National Service (No Shit! Non-Sense)

Najib: NS could be extended to two years
By JANE RITIKOS
SEOUL: The Government is willing to consider extending national service (NS) to one or two years because three months is not enough to build up character and instil good values in Malaysian youths.
However, Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said that such a decision would ultimately depend on the willingness of parents.
“Three months is not enough to achieve the programme's objective of instilling in Malaysian youths good values such as dedication, commitment and bravery.”
Speaking to Malaysian students here during a question and answer session, Najib said: “Are parents willing to make a sacrifice (and delay their children’s graduations)? I suspect it will not be easy to persuade parents.
“If they are willing we can review this,” he said, adding that the Government could not easily decide on this if parents resisted.

(Source: The Star, March 13 2007)

I recall that the Malaysian government telling national television and TV3 that Malaysia had it's own formula and that Malaysia did not need to follow any other formulas for national service, particularly following neighbouring country Singapore.

Year 1986 was the first batch to go into NS training. That was the batch I was in, that's why I still can recall the comments made by Najib a few years back. Fast forward a few years .. this is what we get. Hrm ... anymore reconsiderations? I personally do not think the issue is about parents willingness. It is about the government's policy in what it is achieving. Putting certain number of students in NS seems biased to some. What about the others? Do they not need patriotic sentiments instilled in them as well?