DAP MP for Batu Gajah Fong Po Kuan said today that the hasty decision to implement the national service programme has resulted in the government being caught in a quagmire now.

"Obviously they are "patching the potholes" now. They do have a proper plan yet and this shows that the DAP's motion in Parliament in June asking for the programme to be deferred was correct," she said when contacted.

She was referring to several decisions yet to be made by the Defence Ministry concerning the programme.

For example, the Education Ministry is waiting for Mindef to work out a solution to avoid a clash between the training period with the commencement of the lower six or matriculation programme.

The defence ministry also has yet to confirm whether it should exempt the selected18-year-old trainees who are still pursuing the final year secondary studies in religious school, Chinese independent high school or those in government school.

Fong said she has received many calls from parents asking for her assistance after the trainees list was announced on Dec 8.

"If proper consultations were carried out, parents and trainees would not be in such a helpless situation today," she said.

'Open and flexible' approach

Yesterday, the DAP MP led a delegation of DAP Socialist Youth (Dapsy) leaders to submit a three-page memorandum to Defence Minister Najib Tun Razak. The memorandum was received by a ministry's official.

Other Dapsy leaders present included the youth wing's vice chief Raymond Chong and secretary-general Loke Siew Fook.

They urged the government to practise an "open and flexible" approach when dealing with the applications for exemption..

"We do not see any problem in exempting a small group of "specified case students" in view of the fact that only 85,000 students were selected from 480,000 eligible 18-year-old youths. The vacancies could be replaced with those who are interested to take part in the programme," the memorandum said.

The memo also urged the government not to invoke the law against those who failed to attend the programme with valid reasons since it would be against the spirit of voluntarism.

Under the National Service Training Act passed in June, those absent without leave or reason may be fined up to RM3,000 or jailed a maximum of six months, or both.

Those who abet them in any way also face similar penalties.

Dapsy also proposed that Mindef coordinates with the Education Ministry to exempt all students sitting for the SPM on a general basis and not based on personal applications.

Exemption should also be given to those participating in the pre-university South or Western Australian Matriculation programmes since the two programmes have only one intake in January and as most of them had paid for the tuition fees.

The idea of national training was mooted by former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad last October to foster patriotism, encourage racial integration and develop positive and noble traits among the younger generation.

The National Service Training Council is scheduled to meet tomorrow where more details are expected to be made known.