The reason Malaysia has proposed national service is simple: the Singapore threat and the need to bolster our army.

From the 1970s, Singapore has compelled all its young men to undergo compulsory military training and then lifelong service thereafter to build a rugged society. They have the latest military hardware and get the best training from the US and Israeli armed forces. They have clear and focused leadership, equitable policies and toughened self-reliance built into all sections of the population.

Malaysia, on the other hand, has 35 percent of the population (non-Malays) alienated by the government's racist policies. The non-Malay Malaysians are further told they are not bumiputera (prince of the soil) but pendatang (immigrants) and they will always have to be subservient to Malay hegemony and rule. Forever.

For the few who joined the Malay-dominated government, police and military, they are often bypassed on racial grounds and made aware that they are there only 'on sufferance' from the goodwill and generosity of the Malay Malaysians. To cap it all, one Umno member of Parliament recently asked in Parliament why it seemed that only Malay Malaysians could die for the country (in the police/military) as non-Malay Malaysians seemed too unpatriotic to join these services.

As for the level of preparedness of the armed forces, one frequently reads of plane crashes. One of the very expensive MIG 29s crashed in 1998, the week that ex-deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim was arrested. The news was soon forgotten in the excitement of Anwar's detention.

Presumably the Defence Ministry takes the same view as our current education minister that 'human errors are inevitable. Everyone makes mistakes". And gallantly excuses the pilots and congratulates them on successfully bailing out of their $100 million aircraft.

Then, there was the way in which Al-Ma'unah, led by a corporal (?) were able to bluff and bluster their way into army camps and hijack a large quantity of military equipment. One never hears of court martial being held and individuals being brought to book.

With this background and a 35 percent disaffected population (the percentage is higher or lower depending on the state), do you think the Malaysian government could win an air/land/sea war of one or two weeks in case of an attack?

It seems that the new thinking on national service is a fresh attempt to win the 'hearts and minds' of the people in the 21st century, as Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad mentioned to the Americans that we had done during the Communist insurgency in the last century.