Human rights organisation Suaram today dismissed the government's intention to implement the national service programme as a "quick-fix solution" to better race relations.

In a press statement, Suaram said the stated aim of the national service training scheme to inculcate better relations, patriotism and national unity would unlikely succeed with a mere three-month programme.

Instead, the organisation said the government should address "real issues" such as the racial demarcation in politics, education and employment, other discriminatory practices and hardcore poverty.

The government has proposed to enact the National Service Training Bill to make compulsory participation by youths born after 1986 in a programme which includes basic military training and lessons in patriotism and personal development.

The bill has been read once in Parliament and a debate over its proposals is expected to take place during the current sitting.

No transparency

Meanwhile, Suaram also criticised the non-transparent drafting of the bill. Selected details of the draft were publicised only last Friday in time for the proposed act to be presented to Parliament this week.

"It is mind-boggling that such wide-ranging laws that are bound to affect national conscience and incur in massive expenditure ... can be done without much evident, thought, debate, clarity and transparency," the organisation said.

"Much of the content of the bill was kept in secrecy and all of a sudden, it is revealed," it lamented.

Suaram also disagreed with the government's proposal to put participants to the scheme to basic military training.

"In an already volatile world with so many on-going wars and conflicts, military training is ill-advised to say the least."

Growing opposition

The human rights organisation said the estimated RM500 million annual expenditure proposed for the implementation of the programme should instead be spent on more immediate needs such as alleviating poverty, improving public infrastructure and transportation as well as providing health-care and public welfare assistance to the people.

"Suaram therefore calls upon the government for the bill to be withdrawn until and unless the many issues, impact and implication of the scheme have been fully resolved through an open debate involving civil society groups, political parties and the public," it added.

Since the national service bill was publicised on Monday, civil society groups have protested over the stiff penalties proposed under the bill for draft evaders and those deemed to have assisted them.

Under the Sections 18 and 19 of the proposed act, those selected for national service but do not attend and those who try to stop those selected from attending would be liable to a fine of RM3,000 or a six-month jail term, or both.

Sections 27, 28 and 29 of the proposed bill also spell out fines and jail terms of between two to 10 years for those who carry out action which may cause a selected individual to become "unsuitable" to undergo training.

Another controversial section provides for the severe punishments to be taken against individuals who criticise the bill. Those found guilty of an offence are punishable by a maximum fine of RM10,000 or a jail term of up to two years, or both.

DAP leader Lim Kit Siang has called this as a "dishonest expansion" of the Sedition Act.