Enough is enough! Nineteen unnecessary and tragic deaths have already occurred under the ill-conceived National Service programme. How many more deaths must it take before the authorities start listening to the pleas of the many parents and concerned Malaysians?

The programme must be suspended immediately until and unless the relevant authorities can give us compelling reasons why it must continue and can guarantee that all measures have been taken to ensure the safety of our young Malaysians drafted into the programme. Not a single death must be tolerated in the future.

In January this year, after the death of Ili Ameera, Defense Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak said that in-depth investigations will be carried out into the cause of her death. Now, even after another death has occurred there is still no word about outcome of the inquiry into her death. The National Service Training Department must confirm that full inquiries have been carried out into each and every one of the tragic deaths involving NS trainees and disclose their findings to the public.

If they are unable to do so, an independent body must be set up to do this. Any party found guilty of negligence must be made accountable. Camp personnel must be made answerable for not only any deaths occurring in their premises but for any major injuries, molest, rapes, food poisoning, etc. If they are negligent in any way the camps must not be allowed to operate in the future.

Letters after letters have been written to the media by parents and concerned Malaysians about the shortcomings of the NS programme and calling for a review and suspension of the whole programme. All these seems to have fallen on deaf ears. In fact, some of the statements made by the authorities are shocking. As reported last week, our health minister said reports on the deaths of the trainees had been overblown and 'the rate of death (of the trainees) is, in fact, much smaller than that in the general population'!

For these insensitive remarks, he should publicly apologise to the families of the trainees who have died because of the programme. We certainly do not want any more young Malaysians to be in the minister's insignificant 'rate of death'. What is most disappointing is that we have yet to hear a public statement from the prime minister expressing some concern over these deaths.

A lot of taxpayers' money is spent every year for this NS programme. If these millions of ringgit are instead channeled into new programmes under the education system, there may be a better possibility of achieving the goals of promoting racial integration, a national spirit and service to the community. How can these goals ever be achieved in the period of the three months of NS training?

In the first place, why is this programme placed under the ambit of the Defence Ministry? It has nothing to do with the defence of the country and the trainees are not being trained for any role in the defence of the country.

A more appropriate alternative is to integrate the NS' goals into the education system. Our students spend more than 10 years of their lives in schools. If the education system can be changed appropriately, there may be a greater hope of promoting racial integration, a national spirit and service to the community.