National service (NS) trainees who may not be able to participate in the programme because they need to help out their families could get a reprieve, according to Deputy Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak today.

"I wish to say that the government does not intend to jail youths who fail to undergo NS training. If they have good reason, they can appeal to the NSTD (National Service Training Programme) or give their reason when interviewed by the police.

"If their reason is to support their families, we can give a postponement," he was quoted as saying by Bernama.

He also advised judges and deputy public prosecutors who come across cases of dodgers to use their discretion and think of alternative punishments to custodial sentence for NS dodgers

Najib was commenting of the case of Ahmad Harizal Ahmah Fauzie which made headlines after the youth was slapped with a 14-day jail term for failing to settle the RM600 fine imposed on him for dodging NS.

Ahmad Harizal, 18, ( left ) said he could not participate in the three-month programme because he had to help his mother in the padi field as his family was very poor.

The case garnered much public sympathy and finally the youth walked free the next day after an aide of Perlis Menteri Besar Shahidan Kassim paid the fine on his behalf.

As a result of this case, the Attorney-General's Chambers wants the court to review its sentence.

Serious about NS

Meanwhile, Najib said the government will study carefully proposals that the default jail term on Ahmad Harizal be replaced with community service.

He added that a thorough study was needed especially on the mechanism for implementing and monitoring the community service to ensure that it was not abused or used as an easy way out to shirk NS duty.

Najib, who is also the defence minister, said if Ahmad Harizal had told the NSTD that he could not attend the training because he had to help support his family, he would have been given a deferment.

"... if he had explained the mater, it (jail term) could have been avoided because we really want to avoid it," he added.

However, he did not want the NS policy to be questioned just because of Ahmad Harizal's case as the government was serious about making the programme a success.

He said the NS programme in Malaysia needed time to take root, just like that in other countries.

Asked whether the deputy public prosecutor and the court were overzealous in Ahmad Harizal's case, Najib said: "I don't think they are overzealous, but at that point of time, discretion could have been used. But they are doing their job."