Deterrence
May 17th, 2008 by Tian
In my delivery of speech during the debate of the Royal Address (I spoke on 13 May), I lashed out at a series of failures of the Defence Minister.
I was particularly upset with the continuous sacrifice of lives in the National Service Training Program. I blamed this on the ambition of the Minister who wanted to control the mind of the future generations.
On 14 May, DPM cum Defense Minister started to reply to all issues raised in relation to his ministry. He maintain that National Service is crucial for national unity.
Najib also took lengthy period to refute my argument (in the ) that modern and expensive weapons are not the most important factor to ensure national security.
I argued that the greatest threat to national sovereignty is the imbalance development between West and East Malaysia. The injustice and inequality of distribution within our society cause disunity, and need serious attention.
Najib dismissed the argument and maintained that expensive weaponry is vital as the deterrence. He said we want to be “respected” by the international community.
I don’t think we earn respect of the international community by blowing up people with C4.
I also argued that the most valuable component of our national defence is not military hardware but human capital, to borrow the rhetorics of the ruling party. In this case, the human capital is the army personnel.
However I was glad that the Defence Minister accepted this philosophy. I criticized Najib’s negligence to the welfare and security of the army. The soldiers are suffering from low retirement pension, no social security, housing problems and unemployment.
Although the minister tried hard to justify that the government is concerned and had done a lot for the army. Yet nobody truly empathize with their frustration.
Similarly, the minister also refused to suspend the national service until a thorough study conducted. I also questioned whether the ministry tried to search for other forms of training, or programs which could mencapai Desa Head.
I must thank Bert for the video in commemoration of the victims of National Service. Let us not forget:
This is the man that mahathir says should be the next PM.
Btw it`s good news, mahathir has found his memory:
Former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said he would not settle for less than his day in court so that he could defend himself against allegations he was at the centre of a judicial appointments scandal in 2001.
He hoped that when investigations into the conspiracy were completed, which also involved a lawyer, a tycoon and a former minister, he would be charged.
Dr Mahathir said he would then reveal what really went on behind the scenes at the time, including instances of judges lobbying him for promotions.
http://nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/Sunday/Frontpage/2243560/Article/index_html
Or he lied before the Royal Commission. On that alone there`s ground to prosecute him.
YB,
Keep up the good work. You might recall the day, end of march 2003 when I met you at the PRC. You and two PKR members stays for the night and left the next day for your court case. In such a situation, you still throw an apple for me. This shows that you really care for cthers. My respect to you and may the lord buddha bless you always. Thank you.
I have setup a poll at my blog for NS, so far it is 81 Against and 5 pro NS. Take a poll and vote and i will see what i can do with the poll.
I also have some article on May 13, My experience , Tun Dr Ismail on NEP and Tun Dr Ismail on Malays Special Right
Do contribute to the poll and read and comment on the posting.
ShiokGuy
http://shiokguy.blogspot.com/
[...] Video by Bert, via Tian [...]
The Minister of Defense and DPM belongs to the midset of 1970’s. Once I was in a taxi from Kelantan to KL and that taxi driver was very critical of being abandoned after his services in Bosnia……he felt betrayed by the system that he served.
What a lot of rubbish by pumping more money into buying weapons in order to be ‘heard’ by the outside world.
Unless the mindset is corrected, the people of east and west Malaysia will be sitting on a great divide.
Also pls let the minister know that more than 50% of the Rakyat felt let down by the current government machinery in a lot of aspects of life.
Even when such a high price has been paid
We still haven’t willingly fully learn
What else can be done beyond what has been said
Will be what concerned parents dearly yearn
(C) Samuel Goh Kim Eng – 180508
http://MotivationInMotion.blogspot.com
Sun. 18th May 2008.
The government is actually wasting the people’s money by conducting the NS. What can the boys and girls learn from a 3 month stint.
Singapore has better and more solid objective when they started-off their NS. Their’s is a question of survival. Singapore is flank by Malaysia and Indonesia. With such a small population it is difficult to survive any kind of initial military attack by its neighbors. She just cannot depend on her armed forces alone under such attack. Thus the imperative military training for the citizens over a period of at least 1 1/2 years – a time period just enough to make a person an able soldier to defend his/her country in times of unfriendly confrontation.
Singapore can afford such military training because of her strong economy and the inevitable question of survival. The length training is just sufficient to achieve her main objectives.
Malaysia cannot afford to conduct the NS on a similar length of time simply because she cannot afford the massive expenses incurred. But just to follow suit and to show the neighbor that Malaysia is also preparing her youth for such eventuality, the NS is conducted for the sake of conducting. Whether or not it is able to achieve the objective just like her neighbor is yet another issue.
With the NS conducted haphazardly, we see that certain group of people are able to pluck good profit from the project.
Compare our NS giving training to fresh school leavers, where many of them do not even know what the training is all about, are merely enjoying or suffering from the training. Look at our instructors – are they really and fully qualified? Are they the well-disciplined group?
Most people thought the the NS would benefit the fresh youth. Then there was the shocking news about a female participant being raped. And this happened in the early batch. Who was the rapist? Then came the news about the death of another participant. Parents became worried and some blame the NS organizers as being irresponsible culprits for the cause of the death and whatever misdeeds they had caused.
Let’s sincerely ask ourselves, does the NS really benefited the youth? Have they become good citizens. Can they be of any help, like those Singaporeans who have undergone a much longer NS, in times of war? Let’s be realistic about it. Then why waste the people’s money?
[...] Deterrence [...]
Malaysia’s politics is just entering a new era. Tun M quits UMNO. This breaks the mental barrier for a fraction of UMNO to form a new party. If this group get 31 or more MP, then it can overtake Keadilan position. It can form a new coalition of DAP, PAS, MCA and east malaysia’s MP. The leader of this group will become the new PM. It is wise for Keadilan or Dato Anwar not to move prematurely to form a coalition that is not stable. As there will be a handful of UMNO leaders justing waiting at the wing and offer a deal that your partners can’t refuse and take over your coalition. It is nice just let Pak Lah a little more time to realize his time is up. And then give Dato Najib the benefit of the doubt. I am sure he will perform poorly then Keadilan will have moral high ground to move.