National Service programmed to kill

E Prema – victim number 19 of the government’s ambitious but ill-planned National Service programme.

The reason for the death of the 18-year-old Kajang girl is still undetermined. She was found dead in a public toilet.

Her family says she had no ailment. Her friends at the programme said she looked fine, but had complained of stomach ache.

Her group of trainees had just finished the grueling Hutan Wira Jaya course on Tuesday, but again camp trainers say she didn’t look tired.

So what is this Hutan Wira Jaya course? It is a 21-hour outdoor training exercise in map-reading, jungle trekking and teamwork. The course is conducted on the same day at all NS camps nationwide.

21 hours? For a bunch of young kids with no previous experience in such matters? I think this killed her!

Government says nothing wrong with the Hutan Wira Jaya course, that it won’t be cancelled, but now an additional step to be introduced – trainees will be closely monitored for their safety.

Is this being defensive? Looking for a ready excuse? Will the government own up for pushing the trainees too hard?

Batu Gajah MP Fong Po Kuan is right – the National Service Training Programme should be suspended immediately.

She said:

“Something must have gone very wrong in the running of the Programme because, since the implementation of it in 2003, it has taken away 19 lives.

This is serious because the statistics seems to show that the health and lives of trainees and trainers in the 78 camps may be at risk during the 90 days training. They may be walking into the camp alive but leaving by having her body being carried out.”

p/s: of the 19 fatalities, nine were trainees and 10 trainers.