| Boot out those National Service boot camps! |  |  |  |
| Posted by admin | |
| Monday, 12 May 2008 11:07 | |
| Our youth are born gifted and talented. They should be turned into 'radical multi-culturalists' or 'Malaysian transcultural citizens' that will be "walking democracies in themselves". This should be the vision of our nation. Dr. Azly Rahman dr.azly.rahman@gmail.comhttp://azlyrahman-illuminations.blogspot.com/
"We don't need no education.... "NS Training Department director-general Datuk Abdul Hadi Awang Kechil said Hui Min died on Wednesday at 10.45pm at the Slim River Hospital in Perak....The teenager and 177 other trainees had chicken rice for lunch while training at the shooting range in Jugra Banting, Selangor. They arrived at the range at 1.45pm. ...We are in a state of disbelief because she was an active and healthy 18-year-old," the distraught mother said. She has two other children....Chin said Hui Min, who scored 7As in her SPM examination last year, was to enter Form Six at SMK Bukit Kuda in Klang on Monday. --- The Star, May 9, 2008.My deepest condolences goes to the family of Hui Min. I feel for her loss and the lost of twenty other children in this camp called National Service. We need answers for this. Previously I argued that the Biro Tata Negara training programs are working against national unity and breeding a dangerous form of ethnocentrism. Both, this program and the ill-conceived National Service camps are based on the philosophy of anti-humanism and one that does not value the multiculturalism of this country. They may not be teaching Malaysians to live as good citizens in a Malaysian Malaysia. As in the case of the National Service, the public has not heard of an evaluation report on the effectiveness of the first session. We need a national report such as one produced in a developed nation. With the many deaths that has been reported, we need to stop the program immediately. We are infusing militarism in education. Our youth wants to know what will become of them in a society governed by those who think that education is the process of shoving into their minds a certain form of nationalism. Our youth wants explanations why military leaders are running their lives in those camps of indoctrination. The parents of these children need to know that what the government is doing is actually wrong - anathema to the meaning of education. Most of all they want to also know why there are so many deaths in those camps. They should be taught how to imagine what a new government might look like, instead of being made to anticipate which son, daughter, son-in-law, daughter-in law of past or current leaders will be installed as rulers. The children want to have 'ownership of democracy' not to be owned by political demagogues. They should know what strategies these broadcast stations are using to invent and manipulate realities, to blow the minds of TV viewers, to mesmerise viewers into organised confusion, to glue them to the TV sets, and to sell dreams in order to gain as much profit as they can through the production of sophisticated junk. The youth of today should know how the government and private TV stations are contributing to making the few owners of satellites up in the sky rich, while the poor on the earth below are happy being poor as long as they have 100 channels as their intellectual diet. As the media critic Neil Postman once said, "Thanks to television, the children of tomorrow will have four eyes and no mouth." Youth empowerment Once we have given the national service to the faculties such as the school of education in Malaysian public and private universities, we can design the programme based on the seven considerations below: 1. Involve representatives from youth themselves; those who can articulate what they need to know in order for them to create a society that is less corrupt and one that will be governed based on a strong sense of distributive and formative justice. 2. Involve representatives of the youth political parties in the redesigning of the national programme. We ought not to turn the project into a battleground for the hearts and minds of the youth but rather, in the tradition of conflict resolution and mediation, to give due respect to the youth to express their hope and wishes to be good Malaysian citizens that will chart their own political, intellectual and cultural destiny. We may discover that in the non-partisan dialogues a great deal can be achieved in the long run. 3. Involve educators from the different ethnic groups who understand the hopes and aspirations of our youth and who want to design a better future based on multi-cultural understanding in the most meaningful sense of the word. They are the best sources of cultural information and cultural leadership. Invite educators who understand the best designs in curriculum and instruction to come up with engaging, student-centered, democratically-inspired, higher-order thinking skills-based daily lesson plans that will sustain the interest of the youth and make them understand the meaningfulness of the concepts and the skills we are attempting to impart. Invite competent educators to work with the youth - those who have mastered the art and science of teaching and managing the youth. In short, get highly-qualified and certified teachers and trainers to be in the programme. Education is too precious an enterprise to be left to those who are good at killing the creativity of the learners. 4.Train the trainers to understand who they are working with and how best to develop the minds of those they are attempting to educate. Again, the idea that education is a gentle profession must be applied to the training programme that hopes to create thinking citizens who will value knowledge as a most powerful tool of nationalism as well as to understand the complexities of globalisation and cut-throat crony-corporate capitalism. The trainers and educators should undergo a six-month university-offered course in Cross-Cultural Perspectives in order to equip themselves with enough concepts and skills to teach a multi-ethnic population that is diverse. 5. Create a 'voucher system', in which a youth will bring a certificate of educational funding, and choose which program at an institution of choice to attend in order to fulfill the requirement of a National Mind Development Service programme. The money allocated for each participant is channeled to the proper organisation/university; one that can provide training based on a set of competency standards. In other words, the youth are the customers of the quality service we provide. This should be better than treating them like juvenile delinquents and prospective inhabitants of our prison-industrial complexes. Create an incentive such as college credits or Advance Placement courses (AP) for universities that will help youth transfer the earned credits to meet the needs of a university/university college foundation course. The voucher system would also build into the programme the notion of accountability. The universities or service-provider institution, will have to market themselves well and follow the national standards closely. 6. Have universities managing this programme conduct sustained and cumulative action research projects that will document the success or concerns of this project. I am sure each institution, given adequate funding, can produce magnificent evaluation report as nationally and internationally significant to document the intellectual development of our precious youth. Foundational questions The Malaysian Mind Development Project, my proposal for an alternative to the current national service, should be based on several fundamental questions that will form the basis of this major undertaking. Following are the foundational ones: - How has politics, economics, sociology, and psychology shape the Malay, Chinese, Indian, Iban, Kadazan, etc youth of today? - What do they value? What are their hopes? How has tradition contributed to their identity? What is the nature of youth culture they are in at this point in history? How might we teach them to explore transcultural identities better? -How can this information be used to create a good enough mind development project to effect the changes in thinking we wish to see? What kind of political, social, and cultural system would they desire as a utopia? How do we help our youth construct an ethical society that can regenerate itself through revolutionary and evolutionary changes based on the truth-force of transcultural philosophies? Herein lies the importance of training in multi-cultural education that values conflict resolution more than indoctrination and military training. Knowledge is power. History is a subjective field of knowledge; a study of the creation of the possibilities of freedom out of cultural constraints and cultures that disable. Approach the training from a neurolinguistic perspective of teaching; an approach which begins with respecting the child as a powerful, intelligent, loving, and wise human being, and designing curriculum and instruction that values the dialogical process more than dictatorial approaches. Education is not about humiliating people in boot camps. This paradigm is only suitable for the creation of a society made up of masters and slaves. A plethora of research into brain science and its application to the principles of learning points to the idea that when learning happens in a