My fears expressed in earlier letter entitled National Service no service - regarding the implementation of the National Service programme and a backlash from the public if precautions were not taken - have all but come true.

Incidents of gangsterism, assaults by trainers, transportation problems, trainers walking out, disciplinary problems, drugs, rape and most recently the drowning of a trainee have all been proven to be a nightmare for both the government and the public

With the death that has occurred recently, I hope that the government will now take NS security and safety more seriously. The trust that parents have placed in the government has all but evaporated what with all the latter's empty promises and 'problem free' NS propaganda.

They have implemented silly policies and this compulsory NS training without really getting the consent of the rakyat due to their strong majority in parliament. Because of this poorly thought-out policy, a girl's life may have been ruined because of an alleged rape and another family has to bear the pain of a drowned child.

It seems the government just makes up policies whenever they want without really hearing what the rakyat wants. And because of this, people die and families suffer.

Now that a death has occurred, I sincerely hope that they are not waiting for more tragedies to happen before finally realising that they were wrong and take remedial action.

Only a public backlash will stop them, but then again, it may be too late to save lives by then.