National DisService
Written on 4/19/2004 08:19:00 pm by sikapitan
It was on the cards. Place hundreds of innocent (probably), nubile young girls entering the final phase of maturity at the hands of a bunch of sexually-repressed individuals and you're bound to hear the dreaded word-rape. What am i talking about? If you haven't read the newspaper today,a girl allegedly was raped by a NATIONAL SERVICE trainer.Personally, and you can ask my friends about this, i am AGAINST the National Service.
I feel it's a waste of our money (well,my parents la since i'm not paying taxes-what about service tax?), time and effort. Forcing groups of young men with raging hormones to play "kejar2" and learn "bekerjasama" was never a brilliant idea. I can see the arguments for National Service.It would definitely keep school-leavers away from the streets. But would that ultimately build the "character" that we so want our young minds to have? I think not. First of all, logistically, it's downright messy. Transferring thousands of teenagers, who are mostly NOT volunteering for this most weird of summer camps, to locations all over the country costs money. And so does feeding them (we can't have our children eating ikan goreng only kan?). Apparently, for meals alone, the government spend close to RM30 per student per DAY. That's like one nasi lemak ayam,one nasi campur,one briyani gam and you would still have spare change to grab a nice roti jam for supper! Pampered? Definitely, and why not? Since the government forced this upon them, shouldn't they at least be treated as if they're at home?
And that's the quandary facing the government. On one hand they want to discipline these kids, and on the other hand they need to be nice so that these students don't just walk out en masse. Improper planning, and bad oversight have led to various problems. One of it being the "semangat kenegerian" syndrome. Naturally, and many uni students will attest to this, people from the same state stick together. This is more so in an unfamiliar environment. States that are less-developed, like Kelantan and Tganu, have a more strong social solidarity, thus they bond together and fight together. Guys from other states, being more exposed to living in a heterogenous society, would be easy pickings for bullying and such. Apparently, and this is not confirmed, there have been cases of trainees refusing to train, fighting, ragging, smoking etc2. Understandably, the news media have been keeping a tight lid on this situation. There's so many other things wrong with the NS such as it being a violation of our liberty to associate freely, limiting the potential income of trainees and holding up studies. Can someone explain to me why are we holding up students marked to further their studies? Shouldn't we concentrate on giving them the best education possible?
Back to the rape. It wouldn't surprise me if the trainer is malay. I'm sorry if anyone's offended, but the fact remains that sexual crimes in Malaysia are committed mostly by my race. Is it because of our social constraint we become sexually repressed in an environment that is increasingly open about sex? We, as Muslims, cannot have sex with someone we're not married with. Yet, everywhere around us, society is increasingly showing there's no harm in doing so. Yes, some might say that the social fabric is being torn apart, but MAYBE the fabric's just changing colour. Maybe Freud was right.At the basis of every conflict and disharmony, there lies a sexual frustation waiting to be unleashed. Far-fetched? Maybe, but worth considering.
The rape? Don't they have proper procedure for this? Shouldn't the female trainee be accompanied by a female trainer? Why is she allowed to go out alone with a male trainer? My guess is, hypothetically, the girl voluntarily went out with him, or maybe didn't really mind going out with him. Hey, we all have crushes on our seniors now don't we? So where does the fault lie. I have reason to suspect there's more of such incidences. I don't know. I wish i have the answer. More about Malays tomorrow. How do others view us? Is there such a thing as "semangat Melayu"?Controversial? You bet.
Au revoir.
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