stressful, dictatorial, meaningless environment, the natural response of the brain will be to be in a 'fight and flight' mode. A positive environment will be one that will not have the children be talked down at or worse, yelled at. Poor curriculum design and incompetent educators add to the breakdown of the learning system. We must create world-class youths that can think, argue, reason, rationalise and create ethical alternative futures from the ideological ruins of yesteryears - youth that will know the value of peace and inter-faith dialogues, inter-cultural understanding that breaks the shackles of ethnocentrism, parochialism, and greed. What must we do? I therefore address all of you: Youth of today, would you agree to a newer design that is based on strategies to develop your cognitive and emotional intelligences? Even in the United States, research on the effectiveness of boot camps as a positive experience remain inconclusive. Parents, ask questions of what is the meaning of education, instead of letting the state jail your children! The children will learn to hate learning and most likely end up being unpatriotic. Military-leaders turn educators and professor in uniforms - you need to make way for liberal, humanistic educators to take charge of this process of social reproduction. Leaders in government, rethink how we may create a better society. The future of our youth lies in your hands. We must begin releasing their imagination, by providing the tools of critical, creative, ethical, and futuristic thinking; we cannot impose our thinking that has run its course. Teachers, your role essentially is to transform the next generation into 'radical multi-cultural and transcultural beings' These beings will be the next generation of leaders and informed citizens that can create a new government based on reason and reflection, not one based on the modern class and caste system nor on ethnocentrism or retrogressive religious extremism. Professors of education, and professors in other fields, help the progressive teachers in our society to work out a collaborative plan to help bring our youth back to the field of cognitive development, not let their minds be played around with in some remote encampment. Government executives, educate and liberate our youth to chart their own destiny, so that they may become makers of their own history. Trust them to build a better future than what we have; a future that celebrates peace, social justice, social equality, and tolerance. A future based on the rule of reason and virtue. We must go back to the essence of things entire. We must de-evolve. We cannot afford any more deaths in our boot camps. They are not going to die with this brand of patriotism. Comments (90)  ... written by Bigjoe99, May 12, 2008 11:17:24 Lets be honest about what NS really is. Its 3-month holliday camp to give out contracts. National unity, social ills, etc are sideshows. Whatever the merits of it, its not worth 1 single innocent live much less 18 or so by now.. If as a nation, we are willing to tolerate those lost of lives for those so-called stated goals of national unity, social ills etc, we don't deserve it, we might as well end up killing each other off.... report abuse disagree 0 agree 104 ... written by Raja Chulan, May 12, 2008 11:17:28 National Service Camps are just one of the many schemes by UMNOputras to reward their cronies by contracting out allied services to the Camps, such as catering, premises rental etc. NS is a total SCAM report abuse disagree 2 agree 120 ... written by Bigjoe99, May 12, 2008 11:19:00 The fact that Najib who is the one behind this, think its OK and still act OK about it, tells us what kind of PM he is. A few lives lost does not matter if he is not held accountable for it. Wonder why people think he has a hand in Altantuya murder? Why not? report abuse disagree 2 agree 80 ... written by Malaysiaku, May 12, 2008 11:23:19 I wonder who actually benefits from having the National Service. All those camps around the country...who owns and runs it? Who has been given the contract to manage it? What are their experiences? Who gets the contract for uniforms each season? (This is important. I know the answer and if you dig deep enough, you will find it too :-). Are these 'awards' to manage these NS camps an effort to 'reward' cronies and make money? Obviously, at such short time there are so many deaths and with 3 months NS, heaven knows what good this training will do for the trainees. Perhaps this is an opportunity for some to make money? My wife and I prayed that the NS will be scrapped before our kids comes to age to join NS. We actually fear for our kids safety despite the empty promises of safety within the camps. Rape, killed and what have you. I would say screw it. It is nothing but a waste of time and public money. report abuse disagree 1 agree 113 ... written by ralverd, May 12, 2008 11:24:29 My deepest condolences to the family of the victim. Read more at my site : http://www.ralverd.com report abuse disagree 0 agree 21 ... written by rockli, May 12, 2008 11:33:44 I wonder how Lee Lam Thye sleeps these nights. How many of the politicians children are in these camps, they should all put their children into this program, if its so good for the nation. Why sacrifice other people's children? Why waste tax-payers money - is it so that so cronies can make money from NS catering, camps, transport, etc. Lets end it before we end saying the NS is a children killing camp. report abuse disagree 0 agree 83 ... written by eeyaw, May 12, 2008 11:38:45 To all Malaysians whose children are to be included for NS, say NO! Call for civil disobedience!!! report abuse disagree 1 agree 63 ... written by Ken Liew, May 12, 2008 11:39:27 As the edutation are not poisen enough...... they made NS to brain wash the young generation, so that the Ketuanan minded are implant deep to the root...... its a 1 stone 2 birds...... planting ketuanan mind and Najis leeching the wealth of the nation and some life of good youngster. report abuse disagree 0 agree 24 ... written by MobyDick, May 12, 2008 11:39:52 Youth behavior problems can be easily traced at schools that they go to especially attendance per term. Pick them up at an early age from Form 1 & nurture them with extra disipline & more interesting technical classes at school itself with their compulsory parents consent weather they like it or not. I'm sure the 5 years of brain-storming will do them more good than the miserable 3 months that they spend in National Service; I'm sure the extra $$ spent by the Education Dept will be in-comparable spent now for National Service as facilities at these schools are more than adequete for Malaysian, we do not need trained 'Soldiers' like Iraq or Afghanistan to cure our social-ills, anyway what can 3 months at our camps do to problem-youths as their up-bringing within their home can do nothng about it since they are able to loither around the neighbourhood for a start. report abuse disagree 0 agree 11 ... written by Cheryl, May 12, 2008 11:40:05 Deepest condolences to Hui Min's family. NS is rubbish! The PR government must throw this thing into the furnace. NS only breaks up the national unity. report abuse disagree 0 agree 23 ... written by alpha100, May 12, 2008 11:44:42 UMNO which is BN better start listening to ppl. But i guess monetary gain on such programme and maybe lose of face if stop something they have started is holding them back. Anyway, they r digging their own grave faster if they choose not to listen! report abuse disagree 0 agree 11 ... written by citizen eye, May 12, 2008 11:50:20 This national service serve no purpose at all, it KILLS people. A friend of mine was a trainer and quit within 6 months cause of the officers attitude towards this program. No profesionalism at all. report abuse disagree 0 agree 24 ... written by shan, May 12, 2008 11:51:12 The money spinning scheme of Bn should be stopped immediately.We have been getting alot of bad news the last one year..Maybe ABB is jinxed after his marriage to this girlfriend of his, maybe he must meet some bomoh a mandi bunga.,.or he can marry once more to change his luck,.,Now which is your preference? Soon more problems are coming to town.,. report abuse disagree 0 agree 14 ... written by malsia1206, May 12, 2008 11:51:28 They had wanted to achieve 2 objectives. 