Somehow or other, I cannot help but feel that our government has turned out to be a clone of the George W Bush administration. In this I am referring to the way we handle the National Service programme and the way the Americans handle the Iraq war. Allow me to present some notable parallels.

1. George Bush had every intention to invade Iraq come what may and he even said, "We do not need anyone's permit slip to invade Iraq. "Look at our leaders - did they really consult the rakyat before embarking on such an ambitious project like the National Service? Just like in America, there were objections raised as to the outcome of the project, but did they care? They still went ahead with it.

2. The invasion of Iraq was done in a quickie fashion without giving much of a thought to any exit strategy. Likewise our NS project. It's implementation was bulldozed within a few months and voila , the NS was on!

3. The Iraq war was fought by arousing patriotism in the American people. The NS was done for the same purpose.

4. The invasion of Iraq was to financially benefit some cronies of George Bush. Can Malaysians know who is responsible for the procurement of the NS belt buckles? And who is responsible for the tailoring of the trainees' uniforms?

As a taxpayer, I demand the right to know and that these contracts be published in the newspapers to reflect transparency as espoused by our new PM.

5. The Iraq war is costing the American taxpayers and so is the NS. More troops and other essentials are now called in to render support to those who are already in Iraq. So too, here in Malaysia. Allowances have to be made for extra resources and expenses like the special camp for NS delinquents.

6. For more than a year, things have got from bad to worse for the Americans. Similarly, things are not getting any better by the day at many of the NS camps with the latest the alleged rape of a trainee by an instructor.

7. The Americans are stuck in Iraq with no clear exit strategy and yet Bush said he would stay on course. We too, are now stuck in a quagmire and our deputy prime minister said that he too, would stay on course come what may.

8. The Iraqis are fighting back because what they have been promised has not been delivered and more so, the ignorance of Iraqi culture by the American soldiers. Our trainees too, are fighting back against the authorities as they can no longer tolerate the high-handedness of the instructors.

9. Certain countries allied to the Americans are now pulling out due to the immense danger posed to their troops. Looks as though some of our NS instructors are also taking the cue by checking out before the trainees do saying that they have not been paid the allowances due to them.

10. The world knows that Iraq is in one big terrible mess but still the Bush administration refuses to acknowledge it. The NS, as all Malaysians know, is one big mess too, and likewise, our leaders are equally in self-denial saying that everything is fine and dandy.