From: shahrol@harper.Stanford.EDU (Shahrol)
Subject: Re: MYA: Mahatir proposes National Service for Malaysians
Organization: Stanford University, California, USA
Date: Wed, 12 Aug 1992 15:46:40 GMT

gt6737b@prism.gatech.EDU (E.A. JAAFAR) writes:

>In article <qkRaPB1w164w@temasek.uucp>, harish@temasek.uucp (Harish Pillay) writes:
 
[ dr. m. proposing national service]

>When i was in elem. & high school, I tried to get involved in Scouts,
>and army cadet.  I hate being in those organizations.  I hate being told
>what to do and how to behave.  I hate all of the restrictions...I thought
>those organizations were suppose to be fun to join in. I dont understand
>why people have to parade in the sun, wearing the thick uniforms with nee
>high black ugly rubber boots that ttook forever to wear'em...and it's a
>nightmare when you got to use the typical M'sian bathrooms.  Sucks!
>I always believe that those organizations(or at least the ones I joined
>for a short period of time) do not teach people to respect other people
>in general.  They teach you to respect people of higher ranks than you,
>and usually those people who has higher ranks than you are those
>people that got the job because somebody else like'em so much.  And they
>dont listen to lower ranking people either, thinking that those lower
>ranking people are a bunch of idiots and no nothing abt. anything.  What
>a scum!

i think that you did not get involved enough in semi-military outfits
to make judgements about their value.   the scouts, IMHO, although
very useful, cannot be equated with military service.  army cadets,
though they are more military to some degree, also cannot be construed
as being in the military.  

there is more to being in an organization that marching around in
boots and such.  your point was that you re an individual, therefore
being uniform is an anathema to you.  yes, the military does not
tolerate individuality to the extent of disrupting order.  order is
important to such an organization.  (defined, i guess :-))  but there
is so much more (he's repeating himself..) than just the exercises
that you mentioned.  

no man is an island, therefore he must work together with his peers,
and try to achieve common objectives together.  only together, setting
aside our differences, can we hope to get malaysia going.  my point is
that military service can and do implement such a mind set.  

my 5 years in rmc (which is longer than the 2 year cadet courses, as
well as the 6 month boot camp for enlisted men) has been an extremely
positive experience.  the students from my year ranges from the son of
the current malaysian king to the son of a chinese vegetable vendor to
a boy from a family of 13.  such a wide expanse of social and economic
background.  all the pt (physical training), classes and drilling
(that's what we call marching)  conspire to make us work _together_,
even if the goal was just to get through the next few hours. (pt from
1000 to 1300 during ramadhan is _not_ fun).  it made us put aside our
differences, and concentrate on what we had in common, mainly the
activities that we go through.  we helped each other, shouted
encouragements to each other through the obstacle courses and
generally got to know each other pretty well, or at least to get
along and work with people that you don't really like.  (an important
real-world lesson).  you make _real_ friends this way.

of course, there were wimps who could not stand the amount of training
that we had to go through, and dropped out, but note that all of them
dropped out during the first year.  these are probably the people who
whine about being told to do "stupid" things by arrogant and
overbearing leaders. _no_one_ dropped out (voluntarily) after that.
the camaraderie that you've established will pull you through
anything. 

i am sorry if you've had a bad experience with uniformed service, what
you should have done is turn to your friends for support, and don't
bow to the pressure.  change things when you get to be the leader.
maybe your troop leader (whatever you call a scout leader) was playing
favorites.  you should strive to be so good in what you do that he
could not afford to ignore you. here there is a measure of individual
performance involved.  do not turn away from the challenge.

i think dr. m. is correct in implementing the national service.
spending 6 months in close proximity will make the men understand each
other better.  and the key to racial harmony _is_ understanding.
professional soldiers (the ones that i have met, at least) are almost
uniformly non-racist in their outlook in life.  they judge a man by
what he can do, not what the color of his skin is.

okay, i'll get off my soapbox now.  

-shahrol
lt. commander guest (hah!)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.asean