1. foster national integration 2. Make good and big bucks from the concept They did not acieve the 1st objective. But they make good bucks from the 2nd. And there was a 3rd result from the implementation which was never initially provided for - that is, 17 unneccessay deaths of these young Malaysians. More shall continue the same fate. No problem. Not their sons and daughters anyway. And continue to suck the rakyat dry with all the big bucks. Somebody has just to be smart enough to think of something to make good money. If you cannot get free APs, then they start to play with the lives of our children. This is Malaysia Incorporated. Started with the former PM and legacy continued with the sleeping inept PM. report abuse disagree 0 agree 16 ... written by cillipepper, May 12, 2008 11:55:00 My deepest condolence to Mr. Too Jong Sing, Mdm. Chin Kwei Choo & family on the demise of your love one, the late Too Hui Min. Tunku Abdul Aziz said that the present national service should be scrapped because it is not meeting the objective of intergrating young people of Malaysia and it cost money with little to show for it. This is the saddest part. report abuse disagree 0 agree 43 ... written by Saint, May 12, 2008 11:55:54 What will happen if a mass boycott is instituted? Sedition maybe? How may can they arrest and charge, especially when 20 have died or shall we say "unnecessarily murdered"? report abuse disagree 0 agree 17 ... written by islandjoe, May 12, 2008 12:03:14 My heart goes out to that poor lady and parents of the children who have died or been put in harms way at the NS camps. This is a total waste of time and money. I am so angry that they just carry on (don't get me started on them using the word "teething problem")and we just need to live with it. anything that puts our children in harms way is too many! What guarantees do they have in place for protecting the children? RM10 million to the family plus jail for the NS Camp Director for each death (just making a point that they haven't even bothered to make even this inadequate gesture)? If they were serious about building youths with responsibilities and an integrated nation, what better to bring people together than to help others?? Put the kids in groups based around their community and assign them to a local charity organisation? They get to stay at home and see directly the fruits of their efforts. Tell me what my child gets out of going to the middle of nowhere, being looked after by under-qualified fools, learning to march, learning nationalistic songs, eating crap food, and learning to shoot? You want children to be good citizens? Don't take the easy option with a fix. Provide them with a GOOD society to thrive under. EXAMPLE: Want a child to stop lepak-ing? Give them positive things to do. Support societies, charities, build positive infrastructure (e.g. parks, hiking tracks, roller blading / skateboard tracks, etc.) for the average citizen to spend time at. Don't destroy parks to build a shopping centre or condo then complain about kids wasting time!! Is NS an answer to this? Hell no!! report abuse disagree 0 agree 29 ... written by grant, May 12, 2008 12:03:20 people got NS, malaysia also want to hv NS.. ppl's NS 2 years, msia's NS 3 mths... wtf??? wat can u learn in 3 mths? when ppl grad from NS, they are as tough as a bull... only the tough ones survive.. msia's NS before can grad, got molest case, death case, rape case, missing case and God knows wat else... Msia's NS stands for Non-Sense! report abuse disagree 2 agree 23 ... written by gctham, May 12, 2008 12:12:55 what ever reasons NS give life was lost and keeping going to lose for not acceptable reasons. they just can provide safe environment why still carry on. for God sake scrap NS now. report abuse disagree 0 agree 12 ... written by bill, May 12, 2008 12:15:24 The National service scheme is a waste of time and money. A project for someone to make money. If the government is serious to overcome racial polarisation, start changing how local public universities are run. Don't make local universities an extension of UMNO. Allow difference of opinions. Most important implement meritocracy in promoting lecturers, head of department and others. report abuse disagree 0 agree 16 ... written by Wisdom above, May 12, 2008 12:19:24 Told them to scap NS in December 2007, they ignored. BN Govt is stubborn as ever. I hope the new Pakatan Federal Govt will scarp the NS . report abuse disagree 0 agree 21 ... written by belljar, May 12, 2008 12:19:55 Why don;t Najib himself go for this, see if he can tahan. He needs to lose weight himself, so maybe food poisoning sampai cirit-birit can induce weight loss. To make him more pandai and humane - too late for that. Maybe next life. report abuse disagree 0 agree 8 ... written by miwaki, May 12, 2008 12:20:09 This so call National Service is just an excuse to churn out UMnoputra millionaires by giving out contracts.3 months camping for youngsters are a joke !Our government is playing the fool with our tax noney ! report abuse disagree 0 agree 14 ... written by Dr Azly Rahman, May 12, 2008 12:26:36 Dear all, I read about the 13th. death below, from a website. If this is a true account, it is a sad incident for an orphan raised by a poor family. Please write to your parliamentarians to raise this issue again, and again. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Al-Fatihah Buat Allahyarham Rafi Ameer 4 09 2007 Kelmarin (2 September 2007), negara kehilangan seorang pelatih PLKN buat kesekian kalinya. Berapa kali ya? Owh, Melayu memang mudah lupa… Pemergian Rafi merupakan yang ke-13 dalam sejarah PLKN. Cuma, bukan yang ke-13 dilaporkan. Mengapa ya? (Rujuk Sudah 13 pelatih meninggal, Najib biar PLKN macam nahas Nuri?) Apapun, saya simpati dengan nasib yang menimpa Rafi. Sebagai seorang anak yatim yang piatu, sepatutnya Allahyarham diberi penjagaan extra, bukan ala kadar. Mengapa saya katakan ala kadar? Hayati berita di bawah, “Sebelum itu, Mohd. Rafi ada beritahu dia demam dan bengkak kaki hampir seminggu akibat terjatuh ketika menjalani latihan di kem. “Namun, pihak PLKN tidak beri rawatan kepadanya meskipun saya sendiri minta petugas kem itu berbuat demikian,” katanya. Jubaidah berkata, sepanjang sakit Mohd. Rafi sering menelefon dan menghantar khidmat pesanan ringkas (SMS) kepada ahli keluarga meminta supaya menjenguk dan mengambilnya. “Namun kami sekeluarga yang tinggal di Kuala Selangor tidak dapat memenuhi permintaannya kerana kesempitan wang,” jelasnya. Sebaliknya, tambah Jubaidah, beliau selalu menghubungi pihak kem meminta mereka memberikan rawatan kepada adiknya tetapi beliau pula yang dimarahi petugas kem dengan alasan mereka boleh menjaga Mohd. Rafi. Tidak cukup dengan itu, kata Jubaidah, adik keempatnya itu juga mengadu dimarahi petugas kem kerana memberitahu ahli keluarga tentang sakit yang dialaminya. “Oleh kerana ibu bapa kami sudah meninggal dunia, saya minta tolong pakcik saya telefon pihak kem. Pakcik saya dimaklumkan adik saya sudah sihat dan kami tidak perlu bimbang. “Sehingga dia (Mohd. Rafi) meninggal dunia semalam, saya tidak dimaklumkan langsung oleh pihak PLKN. Malah saya terpaksa menelefon kem itu sendiri untuk mengetahui keadaan adik,” katanya dalam nada kesal. Berita penuh? Beginikah layanan yang wajar diberi kepada seorang yang telah kehilangan ibu dan ayah? Saya terasa amat sayu tatkala mengetahui kejamnya pihak kem tersebut. Andainya adik saya, mahupun anak saya yang berada pada kedudukan Allahyarham, sudah pasti saya memaki hamun dan menyaman mereka. Anda nilaikan sendiri. Sanggupkan anda menghantar adik-adik anda, mahupun anak anda sendiri ke PLKN? Mohon dijauhkan Allah… Wallahualam… report abuse disagree 0 agree 20 ... written by ayfy, May 12, 2008 12:47:59 The National Service scheme for school leavers is ill conceived. Is this the brain child of a BN Minister? One of the main aims of the scheme is to foster racial integration and unity. Honorable Minister if you can't do it in eleven years, (for some thirteen) of the formative schooling years of our young people how can you do it in a few months? The logical thing to do is to review the school curriculum and implement appropriate programmes right through those years. What is the use of introducing shooting practice? This is only useful in a proper military type longer national service stint. As it is, the only people who benefit are those who are involved in the procurement of uniforms, supplies and camp grounds. report abuse disagree 0 agree 9 ... written by jshewsbury, May 12, 2008 12:51:07 Agree 100% or 1 Million % Abolish or Replace NS with a better training and education programmes which involve Human Resource development skills, I am not genius, but I'm sure if Government work together with the citizens and try to get ideas on the best way to do this program, I'm sure we can achieve something. There is nothing wrong for the Government to get ideas and feedback from the public. My not so clever idea would suggest we send them to a program like in those "Institut Latihan Perindustrian - ILP" so that they can learn some basic techical things like electrical, electronics, basic engineering or whatever. We can also provide a short 3 months business education class like computing, accounting, economics, science, language and arts or whatever, even cooking class for that matter. No need to send them far away in any of the training camp, just rent a shoplot space (in every small towns or big city) or use the local multi purpopse hall. After class finish, everyday they go back and have dinner with the parents. Maybe my idea is not so "clever" but if everybody try to figure out something, specially those clever people I'm sure something can be done. Does the government want to wait untill another 100 teenagers die to finally open their eye and try to correct the problem or to do something about the current NS ? report abuse disagree 0 agree 15 ... written by fairnessforall, May 12, 2008 12:51:27 Dr Azly, how can you ask them to stop the NS, do you know how many million a certain first lady in waiting would lose. NS was not started because they cared about the children but because they saw it as a means to make million by giving one company the contract to supply all the uniforms and other stuff required. The did not care that they are putting these childrens life in danger. I ask, whats the purpose of teaching children how to use arms, I believe that is one of the programmes. Do we want a country like US where children take guns to school and shoot the other students? Lets stop this nonsense right