A decision taken by the cabinet committee on National Service, headed by Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak, to set up a special camp for youths with disciplinary problems or 'delinquents' so that "they do not create problems for other trainees" signaled a serious problem which strikes at the core of the national service programme.

Despite the deputy prime minister's assurance that the intention is not to mete out punishment against these trainees, the separation of these trainees into a special camp and his assertion that they will be taught "to respect law and order" does not indicate otherwise.

The cabinet committee should seriously review its decision, which includes taking into account the potential impact of its action which may exacerbate into the social exclusion and repercussions for these youths later on.

Instead of conducting an unnecessary hunt for scapegoats and 'fall-guys' for the programme's deformations, the National Service Council should instead accept responsibility that it was not well-planned from the beginning and shoddily implemented.

Hence, the creation of a special camp to house the 'delinquents' is not the right solution to resolve the current dilemma. There will continue to be more misunderstandings amongst NS trainees which will spark little fights even after these 'delinquents' are hauled up and separated.

As long as the programme does not shape up to address its own inability to capture the attention and interest of the trainees, these scrapes and other misbehaviour will persist.

I have sat on several national service curriculum working committee meetings, at the invitation of the Yayasan Strategik Sosial , and have had the opportunity to look into some of its curriculum.

In the name of instilling the spirit of national unity, trainees are required to sing a list of patriotic songs everyday. In general, the curriculum failed to address the more important substance of unity and multiculturalism and instead focused more on ritualistic activities which neither inform nor inspire.

Another aspect which could have contributed to the present 'anarchy' is the lack of supervision and tutelage available to guide trainees in their activities. The original plan was to provide a supervisor to take charge of 40 trainees.

Some of us who attended the meeting had proposed to cut down the ratio to 1:20 but this was shot down due to budgetary constraints. Again, if the government is feeling its purse strings strained, then perhaps other alternatives which cost less than RM500 million could be considered.

Some of these programmes aimed at inculcating a sense of community and respect for multiculturalism could be implemented across primary and secondary education systems. This alternative will benefit more students and youths instead of the current proposal of limiting the national service programme to those who have completed form five.

Since the cabinet committee on National Service and the National Service Council are adamant to keep the programme running in spite of mounting glitches and problems, they must be able to accept the challenge of disciplining these 'delinquents'.

Hopefully, they will be able to turn them into better citizens after the programme instead of separating and labeling them as 'special cases' before even trying to change the situation. After all, the whole purpose of the programme is to unite not to divide.

If the plan to create the special camp does get impelmented, it will contribute to the sliding credibility of the whole national service programme, of which the pool of its goodwill is already slowing drying up.

Hence, the prime minister must act swiftly to override this decision and order a review and a rethinking of the whole programme without losing sight of its initial objective which is to promote unity and not division.