The first batch of national service trainers were not screened due to time constraints, said national service training council chairperson Dr Ahmad Fawzi Mohd Basri today.

"We wanted to do it but there was no time to screen each and everyone of them. We presumed that they were all highly disciplined," he was quoted as saying in a Bernama report.

He was responding to the allegation by a trainee in Terengganu that she was raped by a trainer in his car after giving her a lift to the bank.

He said it was regrettable that such an incident took place and added that it had marred the image of the programme.

However, Ahmad Fawzi said trainers selected in future would be subjected to stringent screening to ensure that they were highly disciplined and do not succumb to temptation.

The trainers comprise servicemen and ex-servicemen.

Top priority

Council member Lee Lam Thye urged the police to give top priority to the case and expressed hope that the public would not speculate until investigations were concluded.

"I also urge parents not to panic as the council has taken steps to prevent a repeat of such incidents," he said.

Commenting on the incident, non-government organisation Jemaah Islah Malaysia (JIM) women's chief Dr Harlina Halizah Siraj wanted female trainees to be excluded from the programme for the time being.

She said this would enable those concerned to put in place measures to prevent sexual crimes at the camps in future.

The programme, which involved 85,000 youths housed in 41 camps nationwide, had been besieged with problems from the onset.

Allegations of skirmishes, drug abuse and sexual harassment had led critics to call for its immediate suspension.

They claimed the programme - the brainchild of former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad - was ill planned and hastily implemented.

Following the latest incident, Deputy Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak had summoned the commandants of the 41 camps to a meeting tonight.