now. My deepest condolence to Hui Mins family. Its good that you have decided to sue the goverment and take them for millions. No doubt no amount of money can replace your beloved daughter but dont let those good for nothing fools get off scott free. Im sure all the people are with you and will support you. report abuse disagree 0 agree 27 ... written by ayfy, May 12, 2008 12:52:14 The National Service scheme for school leavers is ill conceived. Is this the brain child of a BN Minister? One of the main aims of the scheme is to foster racial integration and unity. Honorable Minister if you can't do it in eleven years, (for some thirteen) of the formative schooling years of our young people how can you do it in a few months? The logical thing to do is to review the school curriculum and implement appropriate programmes right through those years. But what's the use of any kind of programmes when the kids will grow into race based politics of UMNO, MCA and MIC any way? What is the use of introducing shooting practice? This is only useful in a proper military type longer national service stint. As it is, the only people who benefit are those who are involved in the procurement of uniforms, supplies and camp grounds. report abuse disagree 0 agree 7 ... written by jshewsbury, May 12, 2008 13:00:44 I never met the late Hui Min or her family as well as others who have lost their lives in the NS training camps, but I would like to offer a prayer for them; May God give the victims family strength to face the hard time and may God bless them and always be with them. May their souls rest in peace. Amen. No amount of money or words can erase their sadness, and my prayer are nothing more than just a wish and hope thru God. report abuse disagree 0 agree 13 ... written by Lim Lim, May 12, 2008 13:08:32 in this country,it seems that no one is accountable even lives are lost in this kind of situation! report abuse disagree 0 agree 10 ... written by ttsan, May 12, 2008 13:36:51 I myself went to see the NS camp when i sent my son for his NS which last for 10 days. I was told the food is horrible, it's run by the stupid people,force to stand in sun to change color of the skin,force to wake up at 4am to hear the call to allah,no water to bath, force to swim in dirty water etc.I tell you these all are created to benefit Najis, Roastmah,the defence guy,his collegue,friends etc. Lives has been lost ,children's time wasted when infact they can spent more time studying,money wasted,where's their sense. report abuse disagree 0 agree 21 ... written by Thesinner, May 12, 2008 13:38:58 How to scrap the Nasional Service? It's a money machine.How much the operator(BN Crony) makes per year for each camp they operate only God knows! report abuse disagree 0 agree 10 ... written by zul4kulim, May 12, 2008 13:43:48 Yes, it is money machine and umnoputeras are milking it! http://1426.blogspot.com/2008/...in-kl.html report abuse disagree 0 agree 11 ... written by The Iceman, May 12, 2008 13:54:37 When more people are dying than learning how to develop themselves it is time to end the program report abuse disagree 0 agree 10 ... written by ttsan, May 12, 2008 14:24:19 Everytime when kids die in NS camp, najis says it's alright.When Altan 2ya dies he say he don't know her.This Najis service camp is to humilate the non-bumi,and also to cause hardship,prevent them from going to tution etc.Burn it down. report abuse disagree 0 agree 10 ... written by oks, May 12, 2008 14:25:51 It's unfortunate that some potential young ones have to die in the name of patriotism. My condolences go out to the families of the victims. Dr Azly, I'm a lecturer/teacher myself and i understand your frustration when the government keeps hitting the wrong button. We trully need to develop the child's cognitive, rhetorical and creative thinking skills. Perhaps, the government knows the consequences of charting that route, hence deliberately go the other way so that we can always be manipulated  report abuse disagree 0 agree 16 ... written by nowinnofee, May 12, 2008 14:29:39 Our deepest condolonces to all the families who have lost their children in the killing fields of Malaysia. I am sure Mr and Mrs C4 and family must be feeling very happy since their bank balance gets bigger and fatter due to the fact that it was their brainchild to start this killing fields. Wow.....the contracts that they tender out for themselves or even the commission they receive from those contracts must really ease their guilt for every lovely Malaysian child who dies because of their greed for money and power. May their Karma receive whatever is due to them . If the government feels that unity is learnt in 3 months between Malaysian children, what hogwash is that....when it could not be learnt for 13 years in school. May everyone who agreed to this National Camp in order to fulfill their pockets or their power struggle be cursed for seven generations to come. For BN will never gain power for seven generations to come, until they self realise the atrocities they have caused to the human kind in Malaysia report abuse disagree 0 agree 8 ... written by malaysian, May 12, 2008 14:30:33 NS only serves as another avenue for the BN government to bloat up the Public Service with UMNOputras and siphon state funds to cronies. The Umnoputra trainers and administrators are just as incompetent as the rest of the Public Service. Thats why these camps have become killing fields for our children. Boycott this damned UMNO creation and save your children's lives! report abuse disagree 0 agree 9 ... written by densemy, May 12, 2008 14:41:13 I havent been able to find any statistics to support my contention. But I'd be pretty sure that the death toll in NS camps is lower than in the population at large for that age group. But, Hey... this is Malaysia and its much easier to get hysterical about a few deaths in NS camps while totally ignoring the abysmally awful road death toll The Malaysian Mind Development Project... what a grand sounding title. It actually is replacing the real title for the NS program... The Malaysian Mind Suppression Project, ie NS is a last ditch attempt on the part of the government to completely brainwash Malaysia's youth to become mindless obedient nationalistic dildos And any suggestion to transfer control of a youth development program to the universities is the most laughable I have heard in a long time. The universities are hot-beds of indoctrinated thought and cant even carry out the role they have been allotted let alone taking on any further tasks BTW... isnt it a bit late at 18 yrs of age to try to re-indoctrinate the youth of the country? report abuse disagree 2 agree 6 ... written by roadbarra, May 12, 2008 14:44:56 Now this NS camp thing is getting way scary for parents. Now I wish there was some legal way to prevent my kids from going for this deadly service. can somebody advise as how to go about this? Can I engage a lawyer to stop my kid from being forced to go for NS? I don't want my kids to add to the statistics! report abuse disagree 1 agree 7 ... written by The dragonheart, May 12, 2008 14:49:28 was the dead caused by Negligent of the NS centre or mismanagement of the NS centre...? On NS, why can't the Government adopt the Scouting way of life? Look at thailand and indonesia.. almost every child are scouts... All members of the Scout Movement are required to adhere to a Scout Promise and a Law reflecting, in language appropriate to the culture and civilization of each National Scout Organization and approved by the World Organization, the principles of Duty to God, Duty to others and Duty to self, and inspired by the Promise and Law conceived by the Founder of the Scout Movement report abuse disagree 1 agree 4 ... written by sambal muncha, May 12, 2008 14:53:11 Can the victims' families take the government to court for negligence? Not just for financial compensation but also for emotional closure. My prayers and condolence to all Malaysians who have been victims. report abuse disagree 0 agree 6 ... written by Concerned Malaysian, May 12, 2008 15:15:20 Dear All, It really sickens me to read about this so called national unity program under NS as many young adults are being sacrificed! why can't the rakyat force the badawi government to stop this shit as we are the people whom elected the government and not the other way. If all the parents refuse to send their children to the NS what can they do? Take us all to court, its ok then let's meet them in court. Enough is enough of being afraid!Let's put a stop to this to safe guard the future of our children. report abuse disagree 0 agree 5 ... written by truthreallyhurts, May 12, 2008 15:29:45 Its unfortunate that kids who have been sent overseas for higher education have to come back just to have a 2-3 month "vacation" in the wilderness, or those who want to further their education in certain universities have to postpone their studies by a year because of the timing of the batches. While the kids suffer, the powers to be and their connected parties are laughing their way to the bank. And when kids die at the vacation camps for whatever reason, these people will just say "Its Allahs will". Even if there is gross negligence on the part of the camp administrators, there is nothing the aggrieved parents can do because the camp administrators enjoy immunity from prosecution. Alah mak! report abuse disagree 0 agree 7 ... written by SeriousLy, May 12, 2008 15:46:43 