SINCE we are now short of money, the time has come to review – once and for all – the benefits of the National Service programme.

We are not at war, nor do we entertain hostilities with anyone except Israel (and even then only diplomatic hostility towards the Zionist State, rather than individual Israelis), and so our national service programme must teach young Malaysians something else. What, exactly? Its stated goals are to encourage patriotism, multiracial awareness, a spirit of volunteerism and to produce an active intelligent generation – but really these should have been dealt with several years previously in the schoolroom. Instead, our servicemen and women (called “trainees” for some odd reason) wear expensive military uniforms and are taught to fire assault rifles. They learn about unity and – after 21 deaths in camps – the ever-present possibility of mortality. They learn about nationbuilding (which they can do in a few hours of playing Civilisation or some such computer simulator), character development (ditto) and community service. Above all, we impress on these young minds the immeasurable value of loyalty – not to the government of the day (surely children are not civil servants, are they?), but to the greater good of our sovereign nation and the laws of the land. The greater good of the community – this a virtue that must transcend the base demands of party political commissars and individual camp instructors. Or does it? Former Deputy Land and Cooperative Development Minister Datuk Dr Tan Kee Kwong now faces expulsion from Gerakan for accepting an offer by the Selangor government to head a taskforce on land issues. He is not the first Gerakan member to do so – in April, the party’s former secretary- general (and contender for the Chief Ministership) Datuk Lee Kah Choon earned the wrath of his bosses for accepting directorships in two State development agencies. What, however, is so terribly disloyal about working with a political opponent for the benefit of one’s constituents as a whole? Tan’s own father was an eminent Tan Sri – recognised thus after his retirement for his invaluable contributions to the nation as leader of the parliamentary opposition and a founder of Gerakan (when Gerakan was on the other side of the House), amongst other things. That both the younger Tan and Lee are eminently qualified for their positions and thus merited their appointments did not appear to enter discussions. That, as members of Gerakan, their appointments would have provided the Barisan Nasional component party an unprecedented position of influence within two opposition State governments also did not seem to signify. Sadly, not only does this point towards a general refusal to engage with one’s political opponents (to the point of excluding them completely from the decision- making process), it also betrays a fundamental failure of the meritocratic ideal. While much of the reactionary nature of this issue can be laid at the feet of a nation still in shock of the “tsunami” that swept through the general elections, a great deal more blame must be attached to the political culture of complaisance that we have allowed to thrive under half a century of one-party leadership. Such partisan practices belong within the tradition of politics that died on March 8, 2008, and while it would be convenient for many to return to that Golden Age, the truth is that our country has outgrown its political institutions – or at least what those institutions have become today. Instead we are being told constantly to defend archaic ideas such as unity and tolerance, when really it should be the foundations of unity that gives us strength to dissent, and that tolerance should yield to understanding. The debacle of National Service continues to make a mockery of these principles by attempting to teach the young what we ourselves have failed to learn. And just as we are obsessed by unity when our children have already moved on, the exclusion of Tan and Lee from their political base marks our inability to acknowledge what true national service should mean to us all. U-En Ng graduated in mediaeval languages and is a journalist. He is parliamentary sketchwriter for Malay Mail.

Source: Malay Mail – June 9, 2008