Our character building teacher, Mr Jason ushered us back into our class and motioned us to gather around him. He had his hands on top of Kim Seng's and Iman's bald heads. He said, "Di Kompeni Delta/Dermaga, kita tidak mahu bergaduh okay? Tiada pasal-pasal perkauman. Jangan bergaduh sampai berdarah."(In our comapny, we do not want anyone fighting. There should not be any racial issues. No blood shed, please. )This is what National Service should be about and why its concept should be supported whole-heartedly by all Malaysians.
He went on, "Cikgu datang sini bukan kerana gaji tetapi cikgu ingin mengasuh anak-anak malaysia ini supaya kelak orang Melayu boleh meletak tangan atas bahu orang Cina ataupun orang India tanpa perasaan kekok. I want us to be like brothers outside. Because, satu hari nanti, anak Cikgu akan masuk national service juga dan saya tidak harap anak Cikgu bersikap menyingkirkan sendiri. Saya sedih melihat kejadian sebegini. Sedih, cikgu, tau??"
And with that, tears sprung to his eyes. What a true Malaysian. He is actually a scientist but he chose to assist in the formation of the young Malaysians. Very inspiring indeed.
Friday, August 19, 2005
National Service Story
I really really like to hear stories like this. Here's a short excerpt from the national service diary of 17-year old Jolene Lai. :)
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7 comments:
He seems to be one of the few though...many others have the opposite point of view; put down the other races and support your own.
If only there are more like him. No wait, there are alot like him when we were kids but as we grow up, most are influenced and would have opposite views. Sad but true.
If you read the rest of her blog, you will find that the rest of the trainers aren't anything like that. Most appeared weird and I really rue the day my children gets called up for NS and ends up with a bunch like that.
..listen to an UMNO debate in Angkasapuri.. what?
The hygiene standards are atrocious eg. using a razor for all and sundry? Having the boys "close their ears"??? when talking about sanitary pads? Where the heck did they find these trainers from? Some 18th century junkyard (do they have junkyards those days? hehe)
All this NS hogwash is a waste of time and resources. It would be more effective to de-islamize the national school system to cater for the multi-racial mix, teach a certain number of hours of mother tongue each week, and teach the students starting from primary schools a non-religious non-ethnic version of civics (like the version we were taught in the '60s and early '70s).
Most important of all, treat ALL the students as Malaysians, and give them the opportunities ALL of them rightly deserve. They will then grow up to appreciate and love their country and when then time comes for them to demonstrate their patriotism (not flag waving and slogan chanting, mind you) they will, willingly.
as an ex NS trainee.. bravo to the CB teacher.. i hope we can have more of his kind in NS insyallah
NS is just an opportunity for some cronies to make more money. I just hope my kids don't get called up for this bulls***.
As an ex-NS trainee, I have to be honest and say that the programme has failed to accomplish its objectives. I can certainly view it as a brainwashing drive that discourages young Malaysians to think critically especially on national/public policy-related issues. This brainwashing is evident in the "Nationalism"(to use this term is already terrifyingly Fascist) sessions and the ridiculous Character Building sessions. To make things clear, the Character Building module isn't as fancy as it sounds. I myself thought that it would be better than all the propaganda of the Nationalism module, but I was wrong. CB is actullay equivalent to the laughable Moral Education in our secondary education. You are basically taught to behave yourself, and not to do anything "bad"(I don't need to explain, just think of anything that's bad). Does it build character? I highly doubt it. Most ex-trainees who are satisfied with the programme feels so because they've had fun and known more people, and that's it. Even I can say that I'm happy to have made new friends or had fun breaking some rules, but I'm way to unhappy about the fact that such a programme is created and (unfairly)randomly assigned to a group of 17 year old who have their education to worry about. And also the political agenda of this programme.
I apologize for the typo and spelling errors in my post. I didn't check before I posted.
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