written by ttsan, May 12, 2008 | 13:36:51 All who has children in NS camps, now you have reason to take your children out of there! Especially, non-muslims! This is gross acts of total dis-regard towards human rights! For one especially, if the reason to wake up that early just to hear call to Allah, then just wake the Muslim up! Isn't this against religious rights! Secondly, with so many deaths and illness happening in these camps, its confirmed that these camps has no safety standards and the paramedics don't even know how to treat constipation! report abuse disagree 1 agree 6 ... written by pwcheng, May 12, 2008 16:01:50 I think it is not easy to boot out those National Service boot camps because it is a gravy train for somebody who got the contract to supply the uniform,food and other peripherals for the trainees and trainers. Somebody must probe into this to see what are the profit margins from those contracts. Needless to say it must be very lucrative. report abuse disagree 0 agree 9 ... written by SeriousLy, May 12, 2008 16:05:08 Hei! ttsan! Get your son to write the training on a daily basis then post it here! Everybody is interested to know! report abuse disagree 0 agree 4 ... written by 98PercentPrimate, May 12, 2008 16:18:32 Good article. Works only if the goverment is aggressive in implementing the above strategies. Anyone familiar with the principles of training should know 'ASK' (Attitude, Skills and Knowledge) and the necessary time duration to ensure effectiveness of each the variable. Attitude - need years to change and develop, skills- months to acquire, knowledge-days to know. If the NS mission is to inculcate positive (if that is really the intention) attitudes, then those who had planned it, is just incompetent or ignorant. If it is merely to convey knowledge and temporary skills, them the N$ is $$$ overdone. NS like any training may generate some temporary euphoric feelings of harmony, but will never ever be able to overwrite the hardwired separatist attitude amongst the youths that it had ignorantly moulded with it's racist practices. When the youths get back to the real world, co-incidently it is immediate, racism would be smack right in their face when they sense the discrimination of the existing education policies. This would immediately erased a sense of any harmony struggling to take a foothold in the mind of any youth. For any venture of human integration to work, it must take a holistic approach. There should not be contradicting strategies within the systems that would impede the achievement of the objectives. The N$ may have 'some' good intentions but it is like using a drop of white ink to whiten an ocean of darkness. Dr. Azly, you could be one good model as case study of how the mind of Malay youths can be moulded or wired from the kampung level to world standards. Just lay down all the paths you have taken from young to the present. If any Malay youth were to follow just 70% of what you did, I am sure they will be able to raise the intellectual and human consciousness of 'Malays' and Malaysians. report abuse disagree 0 agree 9 ... written by YSL, May 12, 2008 16:40:23 Sir/Mdm, Sorry for such a sicked situation! My prayer are with you and your family! To theWriter of the Story, good reveal: Malaysian should tell the sickening Government to stop it once and for all! To Najis, this is no way to milk yor Bilion One more question, has the Bugak Nakals' children attended NS report abuse disagree 0 agree 4 ... written by mgeo, May 12, 2008 16:49:13 We certainly don't need militarism, and it certainly does not bring unity. For unity and wider perspectives, (a) just tone down the politics of hate (b) teach civics and critical thinking seriously. But then, there would have to be open discussions, wouldn't there? At a fraction of NS cost, we could send 5 or so students from every school per year to work overseas in neighbouring countries for a couple of weeks, eg. at simple farm, factory or clerical jobs. On their return, they would have to show-and-tell about their experiences. This would help get youth out of the "katak di bawah tempurung" mindset. The planning, selection and reporting would be done collectively at the town level, and would allow overly protective parents to keep their children out. One parent mentioned how his daugher, in firing the M16, managed to avoid injury only by her presence of mind. This is the reality despite official claims that there is adequate preparation. No doubt some parents want to molycoddle their children (as seen from comments above), but don't they have the right to do that? The situation will not change until the courts support that right. report abuse disagree 0 agree 4 ... written by SocratesI, May 12, 2008 17:33:01 This is yet another issue that Najis has silently kept praying won't go back to him, for it was Najis who started this NS bullshit so that he could make lots of money from the uniforms, the food, the equipment, etc. etc. while seen by his BN goons to be "brainwashing" future Malaysians to support the Barisan Najis once they are eligible to vote. What National Service ?? What do they learn in the 3 months wasted there ?? Can they defend the nation against an invasion after the 3 months of training ?? So what the hell for ?? Just to enrich that Najis & Ros-puki-mah's pockets !!! To hell with them and now they have 18 more deaths on their heads !!! Fire & Brimstone for all Eternity for them is too good for them !! report abuse disagree 0 agree 4 ... written by Windchime, May 12, 2008 17:34:43 I agree with Dr. Azly. 20 deaths is too high a price to pay and this NS program should be stopped immediately. It seems it has failed its objective miserably and it should be replaced with ways to enhance the thinking capacity of our youths. My condolences to Hui Min's family. She and 20 others paid a heavy price for the government's failed program. Something is terribly wrong. Let's stop it now. I wonder if Lee Lam Thye is listening??? report abuse disagree 0 agree 8 ... written by nasilemak, May 12, 2008 17:49:47 Our Leaders should show parents that the NS is a great idea. My ??? are Is the DPM sending his children to NS? Is Our Minister of Education sending his children to NS? (oh sorry! They aren't even being educated in our own fine education system!) Can anyone point out to us which of our ministers have send their kids / grandkids to NS? IF our Leaders were to send their kids /grandkids to NS, & they are not accorded special treatment; then all parents can believe the NS is safe My deepest condolences to all the families who has lost their Child to NS report abuse disagree 0 agree 7 ... written by Woman in Malaysia, May 12, 2008 18:05:57 As a mother of 2 boys, my heart goes out to the families of the NS kids who died whilst at camp. The NS does not achieve any significant purpose, except for cronies who make money from supplying NS uniforms, meals etc. There are countless abuses and cases of corruption in this country. The NS is one such abuse - but the cost is something that none of us should tolerate. We are not talking about abuse of taxpayers' money: we are talking about something priceless, which is the loss of innocent lives. report abuse disagree 0 agree 5 ... written by muddie, May 12, 2008 18:13:51 I totally agree. I was one of the first batch of the NS and I hated it. I didn't learn anything, total waste of time. It should be scrapped so that the money should go through more useful channels especially education. report abuse disagree 0 agree 8 ... written by ipunkedude, May 12, 2008 19:17:02 2 year ago, I was deciding on what citizenship my son should take up at birth, I chose Singapore. One of the many factors was I figured, I would rather have him go for the Singapore NS than Malaysian NS. The former is a programme that has taken years to shape. The purpose and objective is clearly laid out, the servicemen do have proper jobs after the bootcamp i.e. they can be in the armour division, signalling, infantry, commando, air force etc. It is a proper fighting unit. In contrast, Malaysia's NS is just like an outward bound school. I don't see why the same objective as OBS be achived by making it compulsory for students to join the scouts, girl guides or red crescent. National unity can be achieved in school and the bonding there will last a life time. Don't see how 3 months can come close to that. The NS programme here is just a ill thought out plan by a minister which was subsequently executed by another group hoping to impress their boss. report abuse disagree 0 agree 6 ... written by hakuna, May 12, 2008 19:17:57 Dr.Azly, you are totally right. The whole thing is a scam and it is a money spinner for some. These idiots do not care for the safety of the children.This NS scrap should be abolished and it is a waste of tax payers money. Children should be allowed to mix from the early school years and that will ensure nation building. There should be just one style of school and pupil's own language be taught. Religion should be left at home and kids to be taught to accept each other as a human and not what race or religion they belong to. If we follow these we will be just Malaysians and nothing more or less. report abuse disagree 0 agree 5 ... written by hakuna, May 12, 2008 19:20:04 Exact intention :"Children should be allowed to mix from the early school years and that will ensure nation building. There should be just one style of school and pupil's own