NS must cry for Ili Ameera

AS a father, I feel a lot for Azlan Jaafar and deeply share his grief and sorrow. I believe many of you, even if you do not have children, will understand a father’s grief at losing a child and at losing one in such tragic fashion.

Azlan’s 17-year-old daughter, Ili Ameera, went for her National Service (NS) training. She never came back. Last Thursday, she died as she was being rushed to the Malacca Hospital after experiencing breathing difficulty at the Ayer Keroh training camp.

For Azlan and his wife, their loss is perhaps more devastating than the American parents who have to send their son to war-torn Iraq. At least, for the Americans, they are made aware of the possibility that their beloved son or daughter may never return. That is after all, a war zone!

But for the Malaysian parents, their daughter was enrolled on a programme aimed supposedly at promoting national unity. They did not enlist her to fight in the battlefield. Yet, their little girl never came back.

Ili Ameera’s death raises a lot of questions on the NS programme. How, why did it happen? What is the medical aid available at the NS camps during an emergency? Are all the trainees certified medically fit before they are enlisted? Are parents made aware of what their children have to undergo during NS training?

The RM500 million NS training programme is now in its fourth year. This year, a total of 34,318 youths are enrolled for the NS programme to be held at 78 camps nationwide.

With so many things going wrong right from the start in 2004 and also this year, culminating in the death of Ili Ameera last week, the NS programme comes under heavy criticism again and rightly so too.

Sometimes, it is very difficult to comprehend why a plan that aims to mould our young people into loyal, patriotic, responsible and wholesome citizens be that bad?

That can't possibly be. But it's true.

It was unfortunate indeed that the NS, with all its noble aims and objectives, got off to such a bad start. The inaugural NS programme, launched on Feb 16, 2004 and i

nvolving 85,000 youths born in 1986 was fraught with problems from the onset.

Apart from sexual related problems, there were also accusations of physical assault, theft and drug abuse.

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