The problems related to the National Service (NS) programme are the direct result of using a quick-fix solution for racial polarisation that has been created by the education system in Malaysia over the past 30 years.

Many of our children are segregated from young into various schools like full-boarding schools; national-type schools, vernacular schools and some have not mixed with other races until they entered the NS programme.

Now it has been suggested that the military be used to instill discipline among NS trainees if necessary. That is a foolhardy solution for we know that military personnel and civilians do not mix well and using the former to police the latter is a dangerous measure.

After all, we have had recent incidents of serious misbehavior by soldiers recently, the inquiry of which has not yet been made public. What will they propose next? Send in the military to opposition strongholds during the next elections?

If we want to improve on race relations, we must start by educating our children from young from kindergarten through to primary and secondary schools.

Unlike computer programmes, we cannot delete and reprogramme our young adults' values and thinking only when they reach the age of 18. Anyone with teenaged children will know that too much control and discipline will only result in violence or emotional breakdowns.

If we are really serious about national unity, the Vision School concept should be modified so that students of all races be required to study together and no one is denied the chance to excel in his or her studies up to the university level.

To improve discipline in schools, all pupils from Standard Three onwards should be required to enrol in a uniformed group like the Red Crescent, the Boy Scouts or the Girl Guides with annual state-wide camps being held to promote national harmony.

The government recently launched a programme to eradicate hardcore poverty and to ensure that youths would at least have a Form Five education to enable them to have a reasonable foundation to enter the job market.

Affirmative action programmes should be based entirely on a means test and not on race. For example, an Indian student with a rubber-tapper father should take precedence over a Malay student whose father is a millionaire. This would be a transparent system and help the hardcore poor to break out of their poverty cycle.