language be taught if the medium of instruction differs". report abuse disagree 0 agree 2 ... written by venna, May 12, 2008 19:59:41 Our hearts bleed when we hear of these deaths to the children. My deepest condolences to all the families who have lost their children. Nothing can bring them back no matter what anyone says. The authorities have the audacity to say that they will not scrap N S. I personally hold Najib and Lee Lam Thye responsible for all these deaths. I am dead against this National Service. My child has been selected to go to NS. I refuse to allow him to go. I have decided to go to court if i have to do so. Let us all come together as one to oppose this National Service Program. When we can join together, we can make these goons face the fact that this is the power of Makkal Sakthi (People Power). The Umno government thinks that they can get away with whatever they want. They do not realize that they have to face the consequences of all that they are doing. They are sick and disgusting. They are sure to lose in the next election ! report abuse disagree 0 agree 9 ... written by readmylips, May 12, 2008 20:17:09 Just do one thing, find out who has the contract to supply uniforms. This whole thing is a sham. These people are hypocrites, lying, thieving bastards and they claim to be of a certain faith. This is what that really makes me sick. report abuse disagree 0 agree 3 ... written by sitiabdullah, May 12, 2008 20:29:23 Exactly twenty years ago I attended holiday camp organized by the government similar to the NS now. It was only for ten days. I lasted only five days as I fell sick and I wanted to go home for Christmas. The food was lousy, I suffered from mosquitoe bites and there was no bathroom. We were told to bathe in the river. Datuk Najib arrived on the 4thd day and I was allowed to go home on the 5th day. Well my friend completed the 10 days course and is she a good citizen now? She is unemployed,claiming she is sick (I wonder why she did not fall sick in the holday camp?) and is now collecting welfare money every month. I am working full time and a single mother who has no support from anyone. I will never allow my son to attend NS. Even if I am dead I promise I will come back as a ghost to haunt them. report abuse disagree 0 agree 4 ... written by educationist, May 12, 2008 21:00:59 My condolences to the family of Hui Min [and I've lost count how many other families whose loved one's life's was snatched from them in the name of this fallacy called National Service] Hui Min's family has been qouted as saying they will sue and I hope they go ahead with it. It is time some of those negligent fellas are bought to book. It will not bring Hui Min back but it may send a lesson to those rascals running the boot camps that they cannot always get away with 'murder', so they will be more careful in taking care of those young lives in their responsiblity. Dr Azly's suggestions sounds most meaningful in our present context but the powers-that-be will not even look at it. Maybe the Pakatan rakyat states can bring to the attention of the federal government. But granted who we know to be behind the NS thing, doesn't look like there'll be any change until the federal govt. changes report abuse disagree 0 agree 5 ... written by nowinnofee, May 12, 2008 21:22:46 I am just curious, can anyone tell me if any of the ministers' children have served in the Killing Fields of Malaysia,or do they get diplomatic immunity because they are all BN related? report abuse disagree 0 agree 6 ... written by clarity, May 12, 2008 22:07:39 Dr.Azly, Thank you for highlighting this issue. Everytime a kid dies,we are assured that they have discovered the cause and will not happen again. Therefore we have had 19 assurances to date. are we going to have to go through this again? For sure, more will die if this continues. What must be going through the minds of parents whose kids will be next in line for those killer camps. This must stop immediately report abuse disagree 0 agree 6 ... written by Msian 2, May 12, 2008 22:32:26 Problems in malaysia is simply a case of 'we do not have meritocracy'. The camp personnels are not well trained plus leadership in these camps are poor. Its a waste of money. Even the ideal of fostering better racial intergration via boot camp in a period of 3 months sounds ambitious when this could be done at school or loyalty taught at school. Scrapped the boot camp. report abuse disagree 0 agree 1 ... written by Sabahfan, May 12, 2008 22:56:39 BENEFIT COST ANALYSIS..... BENEFITS? 1. Racial unity = imaginary, smiling face in press only "on graduation" 2. Backup National Defence = Mear Zero, fired about 5 bullets each. 3. Discipline = Only good for those born spoilt brats, those from poor villagers dont need it. 4. Children of all BN YBs and ministers = fully exempted cos studying overseas. 5. Survival siang (dengue and malaria) and survival 'malam' COSTS 1. Contracts for uniforms 2. contracts for food 3 contracts for camp construction and maintenance 4. Contracts for HP6 trainers and medical personels 5. contracts for transport 6. contracts to supply bullets. 7. 16 deaths, mostly young girls Work out the B/C ratio yourself. report abuse disagree 0 agree 5 ... written by ralverd, May 12, 2008 23:10:56 What can three months of playing around and minimal rifle practicing do? Even the little kids in Iraq can handle a rifle better than us. Hand one of them an AK-47 and he/she can probably take down a bunch of Mat Rempits with ease. Read more at my site : http://www.ralverd.com report abuse disagree 1 agree 3 ... written by MobyDick, May 12, 2008 23:15:15 Will 3 months in this NS camps reduce the 'Rempits', 'Bohsia' & other drug related social ills? Rotten apples cannot be reverse when they are 18yrs old as this is the duty of their parents to nurture them when they are 10yrs old, not leaving them loitering in the streets & mixing with bad-hats as examples for to grow to be. report abuse disagree 0 agree 2 ... written by teohpg, May 12, 2008 23:59:00 the NS training camp is just a platform for BN to spread their Propaganda...belief it or not? report abuse disagree 0 agree 3 ... written by Taiping60, May 13, 2008 01:20:05 After some many parents have sent their healthy children to the national service and never get to see their children again, our government still continue with the national service, thinking that it is a success. Can you tell us what you have achieved? Did national integration improve? Don't you think it is about time to consider scrapping it and channel the money to school where national integration could be better built at that age. If you want to learn about national integration, don't have to look far. Look at RPK and you will be able to learn a lot from this man. This man has single handedly brought Malaysians together regardless of their race and religions. He made us colour blind. Maybe the government to consider channel 10% of the fund to RPK for him to build national integration. I believe he will be able to achieve what the government failed and will fail again. report abuse disagree 0 agree 4 ... written by HJ Angus, May 13, 2008 09:50:01 Once I thought NS would be a good way to train our youths in discipline as many parents do not bring up their children properly. Now I think that NS should be reviewed as there have been too many deaths and some caused by sheer negligence. Just look at the food poisoning cases in schools - I imagine the conditions in the NS camps are going to be worse. http://malaysiawatch3.blogspot...rvice.html report abuse disagree 0 agree 1 ... written by nanyangren, May 13, 2008 11:59:48 When we were kids, we atteded our own "NS" camps. Boy Scouts we were. We saved 10 cents a day, for 90 days we save 9 dollars, so that we could afford to attend the training camp with our own money. We brought our own uniforms,our own pot and pans and our own onions, rice and sardines. We never had much to eat, but it was clean. We were happy and at the end of the camp, we went home on our own two legs or two wheels, happy, dark skinned, lean and healthy. Through the years, none of us fell sick, non of us died. There were Malays, there were Chinese, there were Indians and there were others. We played pranks on each other, made fun of each other names and religions too. And in the process we learn to respect each other. If you want to rub salt into the current NS sore wounds - these were all plan, organised and executed by a bunch of 13 to 17 year olds - without adult intervention. Each year the older ones serves to teach the younger ones. 15 year olds imparting leadership to 14 year olds and 14 year old imparting skills to 13 year olds. 16 year olds were there to lead and the 17 year olds were there for their "wisdom". Doesnt say much for the current administrators of NS, does it? We were happy and we went back term after term, year after year for more. That was real integration, real mixing and real understanding. Until some clowns come and politicise everything and then try to re-invent with NS. Sounds more like BS. report abuse disagree 0 agree 5 ... written by vheddoque, May 13, 2008 14:13:02 written by nowinnofee, May 12, 2008 | 21:22:46 I am just curious, can anyone tell me if any of the ministers' children have served in the Killing Fields of Malaysia,or do they get diplomatic immunity because they are all BN related? _______________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________ ___ Yeah, just exactly how many children of the BN YBs, VVIPs, VIPs, ministers, datuk/datin/datun, etc are or were in this NS programme? report abuse disagree 0 agree 2 ... written by SUV, May 13, 2008 22:02:15 2008 is the 40th anniversary of... Vive la revolution! Praful Bidwai Frontline, 7 May 2008 The issues raised by the May 1968 upheavals in France and elsewhere about the iniquities of capitalism and the need for a just alternative have not gone away. “Down with the consumer society!”; “The more you consume, the less you live!”; “Commodities are the opium of the people!”; “To live is not just to survive!”; “Don’t beg for the right to live – take it!”; “In a society that has abolished every kind of adventure, the only adventure that remains is to abolish the society!”; “The liberation of humanity is all or nothing!”; “Those who make revolutions half-way only dig their own graves!”; “Boredom is counterrevolutionary!”; “We will ask nothing. We will demand nothing. We will take, occupy!” “Down with the Right, down with the class-collaborationist Left and its elections, for direct workers’ democracy!”; “Don’t negotiate with the bosses. Abolish them!”; “The revolution is incredible because it’s really happening!” http://www.tni.org/detail_page.phtml?act_id=18242&username= guest@tni.org&password=9999&publish=Y report abuse disagree 1 agree 0 ... written by SUV, May 13, 2008 22:03:43 THUS read the slogans that galvanised hundreds of thousands of young people, especially students and workers, into action in the streets of Paris 40 years ago and set off the greatest social upheaval in the rich countries of the West since the Second World War. The historic events of May 1968, unfolding through a series of spontaneous revolts, shook some of the world’s most powerful governments, brought 10 million workers out on strike, radicalised huge numbers of pe ople, and shattered many complacent assumptions. These included the belief that the post-War “Golden Age of Capitalism”, which still had not run its course then, would continue to spread generalised prosperity among the people, politically disarm the working class, and make mass-scale revolt impossible. The Western world’s rulers and strategists had total faith in the West’s military prowess, in particular the invincibility of the United States’ forces in Vietnam which were then fighting a brutal war against communism. Above all, it was assumed that the relatively evolved structures of representative democracy in the West, and the welfare state made possible by its prosperous capitalist order, would help co-opt or incorporate all dissent. This would make ideology irrelevant, even obsolete – Daniel Bell wrote in his famous The End of Ideology – and social conflict inherently “manageable”. Order, consensus and stability would be the natural condition of Western society. The year 1968 began with the Tet Offensive by the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam and the army of North Vietnam against U.S. troops and their South Vietnamese collaborators, which took the West by surprise. The attack’s sweep and intensity took the war into South Vietnam’s urban areas, including Saigon, where guerillas penetrated the U.S. embassy compound. Tet was a military debacle. It was beaten back by massive military force, almost half the attackers lost their lives and over 600,000 civilians became refugees, including over 80 per cent of the population of Hue, Vietnam’s third largest city. But politically, the Tet Offensive brought home to the American public the vulnerability and fallibility of U.S. troops and highlighted the possibility, soon to become a near-certainty, of a U.S. defeat in Vietnam – until then considered impossible. This and the great ferocity of U.S. operations against Vietnamese civilians sparked off not only a huge anti-war mobilisation in the U.S. but also energetic protest movements in countries as diverse as Germany, Italy, Mexico, Turkey, Japan, Brazil and Pakistan. report abuse disagree 1 agree 0 ... written by SUV, May 13, 2008 22:04:38 Tet formed part of the backdrop to May 1968, which soon developed into an anti-systemic upheaval. The revolt, and its repression, exposed the severe limitations of a supposedly inclusive and tolerant democratic regime and questioned the legitimacy of the Western political order and the very rationale of the West’s consumerist society. Another graffito in Paris put it thus: “Since 1936 [when the first Popular Front government with the Left’s participation was formed], I have fought for wage increases. My father before me fought for wage increases. Now I have a TV, a fridge, a Volkswagen. Yet my whole life has been a drag....” Unlike the revolution of 1789, May 1968 did not produce a transfer of power to another social class or radical change in the political order. But it generated a huge transformation in ideas and a rejection of many received beliefs. A new set of values took hold of the minds of millions of young people: a powerful questioning of the notions of obedience and hierarchy; a rejection of the inherent superiority of Western civilisation and a critique of some over-simple versions (for instance, crude rationalism) of Enlightenment values; and a culture of protest and revolt. Politically, the “60s culture” emphasised radical and equitable solutions to social and economic problems, an enrichment of democracy through genuine popular participation, and rejection of the programmes and policies of the conventional Left, as well as a reaffirmation of the notions of equality, social solidarity, justice and peace. May 1968 and the other upheavals of the year led to the crystallisation of a new political current, the Far Left, across much of western Europe and, to a lesser extent, in the U.S. These movements radicalised large sections of the intelligentsia and spawned unprecedented amounts of revolutionary literature of high analytical quality, such as The New Left Review and many other journals. Many of the great ideas and institutions that are taken for granted today were born or developed in this period, including autonomous mobilisations of working people; new social movements focussed on gender, race and ecology; numerous civil society initiatives; and alternative forms of articulations in the public sphere. The Beat Generation too owes a great deal to this churning. The “60s culture” permeated countless spheres of creative activity, including cinema, poetry, theatre and literature. It also deeply influenced the Black Power movement in the U.S., itself radicalised by the assassination of Martin Luther King in April 1968. The Black Power salute raised by two U.S. athletes at the Olympic Games in Mexico that year became a symbol of the revolt of the African-American minority and its struggle for equality and justice. report abuse disagree 1 agree 0 ... written by SUV, May 13, 2008 22:05:17 Few fields of intellectual endeavour were left untouched by these new ideas, whether political science and sociology, history, or analytical economics and political economy. Of great and lasting relevance was the contribution of what has been termed “Western Marxism”, a current distinct from the arid and ossified orthodoxies of Soviet-style theories. Some of the greatest intellectuals who continue to influence radical and critical thought today, from E.P. Thompson, Perry Anderson and Terry Eagleton to Louis Althusser, Jacques Derrida, Noam Chomsky and Jurgen Habermas, owe much to the ferment produced in the wake of May 1968. At the global level, the world witnessed a call for a new international economic order, for North-South equality and for a transformation of the global development agenda, which had run into crisis. In the early 1970s, the vulnerability and unsustainability of global capitalism was highlighted by the Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment, the Club of Rome’s Limits to Growth, Richard J. Barnett and Ronald Muller’s Global Reach: Power of the Multinational Corporations, and Susan George’s How the Other Half Dies. In brief, the social and intellectual ferment of the 1960s and 1970s, in which May 1968 played a pivotal role, produced a comprehensive and rich agenda of radical ideas and strategies, which enriched the great classical paradigms of modernity and had freedom, openness, radical democracy, equality and justice at their core. The progressive movements spawned by these soon faced a massive political challenge in the form of the Thatcher-Reagan “counter-revolution” of the 1980s, which sought to kill the welfare state, undermine trade unionism and destroy the legacy of the “social market economy” through the unbridled promotion of the minimalist state and the free market. Thus was born the predominantly Anglo-Saxon model of corporate-led neoliberal globalisation, which was imposed upon the rest of the world through the “Washington Consensus” developed by the U.S. government, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Not just countries of the Global South but even those of the North became victims of market fundamentalism. For instance, Japan and Germany, which had relied on state-directed or development bank-led industrialisation, had to fall in line with the Anglo-Saxon model. Government after government withdrew public service provisions under “austerity” regimes, and millions of people suffered big losses in income and economic security. The nation-state itself became increasingly subordinated to