DAP today called on the government to establish an all party-cum- non-governmental organisations like a national youth service commission to study the recently proposed national service for Malaysian youths.

The party's national chairperson Lim Kit Siang said the commission can make recommendations to ensure that the proposed program does not "degenerate into a national disservice or Barisan Nasional service".

"This is imperative as there has not been sufficient national debate or consensus as to the real purpose and objective of the national service," Lim said in a press statement today.

"The Cabinet also cannot ignore the fact that two opposition parties, PAS and Keadilan, have openly declared their opposition to the BN's concept of national service," he added.

Recently, the Cabinet Committee on National Service has proposed that all Malaysians reaching the age of 18 be required to undergo six months of national service.

Bring various races together

In his speech to Malaysians in Paris on Friday night, Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad said that the government decided to introduce national service to bring the various races together for at least six months because the national schools have failed to bring about better relations among the various races.

He said Chinese and Indians Malaysians "deserted" national schools because they felt that the schools were becoming more and more Islamic.

He expressed hope that national service would create citizens who are less "chauvinistic" in their relationship with Malaysians of different ethnic groups.

Lim pointed out that Mahathir contradicted himself during his recent visit to India where he said that his legacy and most important achievement as prime minister for 21 years was forging closer race relations in Malaysia's plural society.

Mahathir was wrong

Lim criticised Mahathir for saying that the Chinese and Indian Malaysians "deserted national schools" causing greater polarization among the races.

He argued that it was incorrect for Mahathir to have made the statement when in the five years of secondary education, the overwhelming majority of Malaysian students, regardless of race or religion, undergo the same schooling together in the national secondary education system.

Lim questioned how the six-month program was going to foster national unity when five full years of studying together in the national secondary schools have failed to achieve these objectives.

"What is the concept of national unity and national integration that would be imparted in the compulsory national service proposed by the government?

"Or is it the concept in accordance with the understanding of the Barisan Nasional, in contrast to the understanding not only of opposition parties but also Malaysians who are not politically-aligned?" he queried.

"If so, then what we are having is not national service but national disservice or more specifically, Barisan Nasional service," he said.