An opposition leader today questioned the government's motive for introducing compulsory national service for secondary school-leavers in Malaysia.

DAP secretary-general Kerk Kim Hock said if the government's intention was to instil patriotism among young Malaysians, compulsory national service was not the answer.

"There is no need to introduce a compulsory national service if it is just to instil patriotism," he said in a telephone interview on the government's proposal.

Kerk, who is also the member of Parliament for Kota Melaka, said compulsory national service should only be introduced if there was a genuine need to augment the country's defence.

He said the situation was different in countries such as Singapore and Taiwan where compulsory national service is enforced as they need a back-up for their military.

Be clear about objective

"Compulsory national service should only be introduced if there's a need," he stressed.

The national service proposal was first raised at the three-day National Patriotism Congress for political leaders last weekend.

The idea was backed by Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad who said it would instil greater patriotism and self-discipline, and boost racial integration.

Kerk does not share that opinion. "One does not require military training to be patriotic," he argued.

He said there were other ways of instilling patriotism among young Malaysians, suggesting that "a three-week course" would have sufficed to achieve such an objective.

"We are not even sure what [is the purpose of] the national service. Let's make clear the objective," he said.

Special legislation

Defence Minister Najib Abdul Razak said in Parliament yesterday that a special cabinet committee headed by him and four other ministers would be formed to draw up implementation plans.

Among others, the committee would study the curriculum module, the period of service, the age of eligible participants, costs and allowances.

An AFP report yesterday quoted Najib as saying that the government would introduce special legislation, including penalties for non-compliance, in a move to make the national service compulsory.

He told the international news agency that the national service would "not be in the conventional sense that it is based on military form", although there would be basic military training.

"We will develop our own model. We will take into account all factors, and report to the government for the final decision," he said.