corporations and disabled from formulating sovereign social and economic policies based on its own resources and people’s needs. report abuse disagree 1 agree 0 ... written by SUV, May 13, 2008 22:05:59 As the juggernaut of neoliberal globalisation rolled on, the Berlin Wall came down in 1989 and the Soviet bloc itself soon collapsed. The world lost a countervailing force. Even nations such as India and the smaller newly industrialising countries of East and South-East Asia, which had held out against free trade and full-throated deregulation, privatisation and globalisation, caved in. The Asian financial crisis of 1997-98 weakened the latter. India was a case apart – of a voluntary top-down decision to embrace neoliberalism. By the beginning of this century, the march of neoliberalism seemed unstoppable and Francis Fukuyama’s dire but gravely mistaken End of History prediction – of the vanishing of all the classical agendas of modernity and their replacement the world over with the “liberal democracy plus Coca-Cola or McDonald’s” formula – appeared to have won out. The world’s elites basked in globalisation and blithely declared that there was, and could be, no alternative to it. No nation or group of nations, including the European Union, Japan, China and India, despite the rising economic power of the last two, seemed able or willing to resist globalisation, which seemed destined to triumph. This was a grand illusion, and has become manifestly visible as such with the spiralling global financial crisis. The U.S. economist Paul Krugman has described this as “an epic …crisis”. Alan Greenspan, former U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman, said the U.S. crisis was likely to be judged in retrospect as “the most wrenching since the end of the Second World War”. Martin Wolf, Financial Times’ chief economic commentator and the media world’s most unabashed ideologue of neoliberalism, concedes that the era of supposedly self-regulating markets has ended. The “journey across the world toward ever more liberal economies, with the U.S. being in some ways the model towards which everybody was moving, more flexible, more dynamic, with a highly deregulated financial system has stopped,” he said recently. Wolf declared March 14, when the Bear Stearns bailout was announced, as “the day that the dream of global free market capitalism died”. The reason, he said, was that “the dominant feature of this system… was a shift from bank-based relationship lending to transaction-oriented activities, in which the financial system itself was engaged in arranging lending, arranging funds for borrowers, then packaging those funds into securities and selling them on to third parties, who would hold them for long periods: investment funds, pension funds, insurance companies”. This, said Wolf, has now broken down in “quite a spectacular manner, because many of the markets on which this model relies have basically been frozen for six or seven months. They’ve just disappeared.” The financial turbulence precipitated by reckless lending by Western banks to “subprime” (or unsecured and high-risk) borrowers is now unfolding into a disaster that could cost the world $1,000 billion. report abuse disagree 1 agree 0 ... written by SUV, May 13, 2008 22:06:47 The crisis is rooted in market failure related to the incalculable risks of mortgages and other loans, which banks concealed in the hope that hiding and distributing the risks would somehow minimise them. The result was an enlargement of risks. To reduce them, neoliberals, who for years had condemned state intervention and multibillion-dollar handouts of taxpayers’ money to rescue failing banks, are now pleading for intervention. Everybody, from IMF economists to private bankers, has suddenly discovered the virtues of the state and of the Keynesian policies of putting purchasing power into the hands of the people. The crisis is spreading to and hurting the real economy. There is a significant slowdown in the U.S. and the E.U., aggravated by high oil prices, food shortages – private stores in the U.S. and Japan are fixing the amount of rice consumers can buy – and a sharp rise in primary commodity prices. The question is no longer whether there will be a recession but how severe it will be and whether big state bailouts will merely postpone the day of reckoning. This returns us to the classical agendas that 1968 so powerfully articulated, including need-based and equitable development and radical participatory democracy. It is a pressing reminder that we must put people and politics in command, in place of markets. Copyright © 2008, Frontline. News updates Update my subscription Publications The economic policy of the Latin American left in government: Edgardo Lander and Pablo Navarrete Pro - Poor Land Reform: A Critique Saturnino M. Borras Jr. Parole di una nuova politica A cura di Transform! Italia Activities The public intellectual and the Left in the 21st century 07/06/2008 Manchester, UK Women and Violence: The Kenyan Conflict 14/05/2008 Wageningen, Netherlands China - African Civil Society Dialogue 19/04/2008 Nairobi, Kenya report abuse disagree 1 agree 0 ... written by wood, May 14, 2008 16:53:24 A well thought and written article. If only the relevant people will get to read and understand it and willing to change where needed.! When will it end ?????  report abuse disagree 0 agree 1 ... written by thiamjoo, May 18, 2008 02:30:24 Malaysia National Service Death Trap? The last time that a Singapore national servicemen died in camp was August and September 2003. In June 2007, there was one case ruled suicide and earlier, sudden death of a sergeant in Singapore Air Force (SAF). In the corresponding period (2004 until present), there were more than 20 deaths related to Malaysia’s NS but none for Singapore. Singapore national service is real army training, real tough. What's wrong with our NS? report abuse disagree 0 agree 0 ... written by carlitos, May 21, 2008 12:12:25 1 thing you can 100% be sure of. Any project that is initiated by Barisan Najis, the sole aim is to make themselves rich. The reason they want to add women in the National Service camp is so that they will have more people in it and get richer. They don't care if 100 or even 1000 Malaysian kids died a year. They only care about $$$. I am sure most of those Barisan Najis MPs kids are not in NS, they somehow was not selected or sent overseas to study. Only our kids who are at risks. As long as National Service is around the rakyat should know what the Barisan Najis think about the rakyat kids and the rakyat future. report abuse disagree 0 agree 0 ... written by shiokguy, May 26, 2008 21:25:13 My little poll on NS show that 317 Against and 15 for the NS CAMP! We have a 2/3 Majority here, can we have the parliament to sit and scrap this stupid NS thingy? Participate in the Poll here..[url=http://shiokguy.blogspot.com/2008/05/ns-poll-close-in-7-days.html]http://shiokguy.blogspot.com/2008/05/ns-poll-close-in-7-days.html The Poll closed on 31 May 2008 Shiok Guy report abuse disagree 0 agree 2 ... written by shiokguy, May 26, 2008 21:26:03 Sorry the poll here Linkhttp://shiokguy.blogspot.com/2...-days.html Shiok Guy http://shiokguy.blogspot.com/ report abuse disagree 0 agree 1 ... written by shiokguy, June 01, 2008 02:57:13 My poll has total 493 now.. One more hour before it is closed! Let help to make it 500 at least. Go poll now Shiok Guy http://shiokguy.blogspot.com/ report abuse disagree 0 agree 0 ... written by shiokguy, June 01, 2008 13:21:31  My poll closed the the result and comment here http://shiokguy.blogspot.com/2...-poll.html report abuse disagree 1 agree 0 ... written by sararaj, June 02, 2008 16:32:59 i thnk NS is a good thing... helps a lot instilling good values in the youth... singapore has a great NS scheme... how is it that they can implement it and we can't?? are we not as good as them?? i was quite supportive of the NS scheme when the FG decided to implement it... but as the days go by... i've lost my confidence in the program... whats the point?? killing our youth?? for the love of god... these kids are the future of our country... if we don't take care of them who is?? the americans?? the australians?? the brits?? come on man... wake up and smell the coffee... i remember in school being thought this phrase... remaja adalah tonggak keutuhan negara... this was thought to me in a government school... and is this how we show them that we care... report abuse disagree 1 agree 0 ... written by kavidibaku, June 04, 2008 13:13:24 Condolences. I've been wondering for quite some time about this programme. This racist gomen has quota for everything BUT WHY NOT FOR THIS IDIOTIC PROGRAMME AS WELL Why every single citizen regardless of bumi or pendatang must go for this? Isn't this fishy? What's their big agenda? I have 2 kids and are primary school. I wish I can bring them away from this racist land b4 they are to participate in this programme. I do not mind ending ties with this country. report abuse disagree 0 agree 0 Write comment This content has been locked. You can no longer post any comment. You must be logged in to a comment. Please register if you do not have an account yet. |
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|
(2).jpg)
We always heard many incident happen inside the camp and this would make people's assumption that there is no safety over there. Pls review the program ASAP b4 more incident happen again.