Letter to the Editor
Straying from NS Aims
20 April 2007

I AM deeply disturbed that National Service (NS) trainees are being taught how to use guns.I find it hard to accept that these youngsters who are not allowed to vote,and where some among them are not allowed to watch movies with elements of violence in them, are wielding weapons of war.

It was my belief that the purpose of National Service was to foster unity among young Malaysians, and to increase under- standing among the different ethnic groups.

I fail to see how dealing with weapons helps in any way with this initial objective.

We live in a world where there is a culture of violence, and a seeming tolerance of it. Teaching youngsters to use guns would only feed this existing violent tendency.

The National Service is an excellent opportunity to show young Malaysians that problems can be solved diplomatically and democratically through dialogue.It is important to teach them not to resort to violence.

Also,one cannot deny the many problems inherent in the National Service programme. We have recently seen reports of deaths at the camps.

It is my opinion that using guns,even when supervised, will expose trainees to danger and may raise the chances of mishaps.

I do hope that the relevant parties involved in the planning and setting up of the National Service programme would re-evaluate their position on weapons training. Let us really foster peace and understanding and not just pay it lip service.

Vizla Kumaresan
WAO Member

Related News:

• M16 compulsory for NS trainees (The Sun, 6 June 2006)
• Ongkili disapproves plan to explose NS trainees to firearms (The Sun, 16 June 2005)
• No need to gun for arms training (The Sun, 15 June 2006)
• The "big deal" with firearms training (The Sun, 23 September 2005)
• Arms usage training kills NS objectives (The Sun, 9 Sept 2005)

Related Resources:

• Opinion - Hysterical Over National Service