO:

OBJECTIVES
UMNO is a political party that strives to achieve national aspirations for the benefits of the people, religion and country, i.e.

1. To uphold the independence and sovereignty of the nation.

2. To uphold the National Constitution, the state Constitutions and the Constitutional Monarchy.

3. To uphold, protect and propogate Islam the official religion and to respect the principle of religious freedom.

4. To uphold the sovereignty of the people and social justice by practicing a democratic system of government, and developing the economy of the Malays and Bumiputeras as well as the Malaysian people in general.

5. To uphold the position of the national language (Malay language) as the sole official language and national culture based on Malay culture.

6. To establish racial co-operation in order to create a strong and united Malaysian people, based on human rights and the rights of the Malays and other Bumiputeras.

From the above, you can see that there is already some flaw in its objectives, as some of the clauses are self-contradictory, although they set out to be of very lofty principles.

laser51088 SG

how do u propagate islam and keep